4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - February 15, 1999 Puck talk "We feel like we're letting everyone in the world down that is a Michigan supporter. - Michigan winger Josh Langfeld, on the recent six-game winless streak Michigan 2 Western Michigan 2 Key play 7.1 seconds remaining in the third period - Michigan center Mark Kosick finds the loose puck near the Western Michigan crease and flips it past goaltender Matt Barnes for the game-tying goal. The Mchgan Daiy hockey wrtes' picks for Michigan's three stars of Saturday's game. The freshman goaltende kept Western Michigan from extendig its 2- 0leadwi keysavesin bot the second and tnird periods -2 MARKKOICK CENTER Kosick salvaged the game for the Wolverines by scoring wth7.1 .- ensleft In the game, aftera, scrum i in front of the Westem Michigan net. Kosick's goal helped Michigan salvage a point on the road' - 3. Jos- LANGFD - FORWARD The sophomore had a goal and an assist against the Broncos. His score, number 14 on the season, was a nifty individual effort after an odd- man rush The goal cut the defidt to ~ -#r and gaveMiign somes life on the road. Michigan 2, Westem Michigan 2 Michigan 0 1 1 0 -2 Western Mich. 1 1 0 0 -2 First period -1. WMU, Mindel 11(Addesa, Andrews), 7:51. Penalties -WMU, Crane (hold- ing), 9:19. Second period -2. WMU, Andrews 3 (Novock), 6:31; 1. Mich, Langfeld 14 (Peach), 15:31. Penalties - Mich, Vancik (hooking), 7:25; Mich, Hayes (elbowing), 8:30; Mich, Van Ryn (holding the stick), 13:12; WMU, Redenius (hooking), 16:13; Mich, Comrie (cross checking), 18:53; WMU, Addesa (slashing), 19:57. Third period -2. Mich, Kosick 8 (Comrie, Langfed), 19:53. Penaltes -WMU, Andrews (roughing), 6:20; Mich, Rominski (roughing), 6:20. Overtime - no scoring. Penalties - none. Shots ani - Mich, 411142- 31; WMU, 7.92 - 25. Power Plays - Mich 0 of 3; WMU 0 of 4. Saves - Mich, Blackburn 6w7-2 - 23; WMU, Barnes 4-10-13-2 - 29. Referee - Jim Sotiroff. nesmen -Tony Molina, Kevin Langseth. At: Lawson Ice Arena. A: 2,886. Pairwise Rankings Tie Pairwise Rankings (PWR) are a statistical tool used by the NCAA selection committee to assist In decid- ing which teams to invite to the Division i championship tournament. Rankings are calculated at www.uscollegeockey.com. Team RPI 1k PWR 1. North Dakota .6569 1. 25: 2.Maine ,6327 2 .24 3. New Hampshire .626 3 23. 4. Mitchigan State .60u9 4 . 22 1. Colorado College .5856 5 20 .gClarkson: , .5764 6 20~ 7. Quinnipiac .5369 15 18 N-S. Boston College .5752 7 16 9. St. Lawrence .5538 9'. 18. >10. Denver .5461 11. 16 :a11. Michigan. .:5578 .$. 15; F2, Princeton .5405 14 315 The NCAA toumrament field consists of 2Division I teams. Conference regular sason and playoff champions receive automatic bd. The west regionl takes place In Madisoan the East regionaI is in Worcester, Mass. Next Opponents UOME GAMES IN CAPS Feb. 19 Western Michigan Feb. 20 Michigan State (Joe Louis Arena) Feb. 26-27 MIAMI How the USCHO To 10 fared Ranrkings end recrds as of Feb.8. KNo. 1 North Daikota (22-2-2) beat Denver 7-~ 3 and 11-4. No.?2 Maine (21-2-4)treat Boston Colege 6- 4.. e f Michigan State Q1443-) beat Notre KNo. 4 New Hampshire (21-5-1) tied Boston SUnivei~ty 2-2, beat Mc mack.71. ~'No. 5 Coorado Colege (19-......ea KMinnesota 5-1, 3-1. No. 6 Boston College (179-2) lost to Maine No. 7 Notre Dame (16-7-4) loi to Michigan 7State 1-0, lost to Ferris State 1-0. No Michigqan (1784) tied Westr No 9 Ohio State (17-10.4) beat Northen SMihian 6-3, lost to Northern Michigan 7-2. No. 10 Denvtr~ (179-2) lost to North Dakota S7-3 and 11.4 Subpar execution slows down M' hockey offense, By Chris Duprey Daily Sports Editor KALAMAZOO - Playing a Western Michigan squad that was torched by Ferris State the previous night, the Michigan hockey team had hopes of blitzing the Broncos right out of the gate Saturday and never looking back. It didn't happen. For the fourth time in as many games, the first goal scored did not belong to the Wolverines. Michigan was forced to play catch- up hockey again after Western Michigan's Daryl Andrews beat Josh Blackburn to put the Wolverines in a 2-0 hole with 13:29 remaining in the second period. The slow start almost cost them. If not for Mark Kosick's scrambling goal with 7.1 seconds left in the game, Michigan's trip to Kalamazoo would have been fruitless - and its losing skid would've hit four games.. Instead, the Wolverines salvaged a point in their only game of the week- end to help keep them afloat in third place in the CCHA standings. "The last four games we've played the whole game from behind," said Michigan coach Red Berenson, whose team's last lead was a 3-2 advantage at Michigan State on Jan. 29. "We've got to score the first goal and get used to playing with the lead again." For a team that hasn't been starting many games strong as of late, Michigan's play gave no indication