Men's Basketball vs. Northwestern Saturday, 8 p.m. (Raycom) Evanston Si Wrestling vs. Penn State Sunday, 4:30 p.m. Cliff Keen Arena Icers return to CCHA play Wolverines are not underestimating Lake Superior0, By BARRYSOLLENBERGER Daily Hockey Writer During his tenure as coach of the Michigan hockey team, Red Berenson has welded the Wolverines into a na- tional power. In 1984-85, Berenson's first season at the Michigan helm, the Wolverines went 11-20-1 and finished ninth in the CCHA. In contrast, last year's squad finished 33-7-1, won the CCHA regu- lar season title for the second time in three years and claimed the school's first CCHA playoffchampionship. Clearly, the Michigan hockey pro- gram now ranks among the nation's ybest. But if there is one team that the Wolverines are still chasing as far as national recognition is concerned, it's this weekend'sopponentg-LakeSu- perior State. The Lakers (5-5-2 CCHA, 7-7-4 oerall) and No. 5 Michigan (9-2, 14- he Daily 4) face off at 7p.m. tonight and tomor- row at Norris Center in Sault Ste. Marie. The Wolverines won the first meeting this season between the two rivals, 4-2, Nov. 5 at Yost Ice Arena. While Michigan hasn't won a na- tional championship since 1964, Lake State has claimed the national title three of the past seven years, including last season. Last March, the Lakers upset a Wolverine squad that was ranked No.1 for most of the regular season in the quarterfinals ofthe NCAA tournament. They then beat Harvard and Boston University to claim the title. "In reality, we still feel like we owe them for that game and we're still a little bit down about that," Michigan defenseman Blake Sloan said. Despite all its tradition, Lake Supe- rior is lacking in an important depart- ment this season -- the win column. In fact, the Lakers have won only seven of 18 contests thus far this sea- son. "We're very young up the middle," Lake State assistant coach Jim Roque 'We haven't generated as much offense from our returning players that we thought we would be able to at the beginning of the season. - Jim Roque Lake Superior assistant coach said. "We haven't generated as much offense from our returning players that we thought we would be able to at the beginning of the season." The Lakers don't have anyone ranked in the top 30 in the conference in overall scoring. Brian Felsner, brother of former Wolverine great Denny Felsner, leads Lake State with 11 goals See LAKE STATE, Page 14 JOSE JUAREZ/Special to t After an exhibition against Team Canada last Saturday the Michigan hockey team returns to CCHA action this ,sweekend against Lake Superior. it's one against two and vice versa for tankers this weekend." No. 2 women face No. 1 StanfordI No. 1 men face No. 2 Cardinal By MARC DILLER Daily Sports Writer As if the No. 2 Michigan women's swimming team (4-0) isn't exhausted ,enough by its rigorous schedule and "extensive training program, the Wol- verines approach arguably their most important and most demanding regu- lar-season weekend in team history. Only one week after an impres- sive 156-106 victory over No.8 UCLA in Los Angeles, and a two week stint of arduous training in Hawaii, Michi- gan travels to the San Francisco area this weekend to compete against pe- rennial powerhouse and three time defending national champion, No. 1 Stanford (0-0), as well as No. 19 Cali- fornia (7-1), on consecutive days. "I think we can do real well this weekend," Wolverines seniorco-cap- tain Alecia Humphrey said. "Twoyears ago we swam Northwestern the first week after we returned from a heavy training winter break and we swam real well." Michigan hopes this year's results will be as good. The Wolverines are not physically preparing any differently for this meet than previous dual meets. "We didn't want to sacrifice our training for NCAAs by resting for Stanford," Humphrey said. Stanford, on the other hand, is bet- ter rested for this meet having last competed in early December at the Texas Invitational in Austin, Texas. The Cardinal totaled 10 NCAA auto- matic qualifying performances over that three-day event. Stanford returns 1992 sprint gold- medalist Jenny Thompson to the lineup. Thompson paced Stanford's Texas vic- tory with three individual victories (100- yard free, 100-yard butterfly, 200- yard individual medley) and was a member of two first-place relay squads. Assisting Thompson as team leaders are swimming standout Kendra Thayer and diving phenom Eileen Richetelli. No matter what the results of this weekend's meet, Michigan looks for- ward to the more important