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4B - The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - February 10, 2003
Chatting into the boards
"I'm not olng to kill myself because I
ddn' get a hat trick."
- Sophomore forward Milan Gajic commenting on his
inability to get a third goal in Saturday's 5-2 win.
Gajic had two goals in last Friday's 6-4 win over
Ferris State.
FRIDAY S GAME
Northern Michigan 1
Michigan 3
SATURDAY'S GAME
Northern Michigan 1
Michigan 5
Key play
Saturday, 6:37 into the 1st
- Michigan did what it couldn't do last
weekend against Ferris State when it got
to a quick lead. Thanks to an early goal
by sophomore David Moss, the Wolver-
ines held onto a lead they never let go.
FRIDAY'S GAME
Michigan 3, NorthermMichigan
Who can the Icers count on down
the stretch? How about Cleaves?
Northern Michigan 0 0
Michigan 1 0
1
2
- 1
- 3
First period -1, MICH, Eric Nystrom 9 (John
Shouneyia) 3:16. Penalties - Eric Nystrom, MICH
(roughing after the whistle) 3:16; Andrew Ebbett,
MICH (elbowing) 5:46; Alan Swanson, NMU (obstruc-
tion-hooking) 5:46; Mark Mink, MICH (cross-check-
ing) 10:52: Chris Gobert, NMU (slashing) 11:17;
Mike Stuzel, NMU (hit after whistle) 11:17; Nick
Martens, MICH (hit after whistle) 15:13; Kevin Gard-
ner, NMU (hit after whistle) 15:13.
Second period - Penalties - Mike Stutzel, NMU
(cross-checking) 2:58; Patrick Murphy, NMU (inter-
ference) 5:53; Juha Alen, NMU (cross-checking)
6:50; Dirk Southern, NMU (cross-checking) 13:05,
TEAM, MICH (too many on ice) 17:08.
Third period - 2, MICH Dwight Helminen 7 (Eric Nys-
trom, Danny Richmond) 4:43. 3, NMU. Mike Stuzel
20 (Juha Alen) 11:51. 4, MICH, Dwight Helminen 8
(Andy Burnes, Mike Roemensky) 17:42. Penalties -
Milan"Gajic, MICH (roughing) 7:22; Andrew Ebbett,
MICH (cross-checking) 16:40; John Miller, NMU
(slashing) 16:40.
Shots on goal: MICH 9-8-5 22; NMU 11-7-3 21. Power
plays: MICH 0of)5;NMU 0of 4. Saves - NMU, Kowals-
ki (13-10-2) -19; MICH, Montoya (19-7-1) - 20,
Referee: Mark Wilkins
At: Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor. Attendance: 6,877.
SATURDAY'S GAME
Michigan 5, Northem Michigan1
The Michigan hockey team has found a way to
win consistently. Frankly, I don't know why
the Wolverines haven't thought of this before.
For so long, they concerned themselves with the
technical aspects of the game ... fools.
All they really have to do is get celebrities to
root for their opponents, and Michigan will win.
Now it doesn't have to be J-Lo, Shaq or Mark
Cuban. Any celebrity known nationally or locally
will do. Don't believe me? Here's proof.
Exhibit A: Friday, Northern Michigan legend
and current Michigan State coach Rick Comley
SETH LOWER/Daily
Michigan's Jason Ryznar and Northern Michigan's Jamie Milam tango with each other. The
Wolverines and Wildcats brawled numerous times Saturday.
Wildcats' hlgh-powered
powerplay sits on bench
appeared in the press box of
Yost Ice Arena. Whileit can be
said he was there to scout out
the Wolverines for next week-
end, there's no doubt he was
rooting for the players he
recruited, molded and fathered
until this season. The result?
Michigan won 3-1.
Exhibit B: Topping a hockey
legend like Comley was going
to be tough for the Wildcats, but
sure enough, sitting in the top
row of section five on Saturday
was none other than Detroit
KYLE
O'NEILL
The Daily
janitor
Northern Michigan 3 1
Michigan 3 2
0
0
-1
-5
First period - 1, MICH, David Moss 9 (Andrew
Ebett, Danny Richmond) 6:37 (pp); 2, MICH. Milan
Gajic 8 (David Moss, J.J. Swistak) 8:16; 3, MICH,
David Moss 9 (Andrew Ebbett, Brandon Rogers).
