10 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 4, 2003 CRAWFORD Continued from Page 8 "I think (all of the recruits) will complement one another well," said Francis of Michigan's next two class- es. "It's a lot of wing players, but that's a pretty good situation. "The one thing Michigan's going to need at this point is another point guard." With the commitment of Craw- ford, Amaker is left with one schol- arship available for the class of 2004. That needed point guard could fill the final scholarship, and could come from a familiar place, as Michigan is courting current Wolverine Daniel Horton's brother, point guard Jason Horton. The younger Horton is in high demand around the country, and Michigan will be in contention for him with schools such as Duke, Arizona and North Carolina. Michigan is also in the running for yet another swingman from Detroit Renaissance, 6-foot-6 Malik Hairston. "Will they get Jason Horton? Well, it's going to be a war," said Francis of the excitement of the next Horton recruit. "But even if they don't sign another player for the next two years, they're in great shape." There's little doubt - barring the pending NCAA decision on any fur- ther penalties against the Michigan program - that another big-name recruit would only further add to what is already shaping up to be a very exciting Michigan team for the next few years. "Michigan should be in the tour- nament this year, and I'd be surprised if Michigan wasn't in the tournament next year," Francis said. "They could be Final Four, final eight, final 16 in a year - that's how good I think Michigan could be." M' freshman trio a pleasant surprise By Dan Rosen Daily Sports Writer After the most important weekend of the Michigan hockey team's sea- son to date, a series split with first- place Ferris State, it's clear that the Wolverine s' freshmen for- HOCKE wards are for real. They con- Notebook tinue to produce numbers beyond their years, and they're drawing rave reviews from coaches and teammates. Said Wolverines assistant coach Billy Powers of center Andrew cu* . GW " I',' , " 11 '': , "" %i, Ebbett: He's "a real good play-mak- ing center, a real smart center." Of Brandon Kaleniecki, Powers said, "He does all the dirty work but yet he can score goals." And as for Jeff Tambellini, "Right now, I don't think it matters who he 'plays with. He's just riding the con- fidence," Powers said. The three are all among Michi- gan's top seven scorers. Tambellini leads the team with 27 points, while Kaleniecki and Ebbett are sixth with 16 points apiece. These newcomers are playing so well that on Saturday, coach Red Berenson decided to bring them together onto the same line to pro- vide the team a boost with the Wolverines trailing. The freshmen responded, getting Michigan on the board 7:32 into the second period. With the Wolverines down four, Kaleniecki notched a score off of a nifty exchange with Tambellini at the top of the Bull- dogs' zone. The Livonia native launched a wristshot over Ferris State goalie Mike Brown to cut the deficit to three. It wasn't the first time this season that Michigan put the three new- comers on the same line to provide a lift. On Dec. 7 against Northern Michigan, they came together on the powerplay with the score knotted at zero. Kaleniecki gave Michigan a temporary lead on that sequence, roofing another wristshot off of a fIl TONY DING/Daily Michigan freshman center Andrew Ebbett battles for possession of the puck during last Friday's 6-4 win over Ferris State. rebound. "(They play with) a lot of energy, you know, it's young energy," Powers said. "They're excited and they're good." With another series with the Wild- cats slated for this coming weekend, the newcomers could be back on the ice together. Powers said that while Berenson has made no decision as to Pairwise Rankings The Pairwise ranking system attempts to replicate the method the NCAA uses to pick participants in the NCAA Tournament at the end of the season. This is the first year that 16 teams will be invited to dance at four regional sites. Last season, just 12 were selected. what the lines will be, it is possible that the freshmen could be paired together at some point. "It's a positive that we can stick them together ... and have a real good chance of making some things happen," Powers said. GOING TO WORK: Senior J.J. Swis- tak wasn't pleased with his first weekend on defense. The West Bloomfield native switched over from forward last week to help make up for the loss of defenseman Eric Werner,, who was declared academi- cally ineligible by the Big Ten. "I don't think I did that well," Swistak said. "If I'm going to play, I have to get a lot better." On Friday, Swistak was on the ice for Ferris State's fourth goal, 14:37 into the second period. He played limited minutes on Saturday. "I think I can get better, it just might take some time," Swistak said. "As a forward, you don't spend that much time skating backwards. But I'll get used to it." BECOMING A FORMALITY: Tambelli- ni was named CCHA Rookie of the Week yesterday. It was the second week in a row and league-leading third week overall that the freshman received the honor. The Port Moody, British Colum- bia native had three goals and an assist against the Bulldogs. ot a lot ofValentine's? Buy Cupid Gram! This yean, make your Cupid Grm more persona with your choice of five new backgrounds:heart slipper pajamas, boxers and h ngerie To just say Thanks' cal The Michigan faly Gasified iepartrent at 734J64.0557, or look on page 6 for an order form. Team 1. Maine 2. Colorado College 3. New Hampshire 4. North Dakota 5. Cornell 6. Boston College 7. Boston University 8. Minnesota 9. St. Cloud State 10. Ferris State 11. Ohio State Michigan 13. Denver 14. MSU-Mankato 15. Providence Northern Michigan Record 21-3-4 21-2-5 18-6-3 21-4-3 17-4-0 16-6-3 16-10-2 14-6-7 13-10-3 19-8-1 18-6-3 18-7-1 17-7-4 12-7-9 14-12-1 14-10-2 USCHO Rank 2 1 4 3 5 6 12 7 15 9 10 8 11 14 NR NR Conference Hockey East WCHA Hockey East WCHA ECAC Hockey East Hockey East WCHA WC HA CCHA CCHA CCHA WCHA WCHA Hockey East CCHA 01 --.j 01-_-on 9* t 0 x/,t/ -rn-i -i -rcy