4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - January 25, 1999
Puck talk
You can't blame the ice, but it may
have been a factor."
- Michigan coach Red Berenson on the
ice at the new Value City Aena in
Columbus
Michigan 1
Key Play
Saturday night, two minutes left in
overtime.
- Michigan defenseman Sean Peach
dove to the ice and broke up an Ohio
State 2-on-1 break to help preserve the
tie.
Ohio State
I
The DailyStrs
rTfhe Michia Daiy hcky witers'
picks for Michigan's three stars of
Saturdays game.
- 1. JoSH BLACKBURN -
GOALTENtIER
Blackie blacked out the uckeyes
for almost 59 minutes. He even
eamed special paint scars from the
sketchy Value City Arena ice.
2. MIKE COMIt -
CENTER
Scored the only Midi'an goal of
the game on a pass from Geoff
Koch. Also had several other
chances to capitalize throughout.
- 3. BoeBY HAYES -
CENTER,.:
Nayes came bah fron a one-game
<.uspension t havengace, pr-
viding tough defense fom the cen-
ter position and breakinp a key
S Ohio State opportu in the sec-
and pen
Michigan 1, Ohio State 1-
Michigan 0 1 0 0-1
Ohio State 0 0 1 0-1
Frst pedod - no scoring. Penaltes --OSU,
Cousneau (slasing), 1:43; OSU, Skalenski (hold-
Ing), 2:24; Mich, Hayes (holding), 2:24; OSU,
Signoretti (delay of game), 3:00; Mich, Langfeld
(delay of game) 3:00; OSU Lafrance (roughing),
7:58; OSU, Jestadt (slashing), 8:52; Mich, Rominski
double minor (slashing-roughing), 9:52; OSU,
Jestadt (interference), 14:12; Mich, Crawford
(foss checking), 17:22.
Second period -1. Mich, Comrie 13 (Koch,
Langfeld), 3:10. Penates - Mich, Koch (cross
checking) :23; OSU, Freeman (elbowing), 4:41;
OSU, Freeman (holding), 7:41; Mich, Kosick (high
sticking), 7:53; OSU, Meloche (tripping), 8:20;
Mich, Koch (hooking), 8:39; OSU, Rech (high stick-
ing), 15:21; Mich, Matzka (cross checking), 18:12;
Mich, H-untzicker (delay of game), 19:12.
Tkrd period - 1. OSU, Jestadt 4 (Boisvert,
Meloche), 18:50. Penalties - Mich, Magnuson
(charging), 5:06; OSU, Jestadt (holding), 7:50; OSU,
Jestadt (holding), 11:34.
overtime - no scring. Penalties - none.
Shots onal- Mich 12-1044-3; OSU 3139-
26.
Power Plays - Mich 0 of 9; OSU 0 of 8.
Saves - M ich, Blackburn 3138-1 -25; OSU,
Maund 12-9-4-4 - 29.
Referee - Roger Graff.
U esmen - Bob Faria, John Gosger.
At: Value City Arena. A: 17,249.
Value-packed
Ohio State's new faclity, the Value
City Arena, reigns as the No. col-
lege hockey rink in attendance.;
capacity Michigan's Yost Ice Arena
is ninth.
Here are the rankings with capacity:
1. Value City Arena (Ohio State)
17,500
2. Kohl Center (Wisconsin) 14,385
3. Manuc Arena (Minnesota) 9,700 ,
4. Mullins Memorial Center (Mass.-
Amherst) 8,389
5. Conte Forum (Boston Colege)7884
6. Colorado Springs Wodd Arena
(Colorado College) 7,343
T7 National Hodey Center (St. Goud
State) 7,000
T7. Magness Arena (Denver - set to be
opened next season) 7,Q0OQ
9. Yost Ice Arena (Michigan) 6,343
10. Sullivan Arena (Alaska-Anchorage)
6,206
Hayes returns, leads charge through messy game
By Mark Francescutti
Daily Sports Writer
COLUMBUS - It was nice for the
Wolverines to get some Hayes back into
the lineup.
No, not hazing, the torture that has
made some fraternities famous, but cen-
ter Bobby Hayes's return to the ice.
The senior, who served his mandatory
one-game suspension Thursday night for
a game disqualification, came back with
some much-needed leadership to give the
Wolverines an extra boost. .
"It's good to
have Bobby Hayes -----------------
back. He's one of Hockey
our top players," tNoeook
Michigan coach
Red Berenson -----------------
said. "When crunch time comes, Bobby
is on the ice for us."
Well, crunch time felt like the entire
65-minute battle between Michigan and
the Buckeyes last night.
But unlike at some points this season,
Hayes helped Michigan in the area it
needed the most help - offense.
"I though I created a little more offen-
sively than usual," Hayes said. "We -got
several chances to win tonight."
As usual, Hayes slowed down one of
the Buckeyes' top players, Chris
Richards, who scored the only goal in
Michigan's earlier loss to Ohio State.
