10 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 14, 1997 Hiockey faces 7 FerrsSt. with stronger unity By Pranay Reddy Dily Sprts Wrtr. To simply call them road trips would be an understae- .~ Fages , the Michigan hockey team returns home fert r a ' back-to-ack trips to Alaska-Fairbanks and Northern Michigan Thie 10th-ranked Wolvennes (3-2-0 CCHA 63-0 overall) ' ce off against Ferris State tonight at Yost ee Arena Michigan then travels to Grand Rapids on Sunday to face the iF f' Bulldogs (2-3-1, 2-6-1) at Van Andel Arena While logging the miles may have hurt the teams tae , . budget, Michigan coach Red Berenson feels trips like theyye previous two help his team off the ice more than it seem. { f "Our kids have spent a lot of time together in different se- f narios, and I think they've enjoyed i,' Berenson said."I think sk~ it's een all positive." N Teair chemistry is "not something you can force, but 1 s think it has ben good," he added. t And with Michigan's development coming along smooth- ly . renson expects his freshmen to become mor promi- nent figures on and off the ice. "A lot of these kids haven't come out of their shell yet' Berenson said. "They're still walking around watching what they say, watching what they do. "he better you do on the ice, the more confident you fee1 off the ice." Berenson pointed out the case of freshman Mark Kosick" swho tallied a hat trick in last Saturday's 5-3 victory over Northero Michigan. Quiet like typical freshmen, the young ,. center broke through both on the score sheet and in the lock- " ' ' :;,, crtoom last weekend, becoming one of the more vocal fresh- ' me nteta fe i a rc.HOCKEY PARENTS: Tonight's game not only welcomes back the Wolverines, but their parents as well. A number of different players will have their parents in town for the 111Berenson appreciats the support the parents give to both their sons and the Michigan hockey program. But he is wary of the few who fail to make the distinction between parent and coach. "I try and make it cleat to the parents that they don't have to coach their sotns anymore' Berenson said. "They can leave-r coachin' to us -their sons just need their support."s The large number of parents Berenson has met over the ye' m have given itm more than his share of interesting anec- dotes. One season, a player's father had driven a long way to see his son play at Yost. After the first period of a tight game, Berenson pulled the player. Following the game, the father approached Berenson. What was the dad's reaction? "Congratulations, coach. You stuck with him a lot longer than I would have"tf e n Berenson's re'action to those parents who tend to be over- protective seems to be understandable for the coach of a big- time college hockey program. "Your son is still your son, whether he is playing or not" lie said. "You're coming to see him, aren't you? WARREN 055N/Day "If you just want to go anid see a hockey game, go satch Michigan goalie Marty Turco will take advantage of improved team chemistry- and hopefully defense - when the he Toronto Maple Leifs' Wolverines face Ferris State tonight at Yost Ice Arena and on Sunday in Big Rapids. 'M' Volleyball faces weekend of . -challenges, twists- and cliches New era tips-' off for hoops,. By Dan Stillman 13Y vSpotriter Michigan basketball has been a hot topic forsome time nowv, and the season hasn't eveni started. Now, the Wve1%rines hope to start a new trend by mak:ingnPews on the court. After months of allegations, investigations, repots andi a coaching change that comblined to produce downright chaos, Michigan will starta new season and a new ema tomorrow night at 8 p.m., when it hosts Western Michigan. "The past is the past, and the future is the future' co-captain1 Robert Traylor said. "We're a team that's going to live in the present." What the present holds is questions - many questions. Will the Wolverines be able to put the turmoil of the past behn them'? How will they play unuder new coach Briaii Ellerbe'? Can they make up for the early loss of Travis Conlan"? Do they1W enough depth to be a national power? With the firing of coach Ste'ye Fisher less than a month behind them, the Wolverine: hayve not ha d much time to adjust to the situation. "We're kind of wakitng up," forward Macco B'aston said. "We kind of were in a little daze abeut the past situation, and the sea- son kind of hit us so quick with the fimst exhibition game." The Wolverines went 1-1 in the exhibition season, losing to Athletes in Action, 95-93, before defeating Ural-Great, a Russian all-star team, 93-68, on Monday. In an attempt to "wake" his team up, Ellerbe held two tices yesterday - the regular afternoon practice and an ear te~r one at?7 a.m. "'We wanted to emphasize an area that we thought would be critical,' said Ellerbe of the early-morning workout. Ellerbe said the area of emphasis was offensive and defen- sive execution. With the fundamentally sound Conlan out for abeut a month, execution is a major concern, especially on defense. Conlan, the senior point guard and co-captain, frac- tured his wrist while diving for a ball against AlA after a bril- liant 19-point perfornmance on 7-of-8 shooting. The