cbz £irbigcrn Dailg swnnmers lose 1st league title in 11 years Minnesota captures conference championship at Canham Natatorium by 75-point margin By Susan Dann Daily Sports Writer A new day has dawned in men's Big swimming and diving. The sun set on Michigan's 10-year reign atop the conference as the Minne- sota Golden Gophers claimed the Big Ten Championship by a convincing 75 points over the Wolverines. But the loss hasn't eclipsed Michigan's hopes for another day or more victories. "On my morning run, the sun will rise again and life will go on," coach 0 Urbanchek said. Minnesota claimed its first Big Ten title since 1926, breaking its six-year stint as the conference's runner-up. Michigan's team score marked a no- ticeable lack of points from its top swim- mers. Untapered swimmers who are focusing on peaking at the U.S. Olym- pic Trials, including Chris Rumley, John Piersma and Tom Dolan, did not con- tribute the points that helped the squad take the Big Ten and NCAA titles last year. Also not contributing to the point total was Owen von Richter, who missed the meet because of illness and will not compete at NCAAs because of the Ca- nadian Olympic Trials. The Michigan underclassmen picked up a lot of slack in the team's point total. Among the untapered swimmers, Ja- son Lancaster added considerably to Michigan's quest for the champion- ship. He has only recently returned to a full training schedule after suffering an injury to both shoulders. Like several of his teammates, Lancaster did not taper for the meet, focusing on the Olym- pic Trials instead. Lancaster took first in the 200-yard individual medley, setting a pool record. The sophomore finished third in the 100 butterfly and second in the 200 backstroke. Lancaster was the only one of the untapered, unshaven Wolverines to win a Big Ten title. "Coming in (to the meet), I wasn't fully rested," Lancaster said. "The 200 IM was pretty good but it wasn't some- thing I'm used to. Being so far off the team record, I was surprised about the time being a pool record." Urbanchek was equally surprised and pleased with Lancaster's strong performance, despite his injury and untapered training regimen. "Jason was really only 90 percent focused on this meet," Urbanchek said. "The meet was really good for his psyche, knowing he's there (and able to compete)." Fellow sophomore Derya Buyukuncu made his presence known in the point totals and the record books, setting a pool record in the 100 butter- fly, breaking Big Ten and pool records in the 100 backstroke and shaving more See TANKERS, Page 6B MICHIGAN 8, MICHIGAN STATE Michigan tbrives off power-play emotion, Alan Goldenbach F ly Sports Writer DETROIT - The power play in hockey can have a greater impact on a game than a penalty in any other sport. The whole face ofthe game can change during a two-minute man advantage. Don't believe it? Listen to Michigan State coach Ron Mason and you'll be convinced. "The last thing I wanted to do was get into a special teams game," Mason said, following his team's 8-1 loss to Michigan Saturday. Talk to me now, coach. "We got down two men twice," Ma- son said. "Not only does that get you behind in the game, but it allows them to use more players offensively and it takes a lot of energy out of our de- fense." That's a whole lot of stuff to be concerned about. The power play is truly a unique aspect of hockey. In no other sport is there anything like it. In other sports, penalties are assessed either through yards, change of possession or an out, but neverthrough taking aplayer out of action for a set amount of time. But a team has to make good use of its chances or the effect can be adverse. Michigan took advantage of its power plays against the Spartans, con- verting 4-of-6 opportunities. But the emotion that a team can gain from scoring in such situations is im- measurable. With the game tied 1-1 at the 15:07 mark of the second period, Spartan left wing Mark - Loeding was called for inter- ference. Fifty- two seconds l a t e r, d e fe n s eman Tyler Harlton went off for high-stick- ing, giving Michigan a 5-on-3 advan- tage for 1:08 Although it doesn't seem like much, that minute proved to be the turning point in the game. Fifteen seconds after Harlton's pen- alty, Bill Muckalt scored off a beauti- fulcross-ice feedfrom Mike Legg. The goal ledthe Michigan contingent ofthe Joe Louis Arena crowd to erupt. And the emotion kept flowing, even beforethe fans couldgetbackintotheir seats. Michigan knew it could go for the kill and didn't hesitate. Before the minute was over, Muckaltscored again - this time in a 5-on-4 situation - and a sense of victory permeated the arena, even though there were almost 25 minutes of hockey left to play. "I think (the power play) was the turning point in the game," Michigan's Kevin Hilton said. "I think the five-on- NOPPORN KICHANANTHA/Daily Minnesota coach Dennis Dale accepts the Big Ten first-place trophy. Inspired Blue topples Hoosiers Cagers snap two-game home skid By Paul Barger Daily Sports Writer A team can only suffer so much ad- versity before it gives in. The Michigan men's basketball team went into yesterday's game with Indiana with a great deal on its mind and a lot to prove. Five losses in six games, the Big Ten title well out of reach and an NCAA Tounament berth in desperate jeopardy does not sit well with a team that boasts the top recruiting class in the country the last two years. But, for the first time in a long time, Steve Fisher's squad played through its problems and got the job done. 