Nearing the end of the second period,
Hayes stoned Richards, who had an open
slot on to the left of Michigan goalie Josh
Blackburn, preventing Ohio State from
knotting up the score.
"I wasn't playing their top line tonight,
but I played against Richards on their
second line, and he's a pretty good play-
er," Hayes said.
Hayes also helped lead a penalty kill
that had a little more work than usual.
With ice chips and bits causing more
hazards than Michigan roads' potholes,
both teams struggled on the power play.
"Power plays are all passing, make
three or four passes and you get a good
shot," Hayes said. "But tonight we had to
hold the puck a little longer."
Michigan had a few opportunities
early, but as the ice deteriorated, the man-
advantage just seemed to mean that one
less player missed passes or fell down.
Due to the large number of penalties
called by referee Roger Graff, power
play time didn't mean much, as both
teams failed on all of their chances.
RYN-LESS: Without sophomore
defenseman Mike Van Ryn out with a
calf muscle injury, the other Michigan
defenders had a little tougher job in
stopping the Buckeyes.
Berenson inserted Kevin Magnuson in
Van Ryn's place, and he along with the
rest of the defense stoned the Buckeyes
for much of the game.
"I'm so proud of my defense tonight,"
Berenzweig said. "We did a great job,
and I'm happy with Blackburn's play."
The young netminder was on top of his
game all night, making some spectacular
saves when he needed to. Blackburn held
the Buckeyes to only one goal after giving
up three or more in the past five games.
The Michigan defense helped
Blackburn's cause, blocking several shots
and keeping the lanes clear for its goalie
to work.
"We had a good talk with the defense
about blocking shots and how, if you're
not sure you're going to block it, just get
out of the way," Blackburn said. "I'm not
going to let it in from the point."
GUs MACKER HOCKEY: For about a
minute in the second period, Michigan
and Ohio State battled 3-on-3 thanks to
Graff and his incessant penalty calling.
Due to the size of the Value City Arena
rink, players should have been in for a
marathon of endurance hockey, but due to
the sketchy ice, it looked more like pee-
wee hockey than a spread-out finesse war.
"You don't see (3-on-3 hockey) very
often," Berenson said. "Sometimes it gets
very exciting, sometimes nothing hap-
pens, and tonight nothing happened. But
again, bad ice means the puck bounces
over your stick."
Berenzweig said that while they some-
times the Wolverines practice three on
three, last night's action wasn't as open as
he thought it would be.
"We actually do a little 3-on-3 in prac-
tice just in case it happens," Berenzweig
said. "But (tonight) it wasn't as open as I
thought it would be. Usually you see
people getting breaks right and left."
It still tired at least one Wolverine out.
Jeff Jillson could barely skate to the
Michigan bench after the wide-open
skating marathon.
Ice problen
By TJ. Be"ka
Daily Sports Writer
COLUMBUS - When The Ohio
State University started the construction
of the Jerome Schottenstein Center last
year, the idea was to give Ohio State a
state-of-the-art basketball and hockey
facility to enter the 21st-Century.
To accomplish the task of building
Value City --- .--- .-..-
Arena, Ohio
State employed Hockey
more than 300 Commz/Wa/y
craftsmen and . .
poured more than 1,000 yards of con-
crete. The Buckeyes even designed ter-
razo floorscapes on the rotundas of each
of the four levels.
Ohio State paid a pretty penny for all
of these perks -$10.5 billion of them in
fact. While the $ 105 million facility is
nothing like the CCHA has ever seen,
one wonders if the Ohio State communi-
ty ran out of money during the construc-
tion process.
With all the seats, rotundas, workers,
and concrete, it seems as if the Buckeyes
forgot one simple, yet key, thing - ice.
At least that's the way it looked Saturday
night during the Michigan-Ohio State
hockey game.
The Wolverines and Buckeyes - sec-
ond and third-place in the CCHA,
respectively - played to a 1-1 tie, but
that wasn't really the story.
The story was how the ice wasn't
DAVID ROCHKIND/ua
Justin Clark and the rest of Michigan hockey team limited Ohio State's power play
attack on Saturday. The Wolverines snuffed out all eight of the Buckeyes' power
play opportunities in the 1-. tie.
as plague new arena
actually ice, rather a slush similar to the
one that plagued Michigan roads after
the Blizzard of '99.
"The Zamboni didn't scrape the ice at
all," Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
"They literally watered right on the
snow. They really need to do a lot of
fine-tuning to get their act together for
the future"
With the ice conditions going from
mediocre to bad to worse throughout the
game, the play suffered as well. Players
who had been skating their whole lives
resembled 6-year old playing in their
first Pee-Wee game, as both teams were
falling to the ice with regularity.
"The ice was terrible tonight,"
Michigan goaltender Josh Blackburn
said. "It was so hot. I have never seen ice
this bad before."
Skating wasn't the only thing that was
sacrificed due to the slushy surface. The
movement of the puck was also altered,
as players struggled to control the puck
and release accurate shots at the goal.
