- ...~IUIa4Cly, ~J'..~AJIJ 4- THEPTE _______A POLLS 1199798 Michigan hockey roster K -_ __ qlrpm ound 4 Turco's fourth season should be his most chal By Sharat Raju Daily Sports Writer For the past three seasons, any talk about goaltenders at Michigan has been talking about Marty Turco. As soon as he arrived in 1993, Turco was thrown into the net, with full confidence placed in his abilities as a goalie. And he didn't disappoint, being named CCHA rookie of the year. His other achievements read like a list of career goals for any netminder: all-time Michigan shutout leader, 1997 CCHA goalie of the year, three CCHA titles, active CCHA leader in five categories, 1996-97 All- American, 1995-96 NCAA all-tour- nament team selection. 1995-96 national champion. Not to mention with 94 career vic- tories Turco is on pace to break the NCAA-record 111 wins set by for- mer Wolverine and current Buffalo Sabre Steve Shields. All the current Michigan goalie needs is to win a lit- tle more than half as many games as he won last year. No problem, right? But suddenly there's all this talk outside the hockey program concern- ing Turco's ability, that his success was a by-product of the tremendous talent on the ice in front of him. All eyes are going to be on the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario native, just like always. "If you play in goalie in the CCHA and especially at Michigan. there's always going to be pressure," Turco said. The same pressure might be there, but the situation this time is different. So many times during the previous three seasons, Turco has had to play the waiting game. Patiently sitting back, deflecting an occasional shot, he knew the goals would come from the high-octane offense at Michigan. Now, no one knows what will hap- pen or where the goals will come from. Or even if there will be enough goals will in fact come. "I don't think I have to work on concentration as much as I did in years past," Turco said. "I didn't see some shots in some games, and I had to work on that. Now I'm going to expect a lot of shots, so my concen- tration improved during the last year." And that's the big criticism Turco undoubtedly has been hearing: makes the great saves at clutch times, but lets the easy ones squeak past him. The only problem this season is that without those easy saves, there might not be games where clutch saves matter -- the championships, the playoffs, to name the most impor- tant ones. "Marty can only do so much," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "He can't score goals, he can't carry the puck out of our zones. For the most part, the only thing he can do is to make sure the other team doesn't score bad goals" The challenge presented to Turco is formidable. Not only is the offense not as potent, there are apparent question marks on the blue line as well. With the departure of key Wolverines on defense, only Bubba Berenzweig, Sean Peach and Chris Fox remain as experienced defense- men. "Marty can help the young defense in terms of talking to them, giving the puck to them, being a little bit like a third defensemen," Berenson said. "But he can't get caught up too much in all that. This is a huge chal- lenge for him. He's got to get himself in order. That will help our defense not be crushed every time they make a mistake when the puck ends up in the net on a shot that maybe Marty should have stopped." Although Turco downplays the apparent increase in scrutiny upon himself, he does recognize that this season is completely different than any other he's taken part in at Michigan. "Our work ethic in practice, how intense we are and how we out-work the other teams - that's going to be our recipe for success," Turco said. "Not nine seniors and great talent, but that's what is going to do it for us. "Now being a senior, it's time to step up in the leadership role. Maybe not say anything on the ice, but show- ing through example on the ice." Regardless of what happens, Turco is the man between the pipes. There is little debate about that. Behind him is senior Gregg Malicke, who after transferring to Michigan after his freshman year has always been in Turco's shadow. This season should be no different. The third goalie is perennial fan- favorite Greg Daddario, who although is an instrumental part of the team's game-prep practices, will see the same amount of time as in years past. "Once the season gets around, there's going to be no more freshman, sophomores, juniors or seniors," Turco said. "It's going to be 27 guys on one hockey team." But only one Turco. CCH A Media Poll Team Paints 1.MlchIan State (20) 371 2. MIchigan (±0) 351 3, Miami (Ohio) (3) 311 4. Lake Superior 299 5. 0owling Green 242i 6. Western Michigan 225 7. Ohio State 143 8. Notre Dame 138 9. Norther Michigan 108 10. Ferris State 107 11. Alaska-Fairbanks 81 -first place votes in parentheses Michigan hockey numeric roster 2. Kevin MagNuson 3. Bubba Berenzweig 4. Mike Van Ryn 6. Scott Crawford 7. Justin Clark 8. Matt Herr (C) 9. Mark Kosick 10. Scott Matzka 11. Andrew Merrick. 15. Craig Assenmacher 16. Bill Muckalt (A) 17. Sean Ritchlin 18. Geoff Koch 19. Troy Kahler 20. Bob Gassoff 21. Josh Langfeld 22. Bill Trainor 23. Date Rominski 24. Sean Peach 25. Bobby Hayes 26. Chris Fox 27. Dave Huntzicker 29. Gregg Malicke 30. Greg Daddario 33. Greg Crozier 35. Marty Turco (A) . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . ..... . .. . ..... ... .... ... . . ... . ... ...... .. . .. ... ... .... . . U U UNITED A U T O AND FLEET REPAIR 2321 Jackson Ave. Ann Arbor 48103 (313) 665-7130 STUDENT SPECIALS - Oil Changes $17.95 - Winterizations $39.95 " General Maintenance Inspection $22.50 - Foreign and Domestics Serviced ,a o BADGERS i x: 1: '' Continued from Page 18C .ast year's overall record: 15-21-2 1997-98 game with back injuries. Last year's WCHA record: 15-15-2 against Michigan Without the two 6-foot-2 freshmen, Nov. 30 Ann Arbor the Badgers might suffer along the Last year's result vs. Michigan defensive front with their lack of size. 11/30/96 Mich. 8, Wisconsin 4 Head coach Rounding out the Wisconsin Players to watch Jeff Sauer, 15th season defense is netminder Mike Valley, Brad Englehart Sr. C Random note: Michigan has won who hopes to fill the huge void left by Joe Branchi Sr. C the last four games between the the departure of second-team All- Dustin Kuk So, W teams, dating back to 1994. America Kirk Daubenspeck. - Pranay Reddy Marty Turco might not have the chance to ta son, considering the large number of new fac , Ff a:Fr For More Information Contact: R o s sBIANCHI-ROSSI TOURS at . .800-875-4525 Web site: www bianchi-rossi.com GO LoAin AcpucoU bix CD's> ~cot, 5-7 6-4 r I Mal cke Marty Turco 6-0 , - Marty Turco has been known to come up with big saves at crucial times for the Wolverines. But healso has been \ criticized for let- ting the easy ones get by. WARREN ZINN/ Daily /S-j75Jj derer JEWELRY AND FINE WATCHES 1113 south university 662-3773 Iya 2' "s i ' : .r -} .h R T.' l Y. r a ? RY ' 4 ¢ . n r } n } / Y ] . .+ y: , , - ' A - A n . ,r "' a .t i t r 'l - -±