1 The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 26, 2001- 11 Coaches se By J. Brady McCollough Daily Sports Writer DETROIT - In order for Michi- gan to win its sixth CCHA regular season title, it will have to overcome its own inexperience, along with a conference packed full of teams that believe this is their year to break into the elite. "Every time we were down below, we always thought we could beat the teams up top," said Ohio State coach John Markell, whose Buckeyes were picked to finish fourth by the media. "If they have a bad night, it's usually a one-goal game. If you catch them on the right night, you're going to beat them. It's a hard league to stay at the top of." "I don't think there is a weak team in the conference," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "It's a tough league - there are no easy games. It's harder now because everyone knows Michigan is back with the pack." Last season, the Wolverines were plagued by inconsistency in confer- ence play, leaving them third in the final regular season standings. With the youth of this year's team, the road back to the top will be tough for Michigan. "We lost some games last year that we shouldn't have lost - games we were in, games that were winnable," Berenson said. "You have to be on your game. You also have to stay healthy. I can't tell you we're going to stay on top of the CCHA. My goal is that we start off strong, and even finish stronger." e tight race SPARTANS ANOINTED: Michigan State, last season's CCHA regular season and tournament champion, is predicted to repeat that feat again this season with Hobey Baker Award winning goaltender Ryan Miller returning for his junior season. The Spartans also return seven defense- men from a hard-nosed group that assisted Miller in shutting out the Wolverines twice last season. TIME FOR REFLECTION: The begin- ning of a new season is normally characterized by immense anticipa- tion and excitement. Yesterday, at CCHA Media Day, the atmosphere took on a more somber tone. Monday, college hockey lost one of its legendary coaches, Shawn Walsh of the University of Maine, to cancer. Walsh's hockey roots go back to the CCHA, where he played at Bowling Green and coached on Ron Mason's staff at Michigan State. Combined with the recent tragedies that have hit the United States, Walsh's passing brought about a time of reflection for many CCHA coach- es. "I've had a lot of time to reflect about what has gone on," said West- ern Michigan coach Jim Culhane, whose team is scheduled to face Maine in October. "My heart goes out to Shawn and his family, and the rest of our country." "It's very sobering to be struck as we've been struck," Northern Michi- gan coach Rick Comley said. "It rein- forces to me how lucky I am." OPEN HOUSE: The CCHA tradition- ally features an ten team playoff, with four first-round, best-of-three series. in CCHA CCHA media poll and TV schedule The CCHA media met yesterday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, and selected Michigan State to repeat as champions. THE RANKINGS: 1. Michigan State (22) 2. Michigan (1) 3. Nebraska-Omaha (1) 4. Ohio State (1) 5. Northern Michigan 6. Miami (1) 7. Western Michigan 8. Bowling Green 9. Lake Superior 10. Ferris State 11. Notre Dame 12. Alaska Fairbanks WOLVERINES ON TV: Oct. 6 at Michigan State Jan. 4 at Notre Dame Jan. 19 Michigan State Feb. 8 Nebraska Omaha Feb. 16 Michigan State All games are televised by Fox Sports Net. This season, all 12 teams will receive a playoff berth, which means six teams will host first-round series. "I understand why we're doing it, and it will definitely help some pro- grams, and hopefully it will be good for our league," Berenson said. "But I've never been in favor of everyone making the playoffs. If we're going to play the season, I'd rather teams get eliminated." Volleyball needs to keep pace ROCK Continued from Page 10 ting a lot of touches this weekend. To do this, they will need to serve hard and play a fast paced game. Michigan will also need to be strong at the net and dig well. Most important- ly, the Wolverines cannot be dragged into a slow game where Iowa can set Meyermann a lot of balls. "We have to be very steady against that type of team and not get wrapped up into their system," Rosen said. "We need to stay with what we do well." This was the mistake that cost the Wolverines against Northwestern, a team they should have beaten. When Michigan let the Wildcats slow down the pace of the game, the team was unable to execute its system. If, on the other hand, the team plays as it did against Wisconsin, it should have no difficulty with the Hawkeyes. Saturday night the Wolverines will take on last year's Big Ten runner-up Minnesota. The Golden Gophers have one of the best players in the conference in their setter, senior Lindsey Berg. But Minnesota graduated three strong seniors last year. The loss has left a void that is now filled with talented but inex- perienced players. If the Wolverines play to the best of their ability and keep the matches fast, then they have a good chance of sweep- ing this weekend. ALYSSA WOOD/Daily Michigan will not be the only team challening Michigan State for top honors in the CCHA. Nebraska-Omaha is one of many teams in a very tight race. The greatest player ever will return to'the game Detmer still starter despite follies JORDAN Continued from Page 10 "Michael has always brought joy to basketball fans around the world, and, in these difficult times, we can all use a little more joy in our lives." Jordan said he would not com- ment further on his return until Oct. 1. Jordan has been'training for a possible comeback for about six months, at first saying that he was simply trying to lose the extra weight he had gained in retirement. He rigorously worked himself into playing shape over the summer by holding several invitation-only camps of pickup games with other NBA players at a gym in Chicago. Jordan's first official practice with the Wizards will be Oct. 2, the first day of training camp at Wilm- ington, N.C. He occasionally worked out with the team last season when he was president of basketball operations, a job in which he almost complete- ly overhauled Washington's roster and put the team into a rebuilding mode. * PONTIAC, Mich. - Throwing seven interceptions was not enough to cost Ty Detmer his job as the Detroit Lions' starting quarterback. "I have evaluated the film, and we'll go on about our business with Ty," Lions coach Marty Momhinweg said Monday. The Lions (0-2) have a bye this week and will play St. Louis (2-0) at home on Monday night, Oct. 8. Detmer was 22-of-42 for 212 yards and a touchdown in a 24-14 loss at Cleveland, which traded him to Detroit for a fourth-round pick three weeks ago. His seven interceptions were one short of the NFL record set 51 years ago. "I'm glad that I am getting an oppor- tunity to prove that I'm a better player than I showed," Detmer said Monday. "I'm looking forward to playing in a couple weeks and redeeming myself." Mornhinweg benched Charlie Batch afler he completed 20 of 39 passes for 276 yards with two interceptions and was sacked seven times in a 28-6 loss at Green Bay in Week 1. "Two quarterbacks have played and started and gone the whole way, and neither has played up to standards," Momhinweg said. Mornhinweg would not say that Batch will be stuck with a clipboard on the sideline for the rest of the season. "I have talked to Charlie about this. He will get an opportunity at some point," Mornhinweg said. "It could be in two weeks, five weeks, 10 weeks. Two-thirds of this league does not fin- ish with the same quarterback that they started with." Batch said he wouldn't feel any dif- ferent about his situation if Detmer kept his job after playing an exception- al game. "The only thing that would be differ- ent would be that we would have smiles on our faces," Batch said. "The only thing that I could tell Ty is to keep his head up. I've never been in that sit- uation, but I guess it's like being a bas- ketball player trying to shoot his way out of a slump." Mornhinweg, who replaced Batch after only one week, said he's not refusing to bench Detmer. AP PHOTO A welcomed site? Not to Eastern Con- ference guards. ABN AMRO hings differently. Business School: Investment Banking, Equities/Global FinancialI Sales & Trading, Corporate Banking LA&S: Equities/Global Financial Markets Sales & Tradin Corpori