14A The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 19, 1998
BOWLING!
Quotable:
"It's quite comical ... It doesn't
look real at all. If you've ever seen Matt Herr 186
Jurassic Park, and seen how the
raptor walks, you know what I'm
talking about." Fred & Mallory 170
- Michigan bowler Bobby Haves
on his dance. "The Raptor"
The Michigan bowling team is often mistaken for the hockey team, but on Thursday nights, they are
Pin pals
By Fred Link U Daily Sports Writer
COLONIAL LANES - Athletes have
different ways of preparing the night
before a competition. Some visualize
their performance in the upcoming game.
Some go over game plans. Some, like the
Michigan hockey team, go bowling.
Wait a second - bowling?
Why would a hockey team go bowling the
night before a game?
"When I was playing junior hockey, we
used to go bowling every Thursday night,"
junior forward Bobby Hayes said. "When I
got here, a couple of months had gone by and
the season started growing on us - school,
hockey, school, hockey. I thought 'What did
we do in juniors for fun?'- and we just
went bowling. I got the guys to try it and we
ended up doing it for quite a long time."
And so for the past three years, the
Michigan hockey team has gone bowling on
Thursdays before home games.
"Colonial Lanes is only a block from our
house," Hayes' housemate Bubba Berenzweig
said. "And once I discovered it, I decided that
I wanted to go over there and bowl quite a
bit. Over time I recruited a bunch of people
to come with me. Then we started getting
crazy. We bought ourselves some shirts, and
it just grew from there."
Led by Hayes and Berenzweig, the team
bowled almost every Thursday before home
games during the 1996-97 season, and went
on to set a Michigan record of 36 consecutive
home games without a loss.
Coincidence? Maybe, but after Berenzweig
suffered a wrist injury this year, the team
hasn't gone to the bowling alley as often -
and the Wolverines have lost three home
games for the first time since the 1990-91
season.
But before the last weekend of the regular
season, the team got together and went bowl-
ing, with photographer Mallory S. E. Floyd
and me in tow.
These guys aren't amateurs. The
Wolverines take bowling seriously. Clad in
dark green bowling shirts, they look like they
belong in a bowling league.
Their shirts even have their nicknames on
them, ranging from the mundane -
"Bubbs," for Berenzweig and "Turks," for
goaltender Marty Turco -to more unusual
names like "Rat," "Twinkie" and "Bugs," for
backup goaltender Greg Daddario, Hayes and
Sean Ritchlin, respectively.
"Ritchlin is 'Bugs,' because when he was
younger he used to watch Bugs Bunny all the
time," Daddario said. "And it's a name that's
stuck with him."
The Wolverines look like they're in a
league, and, for the most part, they bowl like
they're in a league too.
The night we bowled with them, the team
was divided by class into groups competing
for bragging rights.
As we struggled to approach the century
mark, most of the other bowlers had scores
comfortably above 120.
In the end, Matt Herr bowled an impressive
186 (more my companion and I together) as
the seniors won, narrowly edging the junior
class.
While Herr bowled the highest score that
night, the team's most consistent bowler is
backup Daddario.
"I get lucky once in a while," Daddario
said. "But we have some decent bowlers on
the team. Bobby will bowl well once in a
while and Sean Ritchlin and Bubba aren't too
bad."
Turco has been bowling since he was
young, and bowls pretty well, posting a 145
average.
"Both my parents bowled in a league when
I was young," Turco said. "At home I bowled
with my friends and my sisters and my girl-
friend."
Turco may have a lot of experience bowl-
ing, but defenseman Sean Peach just, well,
doesn't. But even though Peach was univer-
sally recognized as a terrible bowler, he
broke 100 for the first time in his life.
"I would have to say Peach is probably the
worst bowler on the team," Berenzweig said.
"He really sticks out."
While Peach's bowling may stick out, it's
Hayes' antics that draw the most attention.
Whenever the junior bowls three strikes in a
row, he does a dance across the lanes called
"The Raptor," leaving his teammates laughing
hysterically.
"We were watching Comedy Central one
night, and this guy was talking about
'Jurassic Park' and he did this walk of the
raptor," Hayes said. "I thought it was so
funny that when I went to the bowling alley I
decided that it would be my patented move.
"It's quite comical. It's hard to describe,
but basically, it's just a really mechanical
walk, and it doesn't look real at all. If you've
ever seen Jurassic Park and seen how the rap-
tor walks, you know what I'm talking about.
The guys really like it."
For the Wolverines, bowling night isn't
about competition. It's about getting together
with their teammates and having fun the
night before a game.
"I think it's the social atmosphere," Turco
said. "It's a game where everyone is involved
and you're always around each other, so you
can talk. It's a lot of fun - a nice casual
event where guys can get together."
Bowling also allows the players to take
time away from school and focus on the
upcoming games.
"At the end of the week, it's good to get
away from the stresses of school and get your
mind into the game," Daddario said. "We
have a good time out there, and we do a little
bonding and try to get focused for Friday and
Saturday. It's just kind of a relaxation thing
for us."
!n case you're not
a big bowler ...
The Michigan bowling team
sometimes sheds its multi-colored
shoes in favor of ice skates and
plays some hockey.,
In fact, the Wolverines are in the
second round of the CCHA
Playoffs and will face Ohio State
tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. at Joe
Louis Arena in Detroit.
if they advance, they will play in
the championship on Saturday at
7:30, also at the Joe.
Not bad for a group of bowlers.
MALLORY S.E. FLOYD/Da
Matt Herr whoops it up after a strike, en route to his team-high 186 at Colonial Lanes. It was Herr's >
best score of the year, and it helped the seniors edge out the juniors for team bowling supremacy.
I
THE NATIONAL COLLEGE OF CHIROPRACTIC
WILL BE VISITING CAMPUS
on Friday, March 20 I
from 1Oam to 2pm. I
NCC will be located in the Career
Planning and Placement office at 3200
Student Activities Building. Stop by to
learn more about chiropractic and NCC!
CALL 1-800-826-NATL
FOR QUESTIONS OR INFORMATION.
It'sa a little-
known fact that
Matt Herr, senior
captain of the
Michigan hockey
team and part-
time pitcher for
the Michigan
baseball team, is
also a integral
member of the
Michigan bowling
team as well.
MALLORY SE.
FLOYD/Daily
iii
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