6B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - October 6, 1997 e icers in awe of the Yost experience, overcome nerves By Chris Farah IDaily Spora t> Wh They had been to Michigan hockey games before. They had even experi- enced the fanaticism o f the obnoxious crowd at Yost Ice Arena. They had seen the excitement, fel the emotion as spec- tators. But Saturday night's Blue/White game was the )rst chance for Michigan's 10 freshmen to be an active part of the Michigan hockey phenomenon. To not only observe the experience but to be the experience as players. The Ireshmen had been on the ice at Yost before - for practice. Needless to say, Saturday night was a far cry from practice. i was overwhelming, really," defenseman M ike Van Ryn said. "I had goosebumps when we walked out and the band was there. Playing back home, we never really had a lot of fans. "It was a rush when I got out there. And you walk out and, jeez, it's not even filled." Granted, the crowd of about 3,800 fell well short of Yost's capacity of 6,343. And granted, the Wol verines weren't even playing against an opposing team - they were playing against each other. But that didn't detract from the inten- sity of the situation for the freshmen. "It was a great atmosphere," left wing Bill Trainor said. "You stepped on the ice with the band going, it was something else. Chills start going through your body, you get a little nervous out there, your first shift." If the freshmen were nervous, they managed to shake off the jitters pretty well on the offensive end. The young- sters accounted for five of the nine total goals scored by the Blue and White teams. Trainor had two of those goals for the White team, which was outscored by the Blue, 6-3. "It just happened to be the right time and the right spot," Trainor said. "I was surprised getting those chances, but it was great that I did." Freshman Troy Kahler chipped in another goal to round out the scoring for the White team. Forward Josh Langfeld did the rest of the scoring for the freshmen, racking up a pair goals for the winning side. Senior captain Matt Herr was quick to point out that the freshmen's success wasn't entirely grounded in skill. "There's 15 of them and four of us," Herr joked. "No, I think it's real good for the freshmen - it's a great way to get their feet wet." When you're playing against your own teammates, however, a high offen- sive output isn't entirely positive. As tal- ented on offense as many of the fresh- men are, sloppy defense on the part of both the Blue and White teams led to many of the scoring opportunities. Van Ryn said that a certain level of imprecision is expected in the first real competitive situation of the season. "We're just really starting to get a feel for a lot of the defensive game" he said. As eye-opening as the Blue/White game was, the rookie Wolverines have a lot of developing to do. Freshman left wing Geoff Koch said it would take time for the new Wolverines to adjust to Michigan's system - offensively and defensively. "I have to keep working on my shot," Koch said. "Keep working on the system, it's on your mind all the time out there," The White team's Dale Rominski fights f or the puck, Saturday, during Michigan's intrasquad Blue/White game. JOIN THE MOST PROMISING PROFESSION OF THE 21ST CENTURY Prospective Teacher Education Meeting Thursday, October 16, 1997 6:00 p.m. Schorling Auditorium Room 1309 School of Education Building Call 764-7563 for more information. S...EEPRs. - . IR Record crowd 'Rocks' spikers to victory By Josh Kleinbaum Daily Sports Writer If you build it, they will come. Michigan volleyball coach Greg Giovanazzi has spent the last five years building his team into an upper-echelon Big Ten program. And Friday, they - the fans - came. The Wolverines victory over No. 16 Michigan State, 13-15, 15-9, 15-3, 15- 9, drew 2,346 fans, the largest crowd ever at Cliff Keen Arena. "This is the most Michigan crowd that I've seen in my five years here," Michigan State coach Chuck Erbe said. "This was a great crowd tonight. They came here wanting to see blood, and they got it:' The predominantly Michigan crowd was a stark contrast to the Michigan- Michigan State matchup at Keen a year ago, when the Spartans out-drew the Wolverines. It was an even starker contrast to the Wolverines match just two days earlier, when Keen was so barren you could likely hear a pin drop as Michigan swept Northwestern. But on Friday, whether it was for the volleyball, the free Rock the House T- shirt or just a night's entertainment, the fans came. And the Wolverines < " zi . ; . rA $ rrdo?4+r. y.. , . >, _- ' ,Y'. ls r , TS FOR YOUR EYE EXAMS & EYEGLASSES responded. Sarah Behnke, Sarah Jackson and Linsey Ebert ignited the crowd with their powerful spikes. The three com- bined for 43 kills. Linnea Mendoza paced the offense with extremely con- sistent setting, recording 54 assists. The senior's 4,160 assists make her just the 17th player in Big Ten history to eclipse the 4,125 mark. "The loudness, the cheering, the sup- port - it really gets you fired up," Michigan outside hitter Anne Poglits said. The Spartans attack started out strong, but became very predictable, very soon. By the middle of game two, most of the crowd knew the Spartans were setting up outside hitters Jenna Wrobel and Veronica Morales. The Wolverines adjusted and saw the Spartans attack percentage drop from .341 in the first game to .157 in the sec- ond. A good number of Spartan fans made the trip to Ann Arbor, taking up about a quarter of the arena. But whenever cries of "Let's go State" could be heard from their section, "Let's go Blue" boomed from the Keen rafters, swallowing the yells of the Spartan faithful. The Michigan State players, however, claimed to be unaffected by the Michigan fans. "I didn't even know there was a crowd out there," Wrobel said. "It does- n't impact how we play or how we 25 BEERS ON TAP ON DRAFT THIS MONTH YoUNG'S OATMEAL STOUT NEW CASTLE BROWN ALE BELL'S AMBER ALE DETROIT MACKINAC BLACK SAM ADAMS CHERRY WHEAT GOOSE ISLAND- HONKERS ALE AULANR H EFE-WEIZEN LUE OON PUMPKIN & MANY OTHERS NO AYNO fCHARGE 310 MAYNRD 995.100M(Uf M CENTRAL CAMPUS) 21 &OVER Giorgio Armani STUDENT DISCOUNTS Kichardson 's optical 320 S. State St. (located in the lower level of Decker Drugs) Hours: M, T, TH, F 9 am-6 pm Wed,& Sat 9 am-1 pm JOHN KRAFT/Daiy Michigan's Melissa Ackee signs auto- graphs for a record crowd at Cliff Keen. should play." But that doesn't explain Spartan set- ter Vicki Basil's apparent lackof con- centration, leading to sloppy setting, The freshman was benched late in the match in favor of junior Kelley'Piivey, a more experienced player. "Professional athletes can big crowd doesn't matter because they play in front of them so often," Giovanazzi said. "I don't think that's true at our level. We had a crvwd that was not only extremely supportive, but also very into the match and knowl- edgeable. "We've had a really loyal following,' albeit a little small, but now there's an educational process going on aain people are getting into it." Read Daily Sports. 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