4B The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - February 2, 1998 HOCKEY Personally, I don't think there should be a big difference between Bily Muckalt and Gr% Crozier. But there's been a big difference. -Michigan coach Red Berenson The Three Stars The Michigan Daily hockey writ- ers' picks for Michigan's three stars of the weekend: Third Star: Bobby Hayes The junior forward added on to his career season, chalking up four points, including two goals in the two games against Notre Dame this weekend. Second Star: Krikor Arman The walk-on came out of nowhere in, his first game for Michigan, scoring two of the Wolverines' first three goals in Friday's game at Notre Dame. Does "Krikor" have as nice a ring as "Rudy?"= First Star: Greg Crozier The junior racked up four points on the weekend, including the first hat trick of his career Saturday. And it couldn't have come at a better time: Crozier's third goal won the game for Michigan. Michigan 7 Notre Dame 2 Michigan j Notre Dame 5 4 (OT) ° Key play: With :23 left and Saturday's game tied at 44, referee Matt Shegos disallowed what would have been the game-winning goal for the Irish after whistling the puck dead. IrAA luck rmns out rn'io tA f peio MIchigan 7, Notre Dame 2 Michigan 3 2 2 - 7 Notre Dame 1 1 0 -2 First period - 1. ND, Kopischke 2 (Fraser, Dwyer), 9:20; 1. UM, Arman 1 (Fox, Matzka), 13:46; 2. UM, Hayes 17 (Herr, Fox), 16:05 (pp); 3. UM, Arman 2 (Gassoff), 17:32. Penalties - UM, Herr, (roughing), 10:12; ND, Cotnoir (interference), 15:04; ND, Kopischke, (hooking) 18:34. Second period - 4. UM Kosick 8 (Rominski, Crozier) 1:15; 2. NO Eaton (Dwyer) 7:10 (pp); 5. UM Rominski 8 (unassisted) 11:19. Penalties - UM, Peach (holding), 5:23; UM, bench (too many men) 6:48; ND Boerga (holding), 11:31; UM, Turco, (roughing), 18:39. Third period -6. UM, Matzka, 2 (Langfeld, Koch), 2:25; 7. UM, Muckalt, 26 (Hayes), 14:47. Penalties - ND, bench (too many men), 6:45; ND, Simon, (hitting from behind, major, game misconduct), 7:36; UM, Langeld (holding the stick), 8:43; UM, Arman, (playing with broken stick), 19:31. Shots on goal - UM 9-9-9 - 27; NO 12-11-8 - 31. Power Plays -UM,of 5; N2of 5. Saves - UM, Turco 11-10-8 - 29; UM, Malicke x- x- - 0; ND, Karr 6-7-7 - 20. Refere - Steve Piotroski. Unes"m - Brian Troester, John Pearson. At: Joyce Center. A: 2,667. JOHN KRAFT/Daily Michigan left wing Bill Muckalt spent the entire weekend against Notre Dame, clutching and grabbing in an attempt to gain any advantage possible. Muckalt's Wolverines saw the light, and gained two victores, toppling Notre Dame, 7-2 and 54. The victories kept Michigan in first place in the CCHA. Anman hammers Notre Dae in debut Michigan 5, Notre Dame Michigan Notre Dame 4 (OT) 0 1 3 0-4 3 1 0 1--5 First period - 1. UM, Herr 1 (Muckalt, Hayes), 3:19 (pp). 2. UM, Hayes 1 (Huntzicker, Muckalt) 9:43 (pp). 3. Crozier 1 (Rominski, Kosick) 19:41. Penalties - ND, Jurkowski (interference), 2:40; UM, Matzka (slashing), 4:17; ND Van Arkel (rough- ing), 9:04; ND, R. Clark (charging), 9:58; UM, Gassoff (elbowing), 13:05; ND, Cotnoir (interfer- ence), 17:23. Second period -1. ND, Urick 1 (Noble), 4:27. 4. UM, Crozier 2 (Muckalt), 15:53. Penalties - ND, Simon (holding the stick), 1:06; ND, Boerga (rough. ing), 5:19; UM, Matzka (roughing), 5:19; UM, bench - Crozier (too many men), 13:26. Third period - 2. ND, Carlson 1 (Urick, Simon), 8:19 (pp). 3. ND, Van Arkel 1 (Simon), 9:20. 4. ND, Eaton (Carlson), 15:45 (pp). Penalties - UM, Herr (interference), 0:23; UM, Merrick (slashing), 6:59; UM, Matzka (high-sticking) 14:57. Overtime-S. Crozier 3 (Kosick), 3:19. Penalties - none. Shots on goal - ND 10-7-15-0 --32; UM 19-12-9-4 -44. Power Plays - ND 2 of 6; UM 2 of 5. Saes - UM, Turco 10.6-x-x - 16; UM, Malicke x- x-12-0 -k12; ND, Eisler 1611-9-- 39. Refeee - Matt Shegos. Unesmen - Mike Poliski, Bob Faria. At: Yost Ice Arena. A 6,529. By Red U nk Daily Sports Writer KrikorArman was an unlikely hero for the Michigan hockey team Friday, scor- ing two goals - including the game win- ner - in his first game as a Wolverine. With Michigan trailing 1-0 midway through the first period and being out- played by Notre Dame, the sophomore walk-on gave the Wolverines a lift, as he fired a backhand shot by Notre Dame goaltender Forrest ----.