tit,
PORTS
wES
3V recovers from-- loss, splits weekend
By Chris Duprey
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan hockey team's reputation as one of the
most penalized teams in the CCHA didn't change this
weekend, as the Wolverines muddled through an infrac-
tion-filled pair of games, defeating Western Michigan
6-3 at home Saturday despite dropping a 4-0 road deci-
sion to Ferris State the previous evening.
ichigan skaters served a two-game total of 88 min-
utes in the penalty box, and four Wolverines earned
game disqualifications as Michigan vented its frustra-
tions at the unlucky bounces and calls that plagued its
weekend.
Saturday night's victory over Western Michigan
was far from Michigan's prettiest effort, but it
accomplished its purpose - to regain some confi-
dence for a struggling team heading into a crucial
stretch of games.
"Coming off last night's game (against Ferris State),
*ch was really a low point in the season, I thought the
first period was a solid period and the second period
was pretty good," Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
"But then we slipped back into a little of last night's
hockey."
Dale Rominski had all the right moves for Michigan,
scoring two of the Wolverines' first four goals as they
jumped out to a 4-0 lead and took full control of the
game. The senior would later add Michigan's final goal
for the hat trick, as the Broncos never threatened.
The always-physical Bobby Hayes contributed with
an assist early, but was sent to the lockerroom perma-
nently with 1:02 remaining in the second period, having
drawn a major-misconduct for high-sticking Western
Michigan's Matt Addesa.
"I don't like the penalties. The penalties don't help
the team," Berenson said, in reference to Hayes' game
disqualification. "That was not a good penalty."
Aside from Rominski's success, Michigan reserves
Krikor Arman, Kevin Magnuson and Bob Gassoff did-
n't miss a beat, having been inserted into Michigan's
lineup on an emergency basis following the disqualifi-
cations of Andrew Merrick, Jeff Jillson and Greg
Crozier due to a third-period brawl with Ferris State the
previous night.
Despite Friday's lopsided score, the Wolverines
entered the third period down 1-0 with an excellent
chance to scrape out a road win. Michigan logged 16
shots on goal in the second period, and buzzing around
the Bulldogs' net, the Wolverines looked ready to reap
dividends.
Yet Ferris State killed off a Michigan power play to
start the final stanza, and made the most of a man-
advantage situation of its own, as Brian McCullough's
shot deflected past goaltender Josh Blackburn for a
demoralizing score and a 2-0 Ferris State lead.
The Bulldogs added two more tallies in the third peri-
od against a helpless Blackburn, as Michigan seemed to
lose focus in the hostile environment of Ewigleben Ice
Arena.
After Ferris State's fourth goal, Michigan's attention
turned away from winning the game, and turned toward
winning the fight. Referee Steve Piotrowski's passive
style of officiating led to an out-of-control, dangerous-
ly physical breed of hockey - all of which culminated
with 1:36 left in the contest.
Merrick collided with Ferris State goaltender Vince
Owen, which set off three sets of fights in the Bulldogs'
zone. Crozier and Merrick were each tied up by Ferris
State players, while Michigan defenseman Jeff Jillson
duked it out with a maskless Owen.
When all was sorted out, Piotrowski gave game dis-
qualifications to all three Wolverines involved, while
the only Bulldog kicked out was defenseman Scott
Lewis -an incongruency that wasn't lost on Berenson.
"That doesn't seem right," Berenson said. "If Jillson
got a DQ, who was he fighting? If Merrick got a DQ,
who was he fighting?"
Despite the loss, Michigan fell to just two points
behind first-place Michigan State in the CCHA race,
thanks to the Spartans' tie with Bowling Green on
Saturday night.
MARGARET MYERS/Daily
After a third-period breakdown against Ferris State, Mike Van Ryn and the rest of
the Michigan defensive unit clamped down on Western Michigan to earn a 6-3 vic-
tory at home.
in,
on
up
DANA LINNANE/Daily
* Michigan women's basketball team fought hard, but
couldn't snap its losing skid against Penn State.
Late co-meback
isn't enough for
Wom-en's hoops
By Goof Gagnon
Daily Sports Writer
Deep in a five-game slump, the Michigan's women's
basketball team may be at its darkest point of the season.
But coach Sue Guevara said she never lost sight of the
flicker of light at the end of the tunnel.
And yesterday, as her squad attempted to burrow
through what has become a mountain of disappointment,
i evara said that things shone a little more brightly -
n though her team suffered its sixth loss of the year to
No. 20 Penn State, 74-66.
"I've always believed that there was a light at the end
of the tunnel," Guevara said. "I think that hole is starting
to get bigger. It's not like a little dot anymore."
Guevara's reaffirmed optimism came, ironically, as she
watched her team stumble for the fifth time in as many
tries as it was tripped up. With the loss, the Wolverines
fell to 1-4 in the Big Ten, while slipping to 9-6 overall in
their fifth straight loss, the worst streak in Guevara's
ure.
Yet despite the fact that with the loss the team plum-
metted nearly to the bottom of the conference standings,
it was the progess that her squad made Sunday that caught
the attention of Guevara.
"It's nice to see my old team back," Guevara said of her
team that began the season with a school-best nine-game
win streak. "I thought we played with a lot of heart, and
a lot of emotion, without a lot of players."
2 Indeed, Michigan found itself in a difficult position,
even before the opening tip. With freshman guard
Heather Oesterle and her 5.4 points per game sidelined
th a foot injury and senior guard Ann Lemire suspend-
after a team violation, the limited depth of Guevara's
roster became an immediate liability as Michigan dressed
only eight players.
Yet despite being outnumbered, Guevara's team worked
to avoid being outplayed and managed to keep things rel-
atively close with the Nittany Lions on the strength of
several key offensive outbursts.
