6B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday -- March 16, 1998



HOCKEY

Quotable:
"I saw this big sign, 'Luck of the
Irish,' on the way out. Your luck's
running out."
- Michigan captain Mfan Herr
ont elimfinatinig Notre Dame frnt
the CCHA Tournament and ending
the Fighting Irish s season

ound
.... Game 3 Keyplay:
On Saturday night, Bobby Hayes
Michigan 4 scored with under a minute left in
the first overtime, extending the
(____ Notre Dame 3 series to last night's deciding
Notregame three.

Game 1
Notre Dame
lIl Michigan

tiebreaker
By Pranay Reddy
Daily Sports Writer
Last night at Yost Ice Arena, the Michigan hockey
team set the stage for its most'exciting game this season.
Unfortunately for the Wolverines, not many were in
the audience.
Known as perhaps the most raucous crowd in the
CCHA, the usual Michigan faithful were atypical in
their performance over the weekend. Crowds during the
three-game series with the Fighting Irish were no doubt
season lows (barring games over breaks), prompting
one reporter in the Yost press box
to ask on Friday night, "Is it still
Hockey Spring Break?"
Commentary To the dismay of many, it was-
n't "still Spring Break," and this
still was Michigan hockey - the
most entertaining athletic event Ann Arbor has to offer.
Then why did Michigan's indefatigable home-ice
advantage suddenly become null and void during the
most inportant weekend of the year thus far?
Fans can point out number of reasons for not show-
ing up, but they all come down to one thing - apathy.
Most people figured this weekend to be a no-brainer, a
two-game warmup for the CCHA semifinals next
Friday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
Even the athletic department failed to foresee the pos-
sibility of Michigan having to take three games to dis-
patch the seventh-seeded Irish. Tickets for last night's
deciding game weren't included in the student season
ticket package.
"The decision was made to leave this game off the
season ticket package because we usually didn't have to
play it,' assistant ticket manager Shari Wilcox said.
Even though the game was left off the season pack-
age, student tickets were offered at price of $6 - no
higher than a typical student ticket. But according to

Michigan forwrd Mark Kosick and Notre Dame defenseman Mark Eaton played the deciding game of their play-
off series in front of Michigan's smallest crowd of the season - only 5,432 fans were in attendance.

Yesterday's game ,
Michigan 4, Notre Dame 3
Notre Dame 1 1 1 -3
Michigan 0 2 2 - 4
First period -1. ND, Eaton 12 (Kopischke.
Hagkull), 200. Penalties - ND, Csark(hodng),
2:58; ND, Srick(chagg 12:51 SM Merrck
(roughing) 12:51; UM Gassoff (hooking), 17:25.
Second period - 2. ND, Dhdale 25 (Urck,
Simonl, 4:23; 1 SM, Kesck i rozer, Muckalt),
7:39; 2. UM.,Berenzweig6(Hayes),12:18, pp.
Penalties -N,Ulick (ruehigl, S:2; SM,
Muckalt (roughng), 00: 52U M,Muccalt ( oughing),
t0:52; SM,Hayes (slasieng ,7:57; ND, Hagkull
(hittng aftewhstlel, 11iS8.
Third period - 3. UM, Langfeld 17 (Muckalt, Herr),
4:17, pp; 3. ND, Dolder 3 (Chipchase, Simon), 4:31;
4. SM, Matzka 4 (Roiski,Koccii, 5:55, pr.
Penalies - ND, N oble (hoking) 341; sNMolna
slashe, 5.43; SM, Kocci (h-st icking), 8:15;
ND, Kopischke (coscheckoing, 12:00.
Shots on goal - ND 337 - 13; UM 15t8-14 - 37.
Poe loys - sN D s; SM 3 of5.
hoes-ND Esler 15122 - 33 ;UM, Turco 2-26
-10.
At: Yost Ice Arena A: 5,342

Wilcox, of the 3,600 student season ticket holders,
approximately 150 purchased tickets to last night's
game.
Nevertheless, people may argue, "Well, I didn't want
to miss the men's basketball team playing in the NC AA
tournament"
These staunch supporters are obviously the ones who
relentlessly supported the basketball team throughout
its season. The same fans who filled Crisler Arena dur-
ing games against Western Michigan and Cleveland
State, yelling at the top of their lungs.
Right.
Despite the hypocrisy of these fair-weather fins,
watching Michigan basketball was not a valid excuse,
While Friday's contest may have gone head-to-head
with the first-round basketball game, Sunday's hockey
gane began minutes after the basketball team was

bounced from the NCAA tournament by UCLA.
Which still begs the question. Why all the no-shows
for a decisive third game against the Irish last night?
There were more people at Friday's game even with the
basketball game on television, which is all the more dis-
turbing considering the NCAA West Regionals will be
held at Yost in two weeks.
If students couldn't make it out to see the Wolverines
play in an elimination game of the CCHA playoffs,
what will it take for them to show up for an NCAA
Regional gane, especially when you consider the fact
that tickets are $50 apiece for the entire weekend?
To the credit of the fans who showed up, they did
everything in their power to support the Wolverines last
night. But will that be enough in two weeks when
Michigan takes the ice for the NCAA Regionals?
You'll have to wait until Mar 27to find out-oryou