Penalties-John Miller, NMU (cross-checking) 4:16;
Juha Alen, NMU (holding) 6:26; Mike Stutzel, NMU
(slashing4 9:57; JimmyyJackson, NMU (cross-check-
ing) 11:04; Nathan ystrick, NMU (obstruction hold-
ing) 16:29; Michael Woodford, MICH (roughing)
16:29; John Shouneya. MICH (boarding) 19:17.
Second period -4, MICH, Jed Ortmeyer 11 (John
Shouneyia, Jeff Tambellini) 3:04; 5, MICH, Milan
Gajic 9 (Andrew Ebbett Brandon Rogers) 17:25
(pp). Penalties-Andrew Contois, NMU (roughing)
6:13; Jed Ortmeyer, MICH (interference) 8:15; Juha
Alen, NMU (interference) 9:42; Dan Donnette, NMU
(interference) 14:33; Terry Harrison, NMU (slash-
ing) 15:59: Geoff Waugh, NMU (cross-checking)
16:46; Nathan Oystrick, NMU (roughing) 18:41;
Juha Alen, NMU (hit after whistle) 19:15;hJuha Alen,
NMU (hit after whistle) 19:15; Danny Richmond,
MICH (hit after whistle) 19:15: Danny, MICH (hit
after whistle) 19:15: Alan Swanson, NMU (hit after
whistle) 19:15; Alan Swanson, NMU (hit after whis-
tle) 19:15; John Shouneyia, MICH (hit after whistle)
19:15: John Shouneyia, MICH (hit after whistle)
19:15: Geoff Waugh NMU (face mask) 19:15; Bran-
don Rogers, MICH (face mask) 19:15; Juha Alen,
NMU 110-minute misconduct) 19:15: Alan Swanson,
NMU (10-minute misconduct) 19:15; John
Shouneyia, MICH (10-minute misconduct) 19:15;
Danny Richmond. MICH (10-minute misconduct)
19:15: Brandon Rogers, MICH (slashing) 19:15.
Third period-1.NMU, Jamie Milam 3 (Terry Harri-
son) 2:54 (sh). Penalties - Bryce Cockburn, NMU
(checking from behind) 9:17; Bryce Cockburn, NMU
(10-minute misconduct) 9:17; Jason Ryznar, MICH
(roughing) 16:17; Kevin Gardner, NMU (illegal equip-
ment) 18:19.
Power plays: NMU 0 of 5; MICH 3of13. Saves - NMU,
Kowalski (1311-2) -6; NMU, Tarkki (1-1-0) -17;
MICH, Montoya (20-7-1) - 18.
Referee: Mark Wilkins
At: Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor. Attendance: 6,894.
HOW THEY FARED
No. 1 Colorado College (22-3-5) def. No.
7 Minnesota 6-2, lost to No. 7 Minneso-
ta 3-2.
No. 2 Maine (2144) lost to No. 6 Boston
College 5-2, at Merrimack inc.
No. 3 North Dakota (22-5-3) def. Michi-
gan Tech 8-0, lost to Michigan Tech 5-2.
No. 4 New Hampshire (18-6-3) did not
play.
No. 5 Cornell (19.4-0) beat Dartmouth 6-
1, beat Vermont 8-1.
No. 6 Boston College (17-6-3) def. Mass-
achusetts 2-0.
No. 7 Minnesota (146-7) did not play.
No. 8 Michigan (20.7-1) def. Northern
Michigan- 3-1, def. Northern Michigan 5-1.
No. 9 Ferris State (21-8-1) def. Lake Supe-
rior 7-1, def. Lake Superior 5-1.
No. 10 Ohio State (20-6-3) def. Western
Michigan 3-2, def. Western Michigan 3-
2.
No. 11 Denver (17-9-4) lost to M inneso-
ta- Duluth 6-5, lost to Minnesota- Duluth
3-1.
No. 12 Boston University (16-10-2) def.
Massachusetts 2-0.
No. 13 Harvard (14-6-1) def. Rensselaer
6-4.
No. 14 Minnesota State-Mankato (12-7-
9) did not play.
No. 15 St. Cloud State (13-10-3) did not
play.