match-up with all the top teams at the NCAA Championships in Austin on March 16-18. "If we race them tight and show we're just as good as they are, our confidence will be very high going into NCAAs," Humphrey said. "We just have to make sure we're not intimi- dated." The only Michigan swimmer who has swam Stanford in a dual meet is junior Megan Gillam, who transferred from Texas at the end of last season. "Stanford is different from any See TANKERS, Page 14 By MICHELLE LEE THOMPSON Daily Staff Reporter In many ways, this weekend will make the upcoming NCAA Champi- onships seem like ddjA vu for the Michigan men's swimming team. Three days of competition, includ- ing the hottest two teams left n the regular season schedule, can imake a long weekend seem like as much of a 'Cress[ire cooker a the o ;, iate niect. At No. 2 Stanford, the No. I Wol- verines will face their best competition of the season in athletes like Olympic freestyler Joe Hudepohl and seniors Brian Retterer and Ray Carey in the backstroke, butterfly and individual medley, respectively. "It will be a very close match-up," Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek said. "It will be the most exciting meet this season in college - No. I vs. No 2." Stanford has won national titles in the last ten years but is shooting with blanks for its fourth consecutive title this year. The team lost six of its 25- point-and-over scorers at NCAAs to graduation, while Michigan lost rela- tively few seniors. At the No. 5 Golden Bears, the Wolverines will also swim face-to- face with other world championship swimmers, like German Martin Hermann and Polish freshman Bart Sikora. "We have a chance to win both events, but we're going to have to step up- and I think we'll step up," senior. sprinter Gustavo Borges said. Although Michigan is not used to the outdoor facilities at Stanford and Berkeley, the weather looksgood, and Urbanchek says he's glad. The trecast is tough coipetition ad o raji. thal U* 0i Urbanchek said. "As long as the weather holds up, this team will hold up." Borges expressed littleconcern over the weather and pointed out that what- ever conditions the Wolverines will face, the Cardinal will also face. "It's the same for both of us," said Borges, noting the inclimate condi- tions of the meet at Stanford two years ago. "We're going to swim hard and see where we are at this point in the season." Freshman phenom Derya Buyukuncu was recruited by Stanford and Michigan but made the Wolver- ines his choice. "I'm sure (Buyukuncu is) going to rise to the occasion," Urbanchek said. "He's going to put on a good show." "There's nothing personal between us,butit'sstillabig meet," Buyukuncu said. "I personally don't want to give See STANFORD, Page 14 MICHAEL TITZUUGKatUay Steve West and the No. 1 Michigan men's swimming team face No. 2 Stanford and California this weekend. Men cagers out for { revenge against 'Cats T By PAUL BARGER Daily Basketball Writer The Michigan men's basketball team has plenty of incentive in tomor- row night's game at Northwestern. Last season, the Wildcats defeated the Wolverines in the last game of the season, ruining Michigan's bid for a Big Ten title. The teams battled into overtime before Michigan lost, 97- 93. The Wolverines (2-1 Big Ten, 8-6 overall) are back in the conference race after Wednesday night's thrilling double-overtime victory againstIowa. The Wolverines are currently in a tie for second place in the Big Ten. In its first conference road game of the season, Michigan was embar- rassed by Penn. State, 73-63. Tomorrow's game is pivotal if the Wolverines want to legitimately con- tend for the conference champion- ship. "It is very important for us to get this win," freshman Maurice Taylor said. "We need to increase our confi- dence for future road games. We have to do the same things that we did against Iowa - protect the ball, play as a team." Northwestern (0-2, 4-7) has struggled in the early portion of its conference schedule. The Wildcats were crushed by Minnesota, 105-74, Wednesday, after losing to Illinois, 82-55, last week. Last season, Ricky Byrdsong's first at the helm in Evanston, the North- western went 15-14, made the NIT, but finished in a tie for lastplace in the Big Ten. A tournament bid is unlikely this season. The Wildcats are led by junior :9 Brian See 'CATS, Page 14 0 1995: LQQ38t Jnnuaa[ Q /Vk/C 1 DOUGLAS KANTER/Dai Jimmy King and the Wolverines travel to Evanston to take on Northwestern. Michigan will look to avenge last year's 97-93 loss in overtime to the eas