Fatigue
not factor
for 'D'
By Chris Farah
Daily Sports Writer
Before yesterday's game with Notre
Dame, Michigan defenseman Bubba
Berenzweig had a minor problem.
The night before, he had played the
role of two defensemen during the
Wolverines' 2-1 overtime victory over
the Irish. To balance the inexperience of
the younger defensemen, Berenzweig
had been on the ice every other shift,
sometimes playing with Scott Crawfc
and sometimes with Bob Gassoff.
Despite the immense denand this
placed on him, Berenzweig raced up and
down the ice all night, seemingly with an
inexhaustible supply of energy. His legs
had held up. They had performed well.
Hence his little problem before yester-
day's game. Those same legs he reljed on
Saturday? They weren't sore or aching.
Nab. How could they be? He could bare-
ly even feel them. Minor problem.
"Before the game, my legs w
numb," Berenzweig said. "They were in
pain. I couldn't walk. But once I got on
that ice, I was ready to go."
Berenzweig was ready to go all night
long. He consistently out-skated his Irish
counterparts.
Berenzweig's legs went from inpera
ble to indomitable. Last night, with,
defensemen Sean Peach and Mike Van
Ryn out with concussions, he nev
looked winded. Again, he played as in
as two players - over 30 minutesTMItal.
And 30 minutes for Berenzweig does-
n't mean just sitting back and resting by
the blue line. He's developed solid puck-
carrying skills - enough to create some
confusion every now and then.
"Bubbathinks he's aleft wing,"'captain
Matt Herrjoked after Sunday's game.
"Am I a defenseman?" Berenzweig
asked with a quizzical look on his face.
Fortunately for Michigan, BerezwO
did know his role when he was on the
ice. But Berenzweig wasn't alone in
making big defensive stops. Gassoff and
Crawford had solid weekends, and Chris
Fox played with the leadership demand-
ed of a senior.
On the other end of the age spectrum,
freshman Dave Huntzicker continued to
prove he's one of the Wolverines top
defenseman, using his 6-foot-3, 19
pound frame to his advantage.
"Huntzicker on defense has been a
tower of strength," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said. "Here's a guy who's just
played awesome. At the start of the year,
we didn't even know if he'd play."
Size, skill, better conditioning-there
are a number of reasons why Michigan's
defense, even without two of its top con-
tributors, were able to outlast a Notre
Dame defense that grew increasingly
sluggish. Berenzweig has his o0
answer.
"One of the Irish players, after the fist
period (Saturday), came up, and he said,
'How does it feel to have your season
come to a close on the ice?"' Berenzweig
said. "It kind of lit me up a little bit ... I
didn't say anything back to him afte
(yesterday's) game, but I wanted toIve
got a little.more class than those guys:'

IRISH
Continued from Page 1B
the game
Less than two minutes later, Matzka.
scored to give the Wolverines the victory.
While the freshmen had never played
in a CC HA series, they played like vet-
erans in the final game. Three of
Michigan's four goals were scored by
freshmen, and without defensemen Sean
Peach and Mike Van Ryn, the
Wolverines relied on freshnen Bob
Gasoff and Scott Crawford.
"They are getting a great opportunity
to play on a team like Michigan in key
roles" Michigan coach Red Berenson
said. "And you expect them to produce
and they're living up to that."
Facing elimination Saturday night, the
Wolverines played one of their most
exciting games of the season, winning 2-
Sin the fifth-longest playoff game iti
CCH A history.
With one minute remaining in over-
time, Bobby Hayes took a pass from
Chris Fox off to the side of the net, wait-
ed for Eisler to go down and beat him up
high with a wrist shot.
"He was down so I tried shooting it
upstairs," Hayes said. "I think he got a
piece of it, which in turn hit one of the
Notre Dame players and it ended up in
the net."
With Michigan on the power play,
Notre Dame took an early lead midway

through the first when Dan Carlson
carne off the bench behind the Michigan
defense and took a pass from Steve
Noble. Carlson skated in alone on Turco
from center ice, and beat the Michigan
netminder with a backhand shot,
After missing on several excellent
scoring chances, Michigan tied the game
at one with six seconds remaining in the
second period, when Muckalt took a
pass from Kosick and beat Eisler.
"You can't force offense and you can't
preach it or coach it," Berenson said.
"But there are times that you just about
have to pray for it."
After Muckalt's goal, Michigan con-
trolled play for most of the third period
and overtime, eventually getting the
game winner from Hayes.
Friday, the Wolverines fell behind
early, losing 4-2.
After taking a 1-0 lead into the first
intermission, the Irish took advantage of
numerous defensive lapses in the second
period to score three unanswered goals,
giving them a commanding lead.
"With a lead, their team, like a lot of
teams, is pretty sound," Berenson said.
Justin Clark and Andrew Merrick
scored for the Wolverines.
But, despite winning the first game,
Notre Dame couldn't finish off the
Wolverines.
"I saw this big sign on the way out that
said 'TheLuck of the Irish,"' Herr said.
"Your luck is running out."

cN ouKRAFT/Daly
Bill Muckalt and the Michigan hockey team survived a scare from the fighting Irish
and escaped elimination in the first round of the CCHA playoffs last night.

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