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Tuesday
February11, 2003
michigandaily.com
sportsdesk@umich.edu

PORTe fSiditgana

8

- I , ! I

Nystrom uses
WJCs to get
back on track
By Kyle O'Neill
Daily Sports Editor
His point production is down, his goals-per-game
is down, but all is not wrong for sophomore Eric
Nystrom.
In fact, after his return from the World Junior
Championships in December, things may actually
be looking up.
After starting the season with just five goals in 16
games, Nystrom has rebounded with four in his past
eight games.
"I think (World Juniors) was good for me," Nys-
trom said. "I started off slow, went off to World
Juniors and had a real strong showing there. I came
back, and I thought I continued that play. I've scored
a few goals in the short span that I've been back, and
I think my play has been better than what it was
before I left:'
And even though the 10th-pick overall of last sum-
mer's NHL Entry Draft may not be living up to the
stats he posted for himself last year - 18 goals and
13 assists in 40 games compared to nine goals and six
assists this year - he's still living up to the stats that
don't usually get press. Nystrom has just eight penal-
ties on the season and a plus-minus rating of plus-11.
"People blame you for not scoring, they tell you,
'You're a top-10 pick, you should be scoring,"' Nys-
trom said. "It wasn't like I chose to get picked there.
It's tough, and people are watching a little bit closer.
Right now the puck's not going in as much as I'd like it
to, but I think there's more to the game than numbers.
The type of player that I am is someone that you know
what you're going to get every night - whether it is a
good defensive effort or a goal in the net."

KYLE

O'NEILL

"

Michigan sophomore Eric Nystrom jostles with a Ferris State player di
Bulldogs Jan. 31. Nystrom has four goals in the last eight games.

Currently Nystrom has found a home with sopho-
more Dwight Helminen and senior Mark Mink.
Helminen was the other Wolverine to go to World
Juniors, and Nystrom was the man responsible for
getting Helminen his first goal since World Juniors.
Though Nystrom's line has changed about every
week, he may have found the grouping that he's
needed with Mink and Helminen.
"They're just messing up the lines to find the right
combination," Nystrom said. "Anyone on the team
can play with anyone, it's just sticking with the lines
that are scoring that's important."

Even tho
much, the s
dependent o
more per ga
offense - t
season's 3.4
expect an in
scoring mor
"Last yea
match up to
50-goal scor
we're downa

Who are you
player to ben
iL adies and gentlemen, boys and tha
girls, children of all ages - wel- at l
come to the world of The Daily onI
Janitor, where you, the reader, will pickI
my column topics. If you have a mess tha
to be cleaned, I am the mop bucket of Sa
Ful-Trol to your spilled pop. an
But since this will be the only col- sta
umn topic chosen by me, it might as afte
well be about what I think. Be
Ahem ... I believe in the soul, theI
small of a woman's back, the hanging rid
curveball, in arriving to a baseball sta- -
dium two hours before the first pitch on car
Opening Day. sil
I believe that the Tigers and the get
Lions will both be over .500 in 2003, an
TONY DING/Daily that the Marty Turco-charged Stars will en
uring the Wolverines' victory over the beat the Red Wings to go to the StanleyI
Cup and that Joe Dumars will have the eds
ugh Nystrom hasn't been scoring as Pistons in the NBA Championship by S.C
coring-by-committee Wolverines are not 2004. I believe 2003 will be the year of tha
n just one scorer and are actually scoring the Wolverine, beginning with men's For
me than last year's Mike Cammalleri-led basketball winning the Big Ten and mo
his year's scoring of 4.04 is up from last ending with those on the gridiron earn- tha
5. And it becomes a little unrealistic to ing a BCS bid. is t
ndividual to stand out when everyone is (I believe that if you don't know Th
e than last year. what movie I'm referencing than youI
ar, I had a career year, and it's hard to haven't seen a good movie.) wr
that,' Nystrom said. "Maybe I'm not a I believe "South Park" is the best nev
rer, but I know I can be on the ice when there is, that "Family Guy" is the best Ge
a goal or up a goal." there was and that "The Simpsons" is en
the best there ever will be. an(
Big Ten fo s I believe that not enough students on i
th0 campus have taken the chance to dail
watch the brilliant pitching of Marissa I
gan has lost five in a row and finds itself Young, that everyone should know the scr
as the bottom team of the conference. names Jason Coben and Amy McCul- sur
Guevara has said on numerous occa- lough and that both soccer programs tha
sions that she schedules a tough non- are "the programs to watch" this sea- wa
conference season in order to prepare son. I believe that Sports Illustrated boo
for conference play. If that's the case, columnist Rick Reilly was dead on the
she needs to seriously consider adding when he said "cheerleaders have no lea
Connecticut, Duke and Tennessee to more impact on the game than the night -
her nonconference schedule in order to janitorial staff." Trust me on that one. ofa
hiav a wihning Big Ten record. This I believe in backyard baseball, in just fan
season's nonconference opponents had playing catch, in shooting hoops andI
,a erag "I of more than 100, and that those who feel IM sports are a way 200
saying that cupcake schedule prepared to further their career in sports have a tha
the Wolverines for the Big Ten season very messed up view of life. app
is a joke. Something seems off schedul- I believe the Michigan hockey team Ko
ing Oakland and Detroit in hopes of will defy logic and its seeding with bea
See GUEVARA, Page 10 another Frozen Four appearance and