that it emotionally had peaked for the contest. Meanwhile, the Broncos were phys- ical throughout the opening period, finishing their checks and making life tough for Michigan, which registered only four shots in the period. The Wolverines began to manufac- ture their own opportunities in the sec- ond period, peppering Western Michigan goaltender Matt Barnes on several occasions. "I thought we got better as the game went on," Berenson said. "Once we got the penalties out of the way, then I thought we had the momentum." Still, the majority of Michigan's shots on goal - slapshots from the point, and wristers from in between the circles - weren't strong enough to cause problems for the 5-foot-4 Barnes. Winger Josh Langfeld finally got the Wolverines on the board, slipping the puck past Barnes on an odd-man rush fueled by Western Michigan defenseman Jeff Lukasak's slip-and- fall - not by creating commotion in front of the Broncos' net - for SARA SCHENCK/Daily Sophomore Josh Langfeld scored the Wolverines' first goal on a breakaway, but had trouble getting by Western Michigan's Jeff Lukasak. Michigan's first goal, with 4:29 remaining in the second period. "We had trouble getting it going offensively for most of the first two periods," Kosick said. "We just didn't get it done. Their goalie played well." Most of the Wolverines' execution problems were caused by their nonex- istent physical presence in front of the Western Michigan goal for most of the night. Barnes saw pretty much everything that came his way, and very few of the 31 shots he faced came through traffic in front of the Broncos' net. All problems aside, the Wolverines did execute when it counted most. Kosick's strike in the closing seconds sent the game into overtime, giving Michigan an extra five minutes to try and pull out the victory. Last Saturday, down 3-2 at home to Wolverines wake up in third period By Mark Francescutti Daily Sports Writer KALAMAZOO - The Michigan hockey team returned to its old, dom- inating self in the last two periods, especially near the end of regulation Saturday night against Western Michigan. The Wolverines came out of the first intermission roaring, and notched five shots on goal in the first 47 seconds. But if the rush struck fear in the Broncos, then the third period sent them reeling. With Michigan trailing 2-1 and six minutes left in the third period, the HOCKEY Wolverines from NoCk earlier in the sea- Notebook son showed their ------------ faces, dominating Western Michigan's reeling defense and spray-' ing shots on goaltender Matt Barnes. "We had our chances to win the game. (Sean) Ritchlin had a few chances, (Mike) Comrie and (Josh) Langfeld had a couple too," Michigan center Mark Kosick said. But instead, Michigan found time winding down, desperately needing the tying goal. The Broncos held off the Wolverines for over five minutes and 53 seconds before Kosick answered Michigan's prayers. "Bobby was taking the faceoff and he was trying to push it forward," Kosick said. "I was playing behind him like a defenseman. "I think it went to Van Ryn, and the puck came square out in the crease and I shot it over the top of the goalie." Kosick's shot up top with 7.1 sec- onds left resulted from Michigan get- ting a chance in deep near Barnes - something they tried to accomplish for most of the game against the smaller goaltender. "You want to go down a little bit," senior Dale Rominski said describing the plan of attack against Barnes. "You usually want to freeze him, so you can get him down and then have an ocean to shoot for upstairs." But with Western Michigan clog- ging up the area near the goal, most of Michigan's shots came from the point, and the referee's lack of whistling didn't help Michigan's chances either. "Interference was brutal out there," Rominski said. "Guys were just hog- tying you before you even got close to the net. Whatever interference is now, it's completely arbitrary.". The Wolverines were able to get a last-second tally to send the game into overtime, but had no such luck in the extra stanza. Although Western Michigan inter- im coach Jim Culhane said he instructed his team to play for the win, the Broncos' play in overtime, like the last minutes of regulation, included little more than icing the puck every time Michigan forwards neared it. "They were dumping the puck out and they probably were happy with the tie," Berenson said. "We were pressing, and it's a lot harder when you're playing that way." With a team like Western Michigan icing the puck, Michigan had extreme trouble keeping it in the zone. "You have to just get it in deep and work a forecheck," Kosick said. "If we had a few more minutes and a couple more shifts we were going to get it done. That's something we are going to have to do the whole game." TURNING POINT: One of the key points in Saturday night's contest