--------- Karr to tie the game Hocke Less than four Notebook minutes later, Arman ----------------- scored his second goal of the night when a shot by Bob Gasoff deflected off a defender's skate to Arman right of the goal mouth and he slammed the puck into the open net. "It was awesome "Arman said. "It was a great way to have a first game. I think God was a little on my side tonight. The first goal happened to squeeze in a tight spot. The second one I had a wide-open net" For Arman, though, just playing in a game was unexpected. After tallying 22 goals and 28 assists for the Dearborn Heights Nationals in the North American Hockey League, Arman came to Michigan just hoping to make the team. He impressed coaches enough during walk-on tryouts to earn a spot on the team. "I came to Michigan to be a hockey player,"Arman said. "But I didn't know if I was going to be." For a year, the biology/pre-med major practiced every day, devoting long hours to the team. He never got a chance to play in a game. "He comes here every day and works hard," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "He lifts weights, he runs in the summer time - he does everything our team does. He listens to the coaches, the meetings. He practices hard, does extra skating and then doesn't play. And he sits in there every day knowing he has no chance to play." At the beginning of the season, Berenson didn't give Arman much of a chance of playing either. "I didn't give him a chance of playing at the start of the year' Berenson said. "I wasn't sure if we really could carry him because I didn't know if he could play in a game." But as the season progressed, Berenson began to realize that Arman was practicing as well as some of the for- wards who were playing regularly. "I think he's improved to the point where we wanted to see him in a game," Berenson said. "Because I think he's very close to some of our other players." So, Berenson put Arman in the lineup against Notre Dame, and Arman made the most of it. "He had a good game and he scored timely goals, Berenson said. "And what the heck, he's already tied or ahead of three or four of our forwards." PENALTY-KILLING WOES: Michigan's he third period was painful to watch. It really was. Michigan giving up four goals in that frame on Saturday was one of the more troubling sights of the season. 9 I know Notre Dame only 'officially' scored three goals, but I'm saying 'four' because the fourth goal should have counted. But the luck of the Irish turned out to be bad luck, and the fourth one was denied. "College hockey is a game of momentum," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "And we lost the momentum in the third period, and they got it" Goaltender Gregg Malicke entered the game at the onset of the period, giv- ing Marty Turco a well-deserved rest. The three-goal lead seemed secure. Michigan was apparently dominating Notre Dame in every aspect of the con- test. Apparently. SHARAT "It's a lesson for our team and RAJU Sharat agood experi- in the Dark ence for our team, as well' Berenson said. "It just goes to show you that last night's game was not a 7-2 .: game, and tonight's game maybe had- theamrigofa72ae. The Fighting Irish must have slippe something into Michigan's water bot- tIes, because the Wolverines were look- ing sluggish. So was Yost Ice Arena. And after eight minutes of anemic play by Michigan, Notre Dame took advan- tage of a power-play opportunity, cut, ting the lead to two. OK, no need to panic. A 4-2 lead is still sizable. Everything's fine. One short minute later, the Irish put one in the net again. Not good. But a 4-3 lead is still a lead, and maybe Michigan can fight off the Irish and walk away with the win. Then Michigan's Scott Matzka got a penalty. Then Notre Dame scored on the power play. Then suddenly the score was tied, 4-4. A three-goal lead vanished, in Yost, against a eighth-place team? Better believe it, because Michigan hardly could. "For us to come out with two points today, it's really a miracle," Crozier said. And then the fourth goal - the un- goal - with 23 seconds left in the peri- od. Oh boy. That was the true miracle. Referee Matt Shegos made Michigan's biggest save of the game, blowing the play dead because he thought the puck was covered up. The puck was sitting peacefully in front of Malicke as the whistle blew, millisec- onds before Notre Dame's Brian Urick fired it into the net. If it wasn't for the bad luck of the Irish, Michigan never would have had. an overtime, never have had a chance for Greg Crozier to complete his hat trick and win the game. In the postgame press conference, Malicke didn't look anyone in the eye as he spoke, clearly wishing he was anywhere