?Iam the
amed later
at Al Montoya will leave school with
least one national championship ring
his hand.
I believe that Scott Mitchell wasn't
at bad of a quarterback, that Barry
trders retiring actually made sense
id that Gary Moeller should have
yed on as the Lions' coach even
er the Christmas Eve loss to the
ars.
I believe that the Maize Rage - as
iculous as it sounded when it began
has become the strongest group on
mpus, that Tommy Amaker has
enced critics and made everyone for-
about any problems at Seton Hall
id that Lester Abram still isn't getting
ough press.
I believe PB&J is the most underrat-
snack in America, that Hilton Head,
C. is this nation's best kept secret,
t everyone should have a George
reman grill, that the Bravada is the
ist durable car known to man and
at the Wild Wing Cafe in Hilton Head
he greatest restaurant ever made.
ey have 25 flavors of wings!
I believe Sting is the greatest song-
iter of our time, that "ER" will
ver recapture the magic from its
orge Clooney days, that there aren't
ough "Rocky" marathons on TBS
J TNT and that "Pardon the Inter-
ption" repeats should be running
ily on ESPN Classic.
I believe Michigan students get
ewed at football games and should
Tound at least one side of the field,
at the Big House is really a Big Awk-
rd Silence and that anyone who
os John Navarre needs to step up in
pocket once in their lives. Or at
st make some noise during the game
"symphony" audience was too nice
a description of Michigan football
ns.
I believe "Tiger Woods PGA Tour
03" is the most addictive game ever,
at any FIFA video game is under-
preciated and that when "Anna
urnikova WTA Tour" comes out I'll
at Best Buy to purchase two copies.
See O'NEILL, Page 10

Guevara needs better preparation for


By BDan Schick
Daily Sports Writer

After an 89-57 loss to Illinois on Jan.
5, Michigan women's basketball coach
Sue Guevara bluntly stated, "I am not
going to lose this
basketball team." BASKETBALL
After six losses
by average of 14
points and Sun-
,ebarrassing Vit,.rslung at
the hands of Northwestern, Guevara has
not just lost her team this season; she
has lost her ability to successfully coach
in the Big Ten.
When the season began, Guevara was

committed to not repeating the disaster
her team withstood the season prior. The
2001-02 season saw her team start out
10-1 despite a "tough" nonconference
schedule, and two quality wins against
top-25 teams Notre Dame and
Louisiana State. But the Big Ten season
brought a lackluster 6-10 record, and
Michigan couldn't stay with the premier
teams in the nationisbest conference.
Guevara vowed to make sure her
team wouldn't have the same type of
meltdown this season. In the offseason,
she landed six freshmen and hoped her
two senior co-captains - LeeAnn Bies
and Raina Goodlow - would provide
the leadership her team lacked down

the stretch in the Big Ten last year.
Eerily similar to last season, Michi-
gan started the season winning six
straight - including a 70-64 win over
No. 24 Santa Barbara - and cracked
the top 25 entering the Big Ten season.
But that's when the problems began
again. Granted, two of the first three
Big Ten losses were to Minnesota and
Purdue; both ranked in tf16to$ 10. Then'
Michigan recovered with wins over
doormats Indiana and Northwestern. ,
And following a heart-breaking two-
point loss to No. 13 Penn State, it
appeared Guevara's team was finally
prepared to tackle the Big Ten season.
That has not been the case, and Michi-

i


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