coaches had been working on getting Conlan lo be m~t aggressive than in the past and were very pleased withtW progress. "It's a msjor loss in eeyara, Ellere said. "Quite frankly, we are worried about it" "(Conlan) makes up for everybody's mistakes on the defen- sive end," 'uard Louts Bullock said. Avoiding defensive lapses will b important against the Broncos, who beast a solid half-court attack. "Western bethers me with their style of play,' Ellerbe said. But the biggest obstacle Michigan must overgsme in the early part of the season will probably be itself. As much as Wolverines say they want to locus on the present, it's harWs) forget the past. "I don't think anybody's trying to think about it tooi much" Bullock said. But its hard notto, because sometimes a .play will happen and you'll wondgr what Fisher would say" Ellerbe said that it may be a while until the team fully adjusts. "We're still in thqirocess of finding a real pemsonality for the. team said Ellerbe, who has installed a few new tactics plto the Wolvertnes' game plan, including a zone defense and'aimure up-terno attack. I think they're still thinking about, thin's instead of just reacting" But Traylor isn't concerned about making excuses foilh Wolverines.0e word comes to mind when it comms to Traylors prsonality -confidence. "I said it freshman year, and I'll say it again," Traylor stid. "We're going lo be a Final Four team. Daily Spoits Wriier It should be ans interesting atnd telling weekend for the Michigans volleyball team. The Wolverines (9-5 Big Ten, 16-9 overall) will be at home playing Iowa tonight and Minnesota tomorrow, two teams they have already beaten thiws season. .But each of the mvatches contains a 14tc twist. The match against the Golden Goiphers 18-6, 18-7) puts Michigan setter Linnea Mendoza against VInnesota's Becky Bauer. The two paers are vying for the Big Ten's currently 10th while Bauer is third. The twists don't stop there. The match against the Hawkeyes (2-12, 11-14) will pit some familiar faces against one another. Iowa coach Malt Sonnichson played for Michigan coach (ireg Giovanazzi at UCLA. Also, Michigans's Jeanine Szczesnsiak and Iowa's Jennifer Bell are old team- mates. But when lookinig at the matches themselves, the weekend is nothing short of cliche for the Wolverines. With only three weekends left in the regular season, the Wolverines are in complete control of their finish. "We're looking at this weekend in particular as one where all the cliches come out of coaches' mouths. where we really control our own des- tiny," Giovanazzi said, "I think there's a lot of excitement, and there's also a lot of question about, 'Hey, just how are we going to do?"' As they near the end of the season, it ls important that the pressure that comes from controlling their own destiny does not distract the Wolverines. "This is the time of year where they're really trying to find out who they are as athletes," Giovanazzi said. "They had a great start, and they've gone on five weekends of splits. "In the old days, that would have been an unbelievable success, but we established a beginning that made the expectations even higher than maybe we were shooting for," Confidence is a key for the Wolverines this weekend, but the past five splits have taken their toll mentally. T-SHiRT PRINTING * LOWEST PRICESI HIGHEST QUALI1Y! *FASTEST SERWICEI * 1002 PONTIAC TR. * * 994-1367. U..... Ur They lost to Michigan State on Nov. 2. a team they had already beat- en, while most recently losing, 3-i,- to Wisconsin. Giovanazzi is looking at this weekenid as one that can help the team regain the momentum it had earlier in the season. "I want to get back itt that place where we're playinig the game with passion and where sve aren't ques- tionin' everything that we do," Giovanazzi said. 'One of the thing's that happens when you play- very good teams, like a Wisconsin or even a situation like Michigan Stale where sve had beaten them, and then we lost to them, you start asking questions that you really shouldn't ask." One of the learn's problems over the past few weeks has been offense, namely the Wolverines' passing game. According to Giovanazzi, Michigan's offensive game is far too easy for opponents to anticipate. Aside from fundamentals, too much focus on the future may be keeping the Wolverines from reach- ing their true potential. "I'm just really hoping that we'll get back to our normal starting line- up, and we'll get back into a situa- tion where we see ourselves as the No. 3 team that we could be and should be at the end of the weekend," Giovanazzi said. 'I think there's too much focus on the goal, instead of the process. I really believe that. "We are so stuck on being the first Michigan team to go to the NCAAs and being the first Michigan team to go 13-7. These are things we" can only control one match at a time." Kiersten Kuhlmanf> and the Michigan soccer team will make its first< NCAA appearance in just its fourth" year of existence. PAULssusvusNIAN us ' ' ;r<:ti- - The Michigan volleyball team has hit a lull from the beginning of the season and Is looking to use its weekend mat( against Iowa and Minnesota as tools to regain its momentum.