"Three times we were down and made major runs
Guevara said. "We made major headway into cutting
down that lead and we just could not get over the hump."
A key ingredient in each attempt to slash the Penn State
advantage was the inspired play of freshman point guard
Alayne Ingram, who found her position elevated to a
starting role and responded by pouring in 16 points.
Leading the Michigan offensive assault, Ingram managed
to connect on two-of-five shots from behind the 3-point
arc while netting a perfect four free-throw attempts.
ut it wa her nlav in marshallinia a nair of second-half
Asselin helps
Blue buck
Ohio State
By Josh Kleinbaum
Daily Sports Editor
No gears could be heard turning at about 1 p.m.
in the inner annals of Crisler Arena on Saturday.
There was no thud. But, at some point during half-
time of Michigan's 84-74 victory over Ohio State
(3-2 Big Ten, 13-5 overall), the Michigan basketball
team finally clicked into place.
Josh Asselin put together the best game of his
career, with 22 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks,
three assists and a steal. When guards Louis Bullock
and Robbie Reid started hitting from the outside at
the start of the second
half - the Wolverines ) MIchigan 84
(3-2, 9-9) opened the 0* Ohio State 74
half with a 13-2 run,-
including three 3-pointers, and shot 58 percent from
beyond the arc for the game - Michigan finally
had the inside-outside threat that it has sorely lacked
since Robert Traylor jumped to the NBA.
Thanks to that newfound versatility, and the run
at the start of the second half, the Wolverines
jumped out to a 12-point lead with 16:04 to go in the
game. Over the next four minutes, the Wolverines
built the lead to as much as 17 before the Buckeyes
started to make a comeback.
With 9:41 to play, Ohio State guard Scoonie Penn
hit the first of two free throws to cut Michigan's lead
to nine. But the Wolverines quickly responded, with
Reid hitting a 3-pointer from the right side of the
basket. In the next five minutes, Michigan slowly
pushed the lead up. With 4:10 to play, Asselin hit a
five-foot jumper to put the Wolverines up by 20 and
the game out of hand.
Four Wolverines ended the day with double-digit
points - Asselin's 22 was a career high, Reid had
21, Bullock had 19 and forward Brandon Smith had
13.
"All in all, it was a very good effort on our part,
See BUCKEYES, Page 58
AP PHOTO
Michigan power forward Josh Asselin had a career game. His all-around presence helped the Michigan basketball team run away
from formerly-ranked Ohio State, 84-74.
Michigan wrestling squad staves off Lehigh, 24-18
'Killer's Row' victories help overcome Brink's absence; Wolverines win
rivalry match at home
By Michael Shafrir
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan wrestling team had a few
reasons to be nervous going into Sunday's
match against Lehigh.
Its biggest one was the absence of heavy-
weight Matt Brink.
In his place was freshman Art Romence,
who routinely wrestles in the 195-pound
weight class.
"We really can't afford to give up that
match at heavyweight, but there is really
nothing we can do about it," Michigan
coach Dale Bahr said.
In the end, though, it was the lightest
guys on the team that pulled the Wolverines
through, 24-18.
The match began at 125 pounds, where
senior Chris Viola wrestled to a technical
fall against Engineers' freshman, Bruce
Kelly.
Michigan junior Joe Warren pinned
Aaron Paterson in 1:43.
"I tried to push the pace of the match,"
Warren said. "I could tell early on that he
didn't want to wrestle me so once I had bro-
ken him, I pinned him."
Bahr said the team really relies on the
first three wrestlers.
"I call the first three guys. 'Killer's
Row'," Bahr said. "We don't look for them
to just get us points, we look for them to get
us (more valuable) pins."
The Wolverines opened a 17-0 lead
before Lehigh came back with three straight
wins. No Michigan wrestler scored more
than five points during that stretch.
"We had three freshman at the first three
spots which hurt us," Lehigh coach Greg
Strobel said. "But they have some holes in
the middle of their lineup and we really
took advantage of them."
With Michigan leading 17-11, sopho-
more Otto Olson, the eighth-ranked
When the final buzzer sounded, Olson
had defeated Dufresne, 6-0.
"It was really fun to watch (Olson),"
Strobel said.
The best match of the day was between
15th-ranked Andy Hrovat of Michigan, and
third-ranked John Van Doren of Lehigh.
Although Hrovat led early, Van Doren
came back to defeat the Michigan freshman
10-6.
"That match was really indicative of how
well the teams wrestled today," Strobel said.
Frank Lodeserto overwhelmed Lehigh's
Rob Rohn 15-3 to clinch the Michigan vic-
tory, before Romence lost the heavyweight
match 18-7 to Lehigh's Shawn Laughlin, to
end the meet.
Even though the final score was so
close, it may still seem odd to see
Michigan wrestling a small liberal arts
school from a small town in Pennsylvania.
But most wrestling fans know there is
"Lehigh's Billy Sheridan and Michigan's
Cliff Keen are considered the fathers of col-
lege wrestling in this country," Bahr said.
Lehigh, which has been ranked as high as
No. 14 this year, televises all of its home
matches, and a local radio station even sent
a broadcaster to Ann Arbor for the match.
"This is one of our best and most impor-
tant non-conference meets," Bahr said. "We
really enjoy going there and they love com-
ing here. It's their major sport."
Although they weren't hurt by Brink's
absence in this meet, if the Wolverines have
any hopes for success in their upcoming
Big Ten dual meets, they need him back
soon.
"We're a solid team with Brink," Logan
said. "Without him, though, we've got a lot
of work to do and we can't make mistakes."
Brink had arthroscopic knee surgery Dec.
22 and is expected back for Michigan's next
match at Minnesota on Friday.
I
p
r