7B - The Michigan Daily - SportsWednesday - January 6, 1999 Michigan has holiday blues after falling to Bucks, Michigan State By Mark Francescutti Daily Sports Writer Maybe the holidays aren't the best time of the year after all. The Michigan hockey team may attest to that after its 10-game unbeaten streak came to a close in a 3-1 loss to Michigan State in the Great Lakes Invitational championship. It was Michigan's second straight loss to the Spartans in the GLI, after Michigan had won the previous nine tournaments. Even the New Year blew in on the wrong note for Michigan with a 1-0 loss to Ohio State in the inaugural game of the Buckeyes' Value City Arena on Jan. 2. "We're concerned because we've been play- ing with a short lineup," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "We were in both games, we had enough chances, but I still don't think we played that well. At least I didn't go away from these two games knowing that we can't play, because we can." The Buckeyes' new home wasn't friendly to either team for two periods of rough, penalty- ridden hockey. Ohio State's Chris Richards finally broke the scoreless tie on a power-play goal with 6:09 remaining in the contest. Josh Blackburn recovered nicely after giving up three goals to the Spartans in the GLI title game, stifling the Buckeyes with 29 saves. The defense, in the absence of Mike Van Ryn and Jeff Jillson, kept the Buckeyes at bay for much of the contest. But the Michigan offense strug- gled for the second straight game, and was out- shot, 30-21. Berenson pulled Blackburn with a minute remaining, but like the power play all night, the extra icer did nothing to spark Michigan's offense. The Wolverines left Columbus with nothing more to look forward to but a long and snowy ride home. Mother Nature had not wreaked her havoc upon the Midwest on Dec. 27, but for the Wolverines, a different type of cold climate hung over them at Joe Louis Arena. For the second straight year, Michigan State hoisted the GLI trophy after beating the Wolverines. The Spartans showed desire straight out of the lockerroom, scoring 69 seconds into the game on Jeff Kozakowski's second goal of the season. "I think we have to be better prepared before the game," freshman Mike Comrie said. "We won (the day before) and maybe we should have focused on (Michigan State) a little more." Michigan State's Damon Whitten added a power play goal 11 minutes later, and Bryan Adams slashed deeper into the Wolverines' GLI hopes with a shorthanded tally early in the sec- ond. Michigan's offense struck only once, a lone goal from Comrie in the third period, after a bril- liant behind-the-back pass from Mark Kosick Shop and compare! Ohio State's fancy-shmancy basketball and/or ice hockey arena has proven that the corporate naming fad has broken into the college ranks. The Buckeyes, though seemingly proud of their rich athletic tradition, have allowed the stadium to adopt the moniker Value City Arena, after the department-store empire of top funder Jerome Schottenstein. Interestingly enough, the big value rings up over 105 .. million ... dollars. "We haven't wanted it as much as we used to," senior captain Bubba Berenzweig said. "Those teams back (in 1995 and 1996), they were above and beyond everyone else. This team has to work a lot harder, and we're not working hard enough." The Wolverines were able to muster a victory in the first game, a 4-1 thrashing of Michigan Tech. Sean Peach and Andrew Merrick each tallied their first goals of the season and Josh Langfeld and Sean Ritchlin added scores of their own to help the Wolverines to victory. AP PHOTO The Spartans, led by backup goaltender Mike Gresi, hoisted the GLI trophy at Joe Louis Arena for the second straight year. blizzard slams CCHA region Snowy conditions By T.J. Berka Daily Sports Writer ROCHESTER HILLS - When the Michigan hockey team goes on the road - except if it's in Alaska - The Mhigan Daily usually follows close Snd. For those of you who read the Daily, you know that the space this article eats up is ------------- usually reserved Hockey for a story about a particular aspect of Comne11z/y the weekend's ---------------- games. Usually, the Daily hockey writ- ers would attend a Saturday contest in Columbus. Jsually. But it wasn't a usual Saturday - and this isn't a normal Daily hockey story. Daily hockey stories are normally live accounts of the game, where you fee the action up close and get to hear from players and coaches immediately ofter the game. This story has none of that. You also normally see live colorful trues from the hockey games to accompany the stories. We have no live colorful pictures from Saturday. It isn't that I - nor the rest of the Daily hockey writers - meant to skip the hockey game in Columbus on Saturday. We had clothes packed, pen- cils and tape recorders ready and were hamper travel for fans, local media set to make the 3 1/2 hour drive that morning. We were ready to set foot in Ohio State's Value City Arena, a new 17,500 seat arena whose grand opening was Saturday. After the game, we were planning to explore the Columbus night life. So it's not like we were being lazy. We really did want to go. But there were reasons we didn't. There were about 12 inches worth of blowing, drifting reasons. Yes, the blizzard of 1999 forced me to watch the game at home on Fox Sports Detroit. Due to the foot of snow that fell in Metro Detroit, Ann Arbor and everywhere else in the Great Lakes region, I really had no choice. Covering a game from home is an interesting experience. It certainly does have its perks. Instead of sitting in a folding chair that rides into your back every time you move, I got to sit in a soft, comfortable couch. Actually I lied in the soft, comfort- able couch. And watching the game at home allowed me access to a refrigerator. Instead of getting lukewarm Coca- Cola out of a drink machine, I had access to ice-cold beverages. But covering a game by watching it on television puts you at the mercy of the station televising it. When that sta- tion is Fox Sports Detroit, it's not pret- tiest of situations. Actually, Fox Sports did a decent job - but the camera could have been put in a better place than the top row of Value City Arena. Watching the game at home is hard enough without need- ing a set of binoculars .to identify play- ers. But one thing that television did have was replays. And in a game which didn't see scoring until Chris Richards fired a power-play slapshot past Josh Blackburn late in the third period, the replays kept people entertained. Particularly entertaining was a replay where Michigan defenseman Bob Gassoff slugged Ohio State's Dan Cousineau after Cousineau grabbed his stick. Gassoff got a five-minute major for the penalty, but Fox Sports showed what seemed like 10 minutes worth of replays of the incident. Fox Sports also commented on the fact that many of the fans were arriv- ing in the second period. Normally I would criticize these fans for coming so late, but consider- ing the weather conditions and the fact that I was sitting on a couch with a cold beverage, I really shouldn't com- ment on it. Michigan lost its second game in a row, but I wouldn't be the one to ask about it. It's not that I wouldn't be happy to answer your questions, but I have to go outside and dig out my car. Michigan goalie Josh Blackburn rebounded from his loss to Michigan State with a 29-save performance against the Buckeyes. It wasn't enough, though, as Ohio State won, 1-0. 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