CCHA ROUNDUP
Friday's games:
Nebraska-Omaha 3, ALASKA-FAIRBANKS 3
Ferris State 7, LAKE SUPERIOR 1
OHIO STATE 3, Western Michigan 2
MIcHIGAN 3, Northern Michigan 1
Saturday's games:
Ohio State 3, WE TERN MICHIGAN 2
ALASA-FAIRBANKS 4, Nebraska-Omaha 3
Ferris State 5, LAKE SUPERIOR 1
Michigan State 6, BOWUNG GREEN 3
MIcHIGAN 5, Northern Michigan 1
CCHA STANDINGS
By Bob Hunt
Daily Sports Writer
With the nation's third-best powerplay
coming into Yost Ice Arena this weekend to
take on Michigan's top-ranked penalty kill,
one would be led to believe that CCHA refer-
ee Mark Wilkins' whistle would have a major
impact on the series.
What one saw was 52 penalties totaling
153 minutes over two games for everything
from facemasking to playing with illegal
equipment.
Any type of flow Saturday's game might
have had was thrown out the window when a
slew of penalties took the Wildcats out of the
game in the first period. Four Northern
Michigan penalties were called in a span of
seven minutes.
The Wildcats did well killing a John Miller
cross-checking penalty, clearing the puck
three times, but that was as good as it was
going to get. Ten seconds after Northern
Michigan's first kill, defenseman Juha Alen
received a holding penalty for taking sopho-
more Eric Nystrom down in the Wildcat
zone. The Wolverines then took advantage
when Andrew Ebbett taped in a rebound and
sophomore Milan Gaijc scored a little over a
minute later.
"We just lost focus," Northern Michigan
coach Walt Kyle said.
Then penalties by Mike Stutzel and Jimmy
Jackson left Northern Michigan two men
down, giving David Moss plenty of space to
deflect the puck in from right in front.
Thanks to Moss' tally, the Wolverines' pow-
erplay scored twice on three shots
"(The powerplay) has not been a strength
of ours," Michigan coach Red Berenson said.
"But tonight we had some confidence."
Everything broke loose in the second period
when a whopping 82 minutes of penalties
were called, and Michigan went on the power-
play six times. After a goal by senior captain
Jed Ortmeyer put the Wolverines up four, the
Wildcats received five consecutive penalties,
throwing away any chance of a comeback.
"We took a lot of penalties, and we have to
be much more in control," Kyle said. "A lot
of those guys were key guys, and they can't
be in the box."
The whistles hit their zenith when the trip-
ping of Northern Michigan goaltender Tuo-
mas Tarkki set off an all-out brawl to the left
of the netminder. One of the biggest fights of
the Michigan season put John Shouneyia
against Geoff Waugh, Brandon Rogers
against Alan Swanson and Danny Richmond
against Juha Alen. Waugh and Rogers
received rare facemasking penalties, while.
Alen, Swanson, Shouneyia and Richmond all
got 10-minute misconducts. In all, Wilkins
called 64 minutes worth of penalties. Beren-
son felt that all the calls were necessary in an
attempt to maintain order.
"When a referee sees a game that's a little
lopsided, he has to make a decision," Beren-
son said. "Does he want to let things-go or
does he want to call them? You have to pro-
tect the winning team, and you can't let them
be injured by high hits."P
With all the time it spent in the box, North-
ern Michigan was never able to get its power-
play going; the Wildcats went 0-for-9 this
weekend with an extra man while generating
few opportunities. Michigan's penalty kill is
now ahead of Cornell by a whopping 2.2 per-
cent for tops in the nation.
"Part of it was just keeping them off-
balance," Michigan forward and penalty
killer Dwight Helminen said. "You have
to be on them and keep them honest on
the powerplay."
Lions coach Steve Mariucci. Steve Mariucci!
Mooch! The Restorer of the Roar! The newly
appointed savior and messiah of Honolulu Blue!
Yet, no one seemed to notice the Northern Michi-
gan alum - except for the rare few who tried to
begin a Mar-i-u-cci chant - as Michigan skated to
an easy 5-1 win. Besides watching his former
school play, Mariucci did have a purpose there.
"I wanted to see how many Yoopers there are (at
Yost). I found out there were seven," Mariucci
said.
He did talk with the Wildcats, though.
"He came in before the game, shook our hands
and wished us luck ... it didn't do us a lot of good
out on the ice, though," Northern Michigan
defenseman Jamie Milam said with a chuckle.
Although it was unlikely that Mariucci was the
reason for Northern. Michigan's loss, it's safe to
say the former 49ers coach may have been making
the Wildcats think about other things - like Barry
Sanders for one.