"The puck was jumping around like
crazy," Michigan captain Bubba
Berenzweig said. "When you went to
shoot, the ice really affected it"
The problems with the ice was said to
be from the logistical problems that
come from a multi-purpose arena. The
Michigan-Ohio State hockey game was
the fourth event to be held in the build-
ing within a span of 48 hours.
Value City Arena hosted the Ferris
State-Ohio State game Thursday, an ice
show Friday, and a basketball game
Saturday afternoon. While this kind0
scheduling may be normal for the
United Center and Madison Square
Garden, it left the surface at Value City
Arena thawed.
The ice show was particularly devas-
tating to the ice surface. A new coat of
ice was put on for the show, and the paint
which was used on that surface had
metal in it, making it tough to scrape.
The Value City staff scraped the ice at
will, but the lack of time between t
basketball game and the hockey ganV
Saturday left less of an ice pack on.the
hockey surface than normal. This led to
the melting of the paint on the ice.
"I got a little paint on my socks,"
Blackburn said.
While Michigan's play was altered by
the poor conditions of the ice, Ohio State
had to deal with the same conditions. In
fact, the Buckeyes even warned the
Wolverines before the game.
Ohio State forward Eric "Meloch
came up to me and told me the ice was
bad," Berenzweig said.
The Value City Arena is a prize for
college hockey, with its 17,500 seats and
professional-type atmosphere. But in the
search for making the best looking mul-
tipurpose sports facility, Value City
Arena should invest more time in mak-
ing sure the ice surface yields the best-
quality hockey.
DUID RAHIND/Daily
Sean Peach and the Michigan defensemen had a hard time keeping their feet, as
slushy conditions at Value City Arena led to poor footing.
Laurion resigns as coach of
Alaska-Fairbanks hockey
By Chris Duprey
Daily Sports Writer
Without announcing the reasons
that motivated his decision, Alaska-
Fairbanks hockey coach Dave
Laurion announced his resignation
yesterday, effective when his con-
tract with the university expires at
the end of May.
In his six seasons, Laurion guided
the Nanooks into the CCHA as a
fledgling member in 1995, reaching
the peak of his success is 1996, when
Alaska-Fairbanks qualified for the
conference playoffs.
"For Alaska-Fairbanks to field a
competitive hockey program is an
extremely challenging job," Laurion
said in a released statement. "I
believe it is in the best interest of the
program for a new coach to take the
reins."
The challenging job that Laurion
spoke of includes a rigorous travel
schedule, due to the fact that the rest
of the CCHA is located in the Great
Lakes area. Most teams dread the
one trip they must make to Fairbanks
each year - the Nanooks face such
a schedule every other weekend.
Joining the CCHA essentially kept
Alaska-Fairbanks hockey alive. The
Nanooks' nearest opponent, Alaska-
Anchorage, is still more than a 300
miles away. And while the travel
schedule is a gauntlet, the Nanooks
have virtually no choice if they want
to keep their hockey program in exis-
tence.
Recruiting in Alaska is also a
hardship, due to the travel involved
and the small-scale nature of the pro-
gram at its current state.
Laurion's frustration was com-
pounded by the Nanooks' struggles
this season. Senior goaltender Ian
Perkins has hit a rocky road,. and
Alaska-Fairbanks hasn't had the fire-
power to support him.
As a result, the Nanooks have
gone 5-15 in the CCHA and current-
ly reside in ninth place - one spot
away from the cutoff for the confer-
ence playoffs.
"The nature of big-time college
coaching usually involves a few
changes until the perfect match is
found," Alaska-Fairbanks Athletic
Director Randy Pitney said in a
statement. "Dave has put his heart
and soul into the advancement of
Alaska-Fairbanks hockey and I know
that it has been hard on him that we
weren't more successful."
Pitney said there are no plans to
hire a new coach right away.
KELLY MCKINNELL/Da4
AlaskaFairbanks forward Sjon Wynia, here being pushed by Michigan's Sean Peach,
will have a new coach next season, as Dave Laurion resigned as coach of the Nanooks.
CCHA Standings
Michigan State takes three.points from road trip
Tem
Michigan State
mhigan
Ohio State
w
14
11
L
2
3
6
T
4
12
3
Pts
32
30
25
op
20
19
20
w
20
17
13
OVERALL
L T C
3 4 2
5 3 2
10 4
wP
27
25
27
?A5
From staff reports
Sophomore goaltender Joe Blackburn almost
blacked out Northern Michigan on Saturday night,
helping the Spartans earn a 1-1 tie
in Marquette.
to five players Saturday.
Still, the two teams played a fast but physical game
through two periods, with neither able to light up the
scoreboard. Michigan State's defense played its best
during a Northern Michigan 5-on-3 power play early in
Lake Superior goaltender Mike Brusseau made 24
saves and several unlikely Lakers came up with timely
goals as they averted a sweep of the season series with
the Fighting Irish with a 3-1 victory Saturday night.
.Notre Dame's injury woes have become a code red
F i