Daily forum Is something about Michigan's hockey team bothering you? Are, you disappointed by the women's gymnastics coverage? Just plain bored? Stop yelling from the sidelines. Speak your mind at michigandaily.com/forum. We'll see you there. michigandaily.com/sports SPORTS TUESDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2001 10 CHRIS DUPREY Hockey looks to flick the switch on powerplay .intense IMplay in tense refereeing he deal was as follows: $6.50 an hour, a healthy sweat and the opportunity to take flak from a diverse sampling of the University community. In return, I would donate my nights throughout the eitj of five weeks. The job: Officiating intramural b ketball. - Oertain driving factors got me in the door. The tal- ent scout in me was looking for the next Freddie Himter. Hunter is part of IM lore, dating back to the earMy499Os when he made such a name for himself in iet that he earned a walk-on spot on Steve Fisher's sqiad. Just one year later, he was named captain of Fab Five Part I. The Steve Welmer in me wanted to know if slapping sicone with a 'T' was as much of a thrill as it looked 'o television. And the Richard Simmons dimension propted the idea that refereeing could be a weird way to g some windsprints. xWhkilc participation in flag football, fall's principal sppr, js overwhelming in number but relatively social injature, basketball is quite the opposite. The teams tha doplay IM hoops are smaller in number, but they piyt win. hey expect to win. When teams don't, they come s tc ing for a scapegoat. Usually there's one with a biglshirt conveniently stationed under the basket or ourtnear the 3-point line. The basic arguments boil down to these: Someone on jhe other team is always getting away with some- thiig. Anyone who drives to the basket out of control is still'entitled to a blocking foul. An airball must be the resultrof some kind of contact. °hould a particular opponent be dominating, a play- er-specific whine is engaged. Defenders feel that since they can't stop an opponent, certainly the referee can. I a big man is proving to be toosmuch to handle, thfe heWs been in the lane for eight seconds. Call it. 1f a guard is having success penetrating, he must be pushing off. Or palming the ball. Or something - any- thing: Call it. lt' tough to argue with the players. Not necessarily be a se they're right. Because nine out of 10 times, they6 on't know the rules of basketball as well as they think they do. iall that hits a defender's foot is not a kicked ball un s he tried to kick it. A player who drops a pass may or may not be able to dribble, depending if he tried to catch and dribble in the first place. A defender stand- ing with his arms straight up will not be called for a foul, even if he is involved in contact. Some referees shy away from the argumentative part of the job. They'd just as soon not deal with it. I enjoy it. That's what made for great stories these past five weeks, as I recounted to my roommate the charging call I made on the game's crucial possession or the technical foul I dished out to the kind 250-pound fellow who told me to screw off. Players have legitimate gripes on occasion. Certain referees call games tighter than others, which can lead to inconsistency. And like the Big Ten and any other league, some refs are better than others. I've found the truly good players don't need to spend time complaining. If someone bumps them on their way for a layup, causing them to miss, they'll grab th rebound and score anyway. There are a few of these caliber of players knocking around the IM leagues. I didn't find any Freddie Hunters, as I had set out to do. A few Mike Gotfredsons, maybe. I'm mourning the conclusion of the season, but it's been a blast. I've revitalized myself with the exercise, stockpiled a few hundred bucks for Spring Break, and felt the swell of true power. Can't we go another five weeks? Chris Duprey can be reached at cdurev umnich.edu. By Ryan C. Mooney Daily Sports Writer One powerplay goal in 12 attempts against Northern Michigan. Shut out at home in the Saturday night rematch. A split weekend when only a sweep would do. At the height of the CCHA regular season race, the Michigan hockey team did not expect an offensive power outage. Simply put, the Wolverines' scoring-amnesia could- n't have come at a worse time. When Michigan gets hot, the mercury explodes from the thermometer - the team has averaged a shave under five goals in its 21 victories so far this season. But in their eight losses, the Wolverines managed an aver- age of exactly two goals per game. Interestingly, the powerplay numbers are similar in terms ofjaw-dropping disparity. Michigan converts 25.8 percent of its opportunities in wins - 10.8 percent in losses. "There's no coincidence there, no question," associate head coach Mel Pearson said. "When your powerplay plays well and scores, it gives the team confidence - when you don't score you don't find that confidence or energy to feed off of." The varying percentages are, of course, dependent