"Mariucci came up to me and asked if I was
from the Upper Peninsula," said Milam, who lives
in Lake Orion, which is just north of Detroit and
near the Pontiac Silverdome. "I told him no, but I
did tell him, 'You have to bring Barry back.' He
just laughed."
See? How were the Wildcats supposed to win a
hockey game when they were busy wondering how
Mooch was going to turn the inept Lions around?
If you still don't believe me, this new way of,
winning extends to basketball. Remember that lit-
tle ol' win over Michigan State a few weeks back?
Former Michigan State star and World Series hero
Kirk Gibson was rooting for the Spartans on their
bench. Their bench!
I rest my case.
The Michigan hockey team still finds itself four
points back of first-place Ferris State. It should be
noted that the Bulldogs have played two more
games than the Wolverines and that Michigan is on
pace to tie Ferris State by the end of the season.
In order to do that, though, the Wolverines, will
need to conquer a gauntlet of a schedule. They will
play the Spartans four times in the next three
weeks, and while Michigan State may have been
-left for dead after its 10-9-1 start, it is 8-1-1 in its
last 10 games and all of a sudden in the mix for a
postseason run.
Then there's Nebraska-Omaha on the road in
between the Michigan State weekends. In eighth
place in the CCHA, the Mavericks look harmless
enough. But just ask second-place Ohio State how
good Nebraska-Omaha goalie Dan Ellis is, and it
will surely tell you how he controlled the Buck-
eyes, stopping 73 of 74 shots in two Mavericks
wins. Finally, the Wolverines will close their regu-
lar season in Columbus for what will probably be
the most two important games Value City Arena
has ever hosted.
At current pace, Ohio State will go into the
weekend as the CCHA's top team and the Wolver-
ines will be tied for second.
For Michigan to win, it is going to take a lot ...
of celebrities.
It's time for Michigan coach Red Berenson to
stop worrying about how many goals Jeff Tam-
bellini will score or who will be the valued sixth
defenseman come postseason play. Berenson has
bigger fish to fry.
To begin, this coming Friday, former football
coach George Perles can impart his "winning"
wisdom to the Spartans for a 5-2 Michigan win.
The following night, bring in two-time slam dunk
champion Jason Richardson to enterttin the mass-
es at intemissions with his dunks-on-ice routine.
The Spartans will be so focused on remembering
when they had a good basketball team, Michigan
will skate off with a 2-0 victory.
As for Nebraska-Omaha, it was tough to find
anyone worth selecting to distract the Mavericks.
But sure enough, defensive lineman Chris Cooper,
a sixth-round pick of the Oakland Raiders in 2001,
will keep the public of the Omaha Civic Auditori-
um mesmerized with his nine tackles in this year's
postseason run to the Super Bowl.
After the sweep in Nebraska, the Wolverines
will use Mateen Cleaves to inspire the Spartans to
root on their teammates from the bench. Unfortu-
nately, Cleaves' words will be so inspiring that not
one of Michigan State's players will leave the
bench in a Michigan sweep.
After a Ferris State loss to Western Michigan,
the Mar. 7 and 8 meetings between the Buckeyes
and Wolverines will be for all the marbles. Michi-
gan will have to bring out the big guns - golfing
great Jack Nicklaus and scientist Ray Goodrich,
Ph.D. As Nicklaus puts the Buckeyes in-a trancej.-
with his short game, Goodrich will finish them off
with how he created a system where riboflavin,
when introduced to light, acts upon viruses or bac-
teria which could be present in donated blood. -
It's as simple as that. You might as well start
raising that "2003 CCHA Regular Season Champi-
onship" banner now.
I wonder if James Earl Jones is available for that
ceremony.
- If you think Michigan should just quit prac-
ticing and began strategizing with People's 25
Most Beautiful People, please contact Kyle
O'Neill at kylero@umich.edu.
01
Gajic laughs last at Kowalski
By Courtney Lewis
Daily Sports Editor
When Northern Michigan goaltender Craig
Kowalski headed to the bench after Michigan
made the score 4-0 early in the second period
Saturday night, he didn't just have to deal
with the embarrassment of giving up four
goals in 23 minutes.
The junior also had to withstand a verbal assault
from the Wolverines.
"He definitely heard it
when he got pulled, that's
for sure," Michigan sopho
more Milan Gajic said. "I
know I was one of the guys
that was (jawing at him)."