but facing the press. "It's just unacceptable, my perfor- mance;' Malicke said. "I don't know when I'm going to go in, but when I go in I have to make a statement. Tonight I didn't make a statement." But the senior goaltender was too hard on himself. He did have a role in the third period collapse, but the near- loss wasn't his doing. Berenson defended his goalie, saying it wasn't Malicke's fault, that Michigan's defense played poorly and the penality killing was 'horrendous.' Regardless, gopd teams win close games, and Michigan has proven that it can pull out close ones. Michigan is 10-3 in one-goal games, tying a single-season record for nail- biting victories. The Wolverines had no business winning Saturday's game. But, they did win, they did gain a point on Michigaro State in the standings. And they did it by the skin of their teeth - again. - Sharat Raju can be reached at sraju@umich.edu. JOHN KRAFT/Daily In his firstdgame as a Wolverine, sophomore walk-on Krikor Amen played 12 shifts and scored two first-period goals, including the eventual game-winner. Upcoming schedule Feb. 7 Lak Feb.13 Mi Feb.14 Nor Feb. 20 Mi Feb. 21 Mi Feb. 27 Fei Feb. 28 La -March 6 Boo e Superior* mi (Ohio) rthern Michigan chigan State chigan. State* ris State ke Superior wling Green penalty killers struggled against Notre Dame's power play. In Friday night's contest, Notre Dame went 1-for-5 on the power play, scoring only with a 5-on-3 advantage. But the Wolverines' success on the penalty kill was due largely to the efforts of goal- tender Marty Turco. On Saturday, Notre Dame scored two power play goals in the third period, IRISH Continued from Page 113 give the Irish their third power-play opportunity of the period. The penalty - a questionable call, Berenson said - was the final push Notre Dame needed to complete the comeback, as defensemancMark Eaton knotted the score at four from the point. But with four minutes left in the con- test, the Irish weren't about to concede an extra period. Notre Dame had Michigan on it's heels, and it pressed harder. Urick took the puck on a rebounded shot and put it in the net, seemingly giv- ing the Irish a 5-4 lead with just 23 sec- onds left in the game. But the goal was waved off, as referee Matt Shegos claimed the whistle was blown before the rebounded shot reached Urick, hence calling the play dead. The break the Wolverines received forced an overtime frame, where Crozier stepped into the spotlight. Criticized this year by Berenson for his lack of production, the maligned junior completed the first hat trick of his Michigan career with a slapshot from the right point which squirted through the five-hole of Notre Dame goalie Matt including the game-tying goal. "Our penalty killing was horrendous," Berenson said. "We gave up two power- play goals, and that shouldn't happen. No way." MUCKALT IN THE BOOKS: With a goal in Friday's game, Bill Muckalt tied Gordon McMillan for 10th place on the Wolverine's all time goal-scoring list with 99 goals. Eisler. "He's a player that we've been waiting for and waiting for and since his fresh- man year he has not scored the way that we've hoped he could score, Berenson said. "Personally I don't think there should be a big difference between Billy Muckalt and Greg Crozier, but there's been a big difference:' Although Saturday night's perfor- mance left Berenson with questions, Friday night's game was relatively straightforward, as Michigan got out to an early 4-1 lead and never looked back. After going down 1-0 on a goal by Notre Dame left wing Jay Kopischke, Michigan walk-on Krikor Arman tied things up with his first career goal - in his first shift for the Wolverines. Minutes later in the first period, Arman added another goal, to the disbelief of the Wolverines. "I said to myself this week, 'He's not any better or any worse than about five or six of our forwards.' So we put him in a game" Berenson said. "And he's not." In addition to Arman, Michigan cen- ter Bobby Hayes tallied two points, scor- ing a goal in the first period and adding an assist in the third on a goal by right wing Bill Muckalt. ,March 13 CCHA Quarterfinals March 14 CCHA Quarterfinals March 15 CCHA Quarterfinals March 20 CCHA Semifinals* March 21 CCHA Finals* *at Joe Louis Arena Home games in Bold LT A JOHN KRAFT/Daily Freshman defenseman Josh Langfeld and the rest of the Wolverines made an Impact on the Irish this weekend, as they swept the home-and-home series. - -d 44-k I- p-qlm 49 . l t ANE -%