on the attempts Michigan gets in a game. The Wolverines average 5.9 powerplay opportunities in wins versus 6.1 in losses - in wins and losses, the team gets the same amount of extra-man chances. Meaning, all things being equal, as the powerplay goes so goes Michigan. "The way the powerplay plays on that night is usually a reflection of how the rest of the team is playing," coach Red Berenson said. Though they hold CCHA's best powerplay, Michigan has come up flat against some of the league's best penalty killing teams. Michigan State and Ohio State, No. 1 and No. 3 in the league in penalty killing, respectively, have combined to hold the Wolverines to a I-for-19 stupor with the extra man. ALYSSA WOOD/Daily When Michigan is winning, its potent powerplay is giving goalies fits. But in games when the powerplay is not clicking, the team rarely finds ways to put the puck in the net. As the picture of Michigan's postseason scenario in the CCHA and NCAA tournaments becomes clearer, success against top-tier, penalty killing teams moves from a concern to a necessity. "The last month in practice we've been playing different guys in different situations to see how they handle it," Pearson said. "We have an idea now but we've got to spend more time with it. Definitely in the playoffs you need to have good special teams and we'll pay more attention to it now that we know the direction we're heading with it." The coaching staff has experimented with different power- play unit combinations throughout the season, but starting Friday against Notre Dame, the frequency of personnel changes on both lines will likely decrease. "We can make changes as the game goes on, but we're headed towards (a set unit lineup)," Pearson said. Despite the powerplay's anemic showing in losses this sea- son, Berenson remains unfettered in his belief that the long- term success of the unit outweighs its occasional struggles, including this weekend. "You're not going to have a perfect season. Sure you'd like to take back those losses, but there are only six teams with a better record in the country right now" he said. "If you blow-out a tire, are you going to start crying? Are you going to leave your car, sell it or are you going to fix it?" om one Coaches are driving force for Michigan By Nathan Unsley Daily Sports Writer Every so often, the Michigan wrestling team's practices consist of simulated matches. They offer the coaches an opportunity to see people wrestle out of their weight class, and force the wrestler to adapt his style to his opponent's weight. The last time simulated matches were scheduled, an especially intriguing match took place. Following practice, co-captain Otto Olson took on assistant coach Tony Robie. Though the outcome of the match was unclear, it was apparent that this was no playful scrum between coach and player. Coach Joe McFarland knows that Robie fulfills a role that he no longer can. "As I've gotten older, I want to make sure I run a quality practice, and I want a practice with a lot of intensity," McFarland said. The assistant coaches can help by "getting in there and wrestling hard with the guys." Robie, in his first year with the team, and Kirk Trost, in his 15th year with Michigan wrestling, are the unsung heroes of the third-ranked Wolverines. "Those guys do a great job - they put a lot of work into it," McFarland said. "They havejust as much invested in this as I do." Perhaps more than any other sport, coaching wrestling requires knowing how to wrestle - and Robie and Trost certainly know how to wrestle. When Trost was a teammate of McFarland's on the Michigan teams of the early-to-mid 1980s, he compiled a record of 139-48 and was the NCAA champion at heavyweight in 1986. Trost said that his most memorable moment as a wrestler came in that championship victory, as well as winning a World Cup match against the Soviet Union's best wrestler. Akmed Atodov. in 1987. NWCA TOP 10 As of Feb. 7, 2001 From the National Wrestling Coaches Association Team Record PVS 1. Minnesota 17-1 1 2. Oklahoma State 15-1 2 3. Michigan 15-3-1 5 4. Iowa 17-3 3 4. Iowa State 17-4 4 6. Oklahoma 17-4-1 8 7. Illinois 11-2 6 8. Nebraska 11-5 9 9. Ohio State 15-4 11 10. Lehigh 15-5 10 Robie wrestled for Edinboro, graduating in 1997. He was a two-time All-American, and was the run- ner-up at NCAAs in his senior season. Robie thinks that the success of the two coaches is a great help to the young Wolverines. "I think that when you're an accomplished wrestler and then you get into coaching, they real- ly have more of a propensity to believe you," Robie said. "They know that a lot of the stuff we're telling them, we've done in the past, and it worked for us." "The thing about being a good wrestler and wrestling with the USA team is that we had expo- sure to so many other great athletes," Trost said. "So you learn from all these other people and there might be some little things that you can do to help our guys." Both assistants find rewards in both coaching and competing. The joy of seeing a proteg6 