'A day after a frightening car accident cost freshman Robert Traylor the re- mainder of his season, the Wolverines stepped up big time, defeating the rival Hoosiers, 80-75. "I'm proud of how our team played," Fisher said. "They showed passion on the floor. They were immensely sup- portive of one another." Five minutes into the second half, things did not look promising. Sopho- more Maurice Taylor was on the bench with four fouls and Indiana had staged a 19-point comeback to tie the game, 44-44. The Hoosiers took the lead, 46- 45, moments later. Taylor picked up the dreaded fourth foul very early in the second half and the new found lack of depth in the frontcourt caused by the loss of Traylor began to show. The Wolverines were forced to go with a small lineup and Indiana man- aged to crawl its way back into a contest that looked like a laugher early. S o m e h o w Michigan re- gained its com- posure and re- took control of the game. Freshman Albert White and sophomore Maceo Baston had back-to- back dunks, bringing the crowd to its feet and giving the Wolverines a 56-46 lead. It looked like Michigan might put the game out of reach until Taylor fouled with just under seven minutes remain- ing and Michigan nursing a 60-53 lead. The Hoosiers cut the lead to 60-56, but that was as close as they would get. "I really like the way we fought and stayed together," Fisher said. "We hung tough in every posible aspect of what we wanted to do." White, who was unquestionably the Wolverines go-to guy yesterday, picked up his fourth foul with 3:32 left in the game, but it made no difference. White and his teammates made the plays they had to make down the stretch and came away with the essential vic- tory. "He was the man the whole game," Taylor said about White. "He rebounded and scored when we needed a basket. That's the kind of game we're going to need out of him the rest of the season." The absence of Traylor forced Fisher to juggle the line-up. The Wolverines started Taylor and Baston under the basket and Louis Bullock, Travis Conlan and Dugan Fife in the backcourt. The Michigan players responded with a fast start, something that has been lacking during the recent slump. The Wolverines built a 12-point lead with 8:49 remaining in the first half when Bullock connected on two foul shots awarded after a Bobby Knight technical foul. Then White, who led See CAGERS, Page 56 WALKER VANDYKE/Daily Michigan's Dale Rominski helped the Wolverines get big wins this weekend against the Irish and Spartans. One battle won Wolverines close in on first with victory By Danielle Rumore Daily Sports Writer DETROIT - The Michigan hockey team's two perfor- mances this weekend were like an engineering course pack and a trashy romance novel. The Wolverines' play against Notre Dame (5-18-3 CCHA, 8- 21-3 overall) Friday at The Palace of Auburn Hills was a lot like the engineering course pack -a little dry, not terribly exciting, difficult to concentrate on, but important nonetheless. Saturday night's play against Michigan State (22-5-0, 26-8- 0) at Joe Louis Arena was more like the romance novel - racy, more intense and definitely a lot more interesting. Although the No. 4 Wolverines (20-4-2, 25-5-2) beat the Fighting Irish, 5-2, and rolled over the fifth-ranked Spartans, 8- 1, the games were like night and day. Friday's victory was a lot closer than the score indicates, even though Michigan was up 4-1 until the early minutes of the third period. The Wolverines looked flat defensively, offensively, and almost everywhere else in between. "(Notre Dame) was always in the game," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "We were mediocre at best. We had poor execution, didn't make sharp passes, we were not good offen- sively or defensively and our power play was not sharp." Michigan jumped out to an early 1-0 lead 1:13 into the first period. Jason Botterill fired the puck off a Brendan Morrison feed from between the circles past Irish goalie Wade Salzman. But then Notre Dame tied it up after Aniket Dhadphale intercepted a fanned shot from Michigan's Blake Sloan in the neutral zone. He raced down the middle, scoring the breakaway goal at 3:39. Sloan's giveaway was the beginning of a bunch of defensive errors for Michigan. The Wolverines found themselves down a man or two on several occassions after a slew of penalties. "We gave up too much defensively," Morrison said. "There was a lack of execution and we were too lackadaisical. We just didn't play hard." The Wolverines notched theirfourth score, apowerplay goal, second stanza. Morrison scored an empty net goal for the fifth and final score at 18:56 of the third. Saturday night was a different story than the night before. The Wolverines and the Spartans both knew that a lot was riding on the game, mostly precious ground in the CCHA standings and a little bit of pride. For Michigan, the game was a marked improvement from the previous night in all areas. Aggressive, crisp passing, near perfect execution and offensive and defensive surges gave each team early chances in the first period. But it was the Wolverines who were able to maintain the intensity for the entire 60 minutes. Michigan managed to shake down the goaltending before the Spartans, scoring its first goal at the end of the first. The score came on the man-advantage. Morrison made the goal possible by intercepting a penalty kill attempt. He kept the puck in the zone after grabbing it at the top of the blue line. A Kevin Hilton feed to Warren Luhning pulled Spartan golatender Chad Alban out ofthe crease. Luhning then flicked a pass to John Madden who dumped it into the empty net for an easy goal. Madden's goal was the first of many Wolverine power play conversions on the night. Michigan went on to convert three more of its six total chances, good for a 66 percent clip. The Spartans tied the game after Mike Watt drilled a shot past Turco from between the circles at 7:54 of the second stanza. That goal was their first and last on the night. Michigan's defense prevented the Spartans from convert- ing any of its eight power play opportunities. "This game could have been a lot closer," Berenson said. "Our penalty killing was able stop their power play and our goal keeping, too. (Winning) still comes down to good defense." Michigan went on a tear in the third period, scoring its final five goals in a little more than 10 minutes. The victories moved the Wolverines into second-place in the CCHA and just two points behind the Spartans for the I I - -