HocKEY
Notebook
Team
Ferris State
Ohio State
Michigan
Michigan State
Western Michigan
Miami
Northern Michigan
Nebraska-Omaha
Alaska-Fairbanks
Notre Dame
Bowling Green
Lake Superior
w
1
CCHA
6L
.6 5
14 4
14 5
12 7
11 9
10 10
10 9
9 13
7 11.
7 10
4 14
1 18
T Pts
1 33
2 30
1 29
1 25
0 22
2 22
1 21
2 20
6 20
3 17
2 10
1 3
Overall
W L T
21 8 1
20 6 3
20 7 1.
16 10 2
13 14 1
16 12 2
14 12 2
11 15 4
10 12 6
9 13 6
7 17 2
4 20 4
The way they see it, Gajic and his team-
mates were just giving Kowalski a little of his
own medicine.
In December, the Wildcats swept Michigan in
two games in Marquette, and Kowalski was the
first star of one of the games. Afterward, he made
comments to the media to the tune of Michigan
being overrated. That may have been a mistake, as
the Wolverines apparently have excellent long-term
memory. They used Kowalski's comments for a lit-
tle extra motivation this weekend.
"We had it on our little board out there; we had
it highlighted," David Moss said. "So we definitely
remembered what he said."
Before this weekend, Kowalski had led Northern
Michigan to five straight victories against Michi-
gan, including two shutouts at Yost Ice Arena. But
he had little to talk about after this weekend.
Before the Wildcats lost 5-1 Saturday, Kowalski
gave up two goals to Dwight Helminen in the third
period Friday. That killed the momentum Northern
Michigan had started to build in what had been a
close game.
Michigan freshman Al Montoya answered
Kowalski's December performance, allowing just
two goals on the weekend.
"This was Al's weekend," Michigan coach Red
Berenson said. "Good for him."
Recent matchups between the teams have been
goaltenders' games. Berenson pointed out that Fri-
day's game was 1-0 going into the third period and
"both goalies were holding their team in there."
BALANCING ACT: After making a big impact in
their rookie year, the points haven't come quite so
easily this season for Michigan's sophomore for-
wards. This weekend, they re-emerged.
Helminen and Eric Nystrom took care of the
offense Friday night, netting all three of the
Wolverines' goals between them.
Gajic and Moss followed that with two
goals each Saturday. Gajic was slumping for
much of the season - five goals in his last
22 games - but has four goals in his last four
games. His centerman, Moss, who has quietly
been an offensive force for the Wolverines
this season, also registered an assist and now
ranks second on the team in scoring.
The increased production from the sophomores
has given Michigan a more balanced scoring attack
than it has had all season. Three of the Wolverines'
four lines produced points Saturday night, and 13
Wolverines earned points on the weekend.
"I think our team is starting to play the way they
can play," Berenson said. "I like what I'm seeing
- more and more players being involved.
"I really like the contribution we're getting from
our top players right down through our lineup."
NOT-SO-FOND FAREWELL: While officials took sev-
eral minutes to sort out penalties after a scrum in
the second period Saturday, the Michigan crowd
passed the time by saluting Northern Michigan's
captain, Bryce Cockburn.
The senior is a favorite target every time the
Wildcats come to Yost, and fans brought out all the
stops for his final visit. Some made him signs, and
after Northern Michigan scored in the third period,
students even shouted, "MRS. COCKBURN" He
received more abuse when he was thrown out of
the game in the third period.
The fans don't seem to care that the for-
ward and his mother actually pronounce their
name Coe-burn.
SETH LOWER/Daily
(Above) Fans get final looks at Northern Michigan goalie Craig Kowalski before he was pulled in the second
period. (Below) Northern Michigan senior Bryce Cockburn said good-bye to Yost by getting ejected.
CCHA LEADERS
Through Jan. 12 - League games only
Player G A P
1. Chris Kunitz, FSU 22 21 43
2,. R.J. Umberger, OSU 11 19 30
3. Jeff Legue, FSU 14 15 29
4. Mike Kompon- Miami 11 17 28
5. Brad Fast, MSU 9 15 24
5. Greg Hogeboom, Miami 14 10 24
Rl nr'u L, h eI 'Ti Z1 7 14 7 ')A
TONY DING/Daily
o~eAirbigun BuiIg
'Th7iree stars of the weekend
I
Milan Gajic
0)
Dwight Helminen
Q)
Al Montoya
.\n mm ro/T'nv nr+rrl / Qnt11 mm^ ro/r!o"foI- _ l Froeh.mer"Al7nnli.a I