succeed is particularly gratifying. "I really like to see the guys get to the point where they reach their personal best. I know when I got there myself, it was a great feeling to know that I really excelled at that time," Trost said. Even though both Robie and Trost have aspira- tions of one day becoming a head coach, they know that their situation is about as good as it could get as an assistant. "With the university behind us and the resources, and the rest of the coaching staff and the athletes we already have here, I think we can do real, real well" Robie said. extreme to another The Associated Press Shades of the USFL. The XFL wasn't as big a turn-on in Week 2, as the football league that's as much about spectacle as sports drew only half as many viewers as it did for the debut broadcast on NBC and was pummeled in the TV ratings by the film "The Parent Trap." The 50-percent decline mirrors what happened to the USFL, another spring football league, albeit one that - unlike the XFL - lured away some top talent from the NFL. The USFL went from a 14.2 rating in its first game, on ABC in 1983, to 7.4 in its second game. It was down to 3.3 by Week .15 and folded after three seasons. Similarly, the preliminary overnight rating for Saturday's XFL show on NBC was a 5.1, meaning an average of 5.1 percent of television homes in the country's largest 49 markets tuned in at any given time. Last week's pre- liminary Nielsen number was 10.3. Another bad sign: Repeating a pat- tern seen in Week 1, the XFL rating decreased each half-hour from 8 to 10:30 p.m. EST. That was followed by a razor-thin increase for the next 30 minutes, but then the audience expanded by 25 per- cent from 1I to 11:45 p.m. as the Los Angeles Xtreme pulled out their 39- 32 victory over the Chicago Enforcers in double overtime. The silver lining for the network and its partner in the XFL, the World Wrestling Federation, though, is that even with the decline, Saturday's rat- ing was in line with the 4.5 national rating that advertisers were promised. Saturday night's national rating should be out today. "We remain a work in progress, and our numbers (Saturday) are exactly where we said they would be the last six months;' NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said. What remains to be seen is whether the XFL can prevent further ratings erosion. "We have to wait at least four weeks to get an accurate prediction for the season," said former CBS Sports pres- ident Neil Pilson, who now runs a TV consulting firm. The Week 2 rating, though, "does establish that last week we had an enormous tune-in from people who probably are not going to be regular viewers of the XFL," Pilson added. "I thought the rating last week sim- ply was a result of the terrific promo- tion for the debut. Now you have to Wonen's goffhas lead after irst round The Michigan women's golf team is tied with Brigham Young for the lead after day one of the San Diego State Lady Aztec Invitational in Lakeside, Calif. Michigan had three golfers in the top five. Cortney Reno led the way for Michigan, tying Alison Hiller of Southern Illinois with the second lowest score of the day at 74. Brigham Young's Carrie Summerhayes had the best day shooting a 71. - Staff reports S RE Former Badger back Bennett arrested MADISON (AP) - Michael Bennett, one of the nation's best running backs last season, was arrested at his apartment building early yesterday after knocking in a woman's door, police said. The former Wisconsin player was accused of a felony count of criminal intimidation of a victim, a misdemeanor of criminal damage to property and dis- orderly conduct. Bennett has not been charged by the district attorney. The arrest occurred after a dispute between Bennett and the 19-year-old female student, police spokesman. Benjamin Vanden Belt said. The 22-year-old running back called the woman several times and then dam- aged the woman's door but was unable to enter the apartment, the spokesman said. DeGregorio leaving Rhode Island job SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) - Jerry DeGregorio announced yesterday he will not return as Rhode Island's men's basketball coach next season after a 10-44 record that is the worst two-year stretch in school history. DeGregorio, in the second year of a three-year contract, will finish the sea- son with the Rams while the school looks for a new coach, athletic director Ron Petro said. DeGregorio said he had not anticipat- ed some of the challenges he faced. The Rams have been plagued by personnel losses because of injuries and academic problems. AP TOP 25 As of Feb. 12, 2001 first-place votes in parentheses Team Record Pts Pvs 1. North Carolina (62)21-2 1,742 1 2. Stanford (8) 22-1 1,659 2 3. Duke 22-2 1,633 3 4. Illinois 19-5 1,487 7 5. Mlchigan State 19-3 1,459 4 6. Kansas 19-3 1,337 5 7. Iowa State 21-3 1,317 12 8. Arizona 17-6 1,263 11 9. Boston College 18-2 1,087 17 10. Syracuse 19-4 1,083 9 - 0 0 0 research and disc overy at. the. 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