was Michigan's key penalty-kill in a two- man disadvantage in the second peri- od. With Mike Comrie and Bobby Hayes committing two consecutive penalties, Scott Matzka, Bubba Berenzweig and Justin Clark held their own against the Western Michigan rush. All three players blocked several shots, keeping most of the action away from Blackburn. And when the puck did reach Blackburn, the goalie was solid, mak- ing sure the Broncos didn't increase their lead to three. "After we killed off the penalties, I think we gained the momentum," Berenson said. Ohio State, the Wolverines seemed to need just a few extra minutes to pre* for the tying goal. This time, Michigan got the lucky bounce in front and made no mistake with its golden opportunity. "It was just one of those (goals) - maybe the kind of goals that have been going in against us," Berenson said. "We finally got a break. That seemed like the break that we needed." Late goal lifts Blue to 2-2 tie BRONCOS " Continued from Page 1B In fact, by the time Western's Chuck Mindel finally beat Blackburn for the game's first goal, Michigan had yet to see a real scoring opportunity. After the period's lone penalty was called on the Broncos, the Wolverines were able to set up a good power play cycle - only to be snubbed by Western goalie Matt Barnes. Shortly after t advantage expired, a Jeff Jillson poke- check kept the Broncos from tallying another goal before the end of the peri- od. Michigan seemed to be outmuscled in the first period from the drop of the puck, and managed only four shots on goal to Western's seven. But the second period was a different story completely. Michigan came out fir- ing, and eclipsed Western's shot total in less than a minute. The Wolverines dom- inated play for much of the second - but that didn't stop Western defenseman Daryl Andrews from adding to Western's lead midway through the period. Seemingly undaunted, Michigan con- tinued its solid second-period play, killing off a 3-on-5 and another power play before Josh Langfeld finally put the Wolverines on the board. The third period belonged to the goalies - as Blackburn had seven hu saves to keep the Wolverines in tl' game while Barnes came ever-so-close to recording a win. With just more than a minute to go, Berenson spent his timeout and called for the hands team. Kosick was joined by freshman Mike Comrie - and after a quick change, Langfeld - for the game-tying sequence. Michigan pressed for the win in over- time and had several chances, but the Broncos steadily dumped the puck int their offensive zone to quell Michig' pressure, waiting for the clock to run out on overtime and the Wolverines' momentum. "I think our team realizes how hard we have to work every night just to stay even -just to have a chance,"Berenson said. SARA SCHENCK/Daily Forward Geoff Koch tries to get by a Western Michigan defender in Saturday night's contest. The Wolverines had trouble all night getting the puck in deep. WESTERN WONDERS: Lawson Arena gives Bronco fans some "dif- ferent" forms of entertainment between periods. During the first intermission, two lucky fans became human pucks by sitting on intertubes while ice offi- cials put them in a slingshot. The "bungee pucks" were then flung down the ice trying to steer them- selves in the opposite goal. But the human-turned-puck excite- ment became more apparent when "puck boy" skated out onto the ice during the second intermission. A boy, dressed up in a puck outfit, skated around the ice throwing sou- venir pucks out to crazed fans. Penalty box ushers also made the fans go wild by throwing little Tootsie Rolls into the stands. Intermission entertainers Bungee pucks were all the rage at Lawson Arena on Saturday. Here are the Daily's 10 favorite intermission acts so far this season: 1. Ferris State 2. Michigan 3. Bowling Green 4. Western Mich./ SMichigan State 5. Michigan 6. Wisconsin 7. Joe Louis Arena 8. Western Mich. 9. Ohio State 10. Michigan Bulldog magic show Mini-mite hockey Falcon Frisbee toss Bungee pucks Jamie Morris Celebrity Score-0) Bucky on ice Crab race' Penalty box Tootsie Roll toss Buckeye puck game Jim Cnockaert Celebrity Score-C ; CCHA Standings Notre Dame loses two, Northern slams Bucks* Team Michigan State Ohio State w 16 16 CCHA L Tr 26b 7 3 pis 38 35 24- 26 W 22 18 OVERALL L T 3 6 11 4 GP 31 33 From Staff Reports It was not a hugely successful weekend for any of the top four CCHA teams, but a battle is heating up for the 1t-, 1z third a-Af rth ncitnne Saturday. No single Wildcat scored twice in the contest, although Chad Theuer had a goal and two assists. The seven ngoal a11wed b Ohio State tied a season In familiar fashion, Brian Adams took a feed from Mike York for the game winning goal at Munn Arena this time against Notre Dame on Friday night. Senior left wine Bryan Adams scored his 17th 2oal of ?' ... ..............