Thursday October 17, 2002 michigandaily.com sportsdesk@umich.edu POe [R# giTSfl 5A Burnes out for three weeks with mono By Kyle O'Neill Daily Sports Writer As if losing senior alternate captain John Shouneyia for up to two months wasn't enough, the Michigan hockey team had two more of its prominent players go down with health problems. Junior alternate captain Andy Burnes is out for at least three weeks after con- tracting mononucleosis and HOCKEY sophomore Jason Ryznar is out Notebook for at least one more game - _ if not the entire weekend series against Merrimack - with an injury to his right shoulder. "Burnes was sick last week," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "We gave him a couple days off and he started to feel better and thought he could play. He played (against Niagra and North Dakota) and then he really wore out on Saturday. "We're not even thinking about (Ryznar) for Friday. Best-case scenario is Saturday or the following week." Sophomore forward Eric Nystrom will fill in for Burnes as an alternate captain until the junior has recovered enough to rejoin the team. The losses come at a tough time for the Wolverines, who are still trying to get effective defensive pairings and offensive lines together. With just five defenders returning from last Sat- urday's lineup, Berenson will have to decide whether to move Reilly Olson or David Wyzgowski into the starting lineup, or just play with five defenders and increase their ice time. Berenson noted that playing just five would not be a problem as Michigan played just four during its 1998 NCAA Tournament winning run. Ryznar, who had been teaming with Milan Gajic and Jed Ortmeyer, will be replaced by Mark Mink, who recorded two goals this past weekend. "We're missing some key players now," freshman goaltender Al Montoya said. "We all just have to go out there and battle. What we do in one game is going to follow to the next." LEARNING SOMETHING NEW: For Montoya, Saturday's 5-4 overtime loss to North Dakota was one that will stick with him for awhile - in a positive way. Though he and his teammates blew a two-goal lead with less than five minutes remaining in the game, there were some important things the freshman goalie learned in his first visit to HSBC Arena - the site of JOE SMITH Tigers need more than roar. of '84 to win again FILE PHOTO Junior defenseman and alternate captain Andy Burnes contracted mono last week and is expected to miss the next three weeks of action. aybe new Tigers skipper Alan Trammell got stuck in reminiscing mode when he hired another former Tiger great - and good friend - Kirk Gibson to become his bench coach Tuesday night. Maybe Trammell thought Gib- son's tough and abrasive attitude would actually light a fire under his apathetic team and keep the club- house turmoil under raps. Or maybe Trammell wanted someone else in the franchise actu- ally marketable for a future bobble- head promotion. After all, Ernie Harwell did retire this year. All kidding aside, by adding Gib- son to a coaching staff that already includes former Tigers such as Trammell and Lance Parrish, you've now got one-third of the Tigers last World Series champi- onship team - way back in 1984. But does that mean Tiger fans should be anticipating the boys donning the Old English 'D' Restore the Roar of '84 anytime soon? Trammell thinks so. "I think by bringing Gibby aboard shows we mean business and we're serious about turning this around," Trammell told The Associ- ated Press on Tuesday. Trammell can show he's "seri- - ous" all he wants and bring back Jack Morris, Lou Whitaker, Darryl Evans and Chet Lemon to the Tigers to join the club. Heck, even former manager Sparky Anderson is expected to be an "advisor" to Trammellin spring training. That may create the loudest standing ovation ever for the "brain trust" during the announcement of starting lineups. But throwing sev- eral city icons together won't auto- matically alter the Tigers' longstanding trend of losing sea- sons. That is, unless the Tigers make a commitment and spend "serious" money - and spend it wisely - on free agents or re-load their farm system. After all, not even Tony LaRussa could turn the hapless Tigers into contenders. Especially with the most talented and hardest-working members of the Tigers possibly being Trammell and Gibson them- selves. Bobby Higginson, arguably the Tigers' best player, hit a scorching .282 last season with just 10 homers and 62 RBIs. No Tiger had more than 20 home runs last year, which didn't help the mediocre pitching staff. And one of Detroit's hottest prospects is 25-year-old first baseman Eric Munson - the same Munson who was hyped as Detroit's answer at first base nearly seven years ago. Trammell and Co. have an extremely tough job ahead of them, and they know it full well: the lack of talent, the recent turmoil in the clubhouse, the recent history of los- ing. It's going to be a while before Tigers' fans like myself can be excited beyond May - as much as everyone doesn't like to hear about another "five-year plan." See SMITH, Page 9A this year's Frozen Four. "It's such an advantage now, knowing that rink," Montoya said. "It's such a different rink than what we're used to playing on. The boards are so much in tighter, like if you put the puck behind the net you have nowhere to go. It's such a different thing, and I'm glad we got to experience what could be around us. I really want to be back in a couple months." Although the experience did not end the way he wanted, Montoya knows that the errors he did make were ones that can be easily corrected with experience. "I just made some rookie mistakes going out there - mishandled a pass, gave up a goal," Montoya said referring to North Dakota's Quinn Fylling intercepting a pass from Montoya early in the second period. Michigan was on the power play at the time, but the ill-advised pass caused a two-on-one breakaway for the Fighting Sioux. Fylling easily dished the puck to Zach Parise for the shorthanded goal to tie the game at two. But where Montoya made his mistakes, he also stood strong at times to hold onto Michigan's momentum. He did get some revenge against Fylling with a huge kick-save just three minutes after the shorthanded goal. He also robbed a break- away by Parise - who had four points on the night - with a glove-save early in the third period to pre- serve Michigan's 3-2 lead. Montoya had an advantage over his teammates, who may have grown accustomed to Yost Ice Arena's large and raucous crowd to keep them fired up. He wasn't bothered by the fact that HSBC Arena was barely filled and resembled an audience for a play more than a hockey crowd. "Last year in juniors we'd only get 30 fans a night and you'd have to make your own motivation, so I'm pretty used to that now," Montoya said. 1 r . - 77% of UM students don't smoke cigarettes. Si EI really feel