Tuesday
October 12, 2004
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PORleTSo - Baft

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Riley loves
blocking
f,or Blue's
1 e
By Gennaro Filice
Daily Sports Editor
At 6-foot-3, 311 pounds, sophomore guard Rueben
Riley looks imposing at first glance. But his favorite
off-field activity contrasts with his colossal stature.
"I'm a big cartoon guy," Riley said.
Although he still enjoys childhood classics like
"Tom and Jerry," his current favorite is "Family Guy."
His reason for watching the show is simple.
"Oh Stewie!" Riley said. "Come on man - Stew-
ie's the greatest."
While the Grand Rapids native adores "Fam-
ily Guy's" pint-sized rebel off the field, he's fond of
another little guy on it.
"(Mike) Hart's a little warrior," Riley said. "I
love blocking for him. For a guy that small to be
able to break tackles like that, run through defend-
ers and things like that, he's going to be a great
guy for us."
Until Saturday, Riley hadn't had much of a chance
to block for Hart, as he played sparingly in Michi-
gan's first five games. But then Michigan's starting
kbft guard, Leo Henige Jr., suffered a season-ending
knee injury during the Indiana game and Riley was
given his chance.
' ""Coach (Lloyd Carr) came to me (on Monday) when
Leo Henige went down and told me it's my opportu-
nity and make the most of it," Riley said.
Following Carr's words of encouragement, Riley's
practice week intensified.
"I went into this week of practice with butter-
flies like it was the game," Riley said. "It's a big
deal to be a starting offensive lineman for the Uni-
V'ersity of Michigan."
The anxiety carried over to Friday night.
"I didn't go to sleep 'till like four in the morning,"
Riley said.
But the butterflies left after Riley's initial snap.
A "The first play pretty much set the tone and let me
know that, I'm a football player. I've been playing it for
12 years, so just play," Riley said

Yost still boasts the
best fans on campus

BRIAN SCHICK
Schick Happens
magine a place on campus where
Michigan students are consistently
upporting their team, screaming
from the opening minute until the final
seconds. Imagine a place where the fans
- all the fans - are loud and make the
venue one of the toughest places to play
in the NCAA. Imagine a place where the
crowd constantly follows the play in front
of them and is actively involved with the
action.
Is this some potential dream for Michi-
gan Stadium, where the largest crowd in
the country might finally create a true
home-field advantage? Or does such a
place exist on campus?
Yes, it does. It's Yost Ice Arena - the
greatest place to watch a Michigan sport-
ing event on campus. While I have been
going to the Big House for all of my four
years here, the atmosphere pales in com-
parison to the "Old Barn." After you've
been to both venues, if you don't agree that
Yost is a tougher place to play for oppo-
nents than the Big House, you're clearly
not looking at the situation objectively.
First of all, the Yost faithful are a select
few and are devoted to the team. Yost's
capacity is about one-fifteenth the size
of the Big House, so naturally not every-
one is going to be able to go to hockey
games. But that's what makes Yost special
- weeding out the students who go to
football games just to be seen and not to
watch the game. Yost fans go to actually
watch the game - what a crazy idea!
That's why the atmosphere at Yost
always has a feeling of excitement, wheth-
er the team is playing Michigan State or
Lake Superior State. The crowd is living
and dying with every little play on the ice
- and more often than not, what's NOT
happening on the ice. A few examples: the
Yost fans are so aware of the clock, they
ask the announcer about the time remain-
ing with a minute left. When a phone
rings in the press box, the fans remind the
opposing goalie his mother called and left
a message. Opposing parents are chastised
after their team manages to score a goal.
(Intrigued? Sorry, you won't get the cheers
from me. Go to a game and find out for
yourself.) Football fans shake keys on
third down, but that doesn't have the exact
timing of the cheers at Yost.
After covering the hockey team last
year, I traveled all over the CCHA and saw
how lucky Michigan is to have such an

exceptional arena. Although Yost was built
in 1923 and didn't host its first hockey
game until 1973, it has evolved into a great
hockey setting. With a capacity of 6.637,
it's the largest hockey-only building owned
by a school in the conference. Fans should
be thankful that Yost has seats on all four
sides, unlike a building that has three (Fer-
ris State) or just one (Miami).
In addition, the athletic department
actually has made improvements and sig-
nificant renovations to Yost in recent years.
The addition of second-floor seating and a
new lobby came in 1997. New scoreboards
and banners were added in 2001. Granted,
the Big House has new student section
"seats" this season, but the press box still
looks like it predates the moon landing.
The bathrooms at the Big House could use
some modernizing, too.
What really impresses me the most
about Yost is the complete involvement
of all hockey fans, not just the students.
I've seen 5-year old kids as well as senior
citizens participating in the goal celebra-
tion. For a crowd that has no organization
- like Maize Rage - to coordinate the
cheers, it's very impressive.
Learning Yost's chants is like parents
passing on the unwritten pearls of wisdom
to their children, except it's seniors passing
on chants to freshmen. No venue, despite
how large it is, can be a tough place to play
if the noise isn't coming from all sides, not
just the student section.
I know what you may be thinking: Yost
might have a good crowd, but they're so
vulgar! My response to that is you can't
get results without getting your hands
dirty. Every player that has suited up for
coach Red Berenson will tell you that Yost
is one of the toughest places to play in the
country, and former player Blake Sloan
described the atmosphere as putting oppo-
nents at a two-goal disadvantage before
the puck ever drops.
What makes Yost a tough place to play
is the intimidation the crowd instills into
the opposition. Yet the athletic department
admonishes the crowd every year for its
vulgarities, saying it takes away from the
"Yost Arena experience." If you ask me,
that IS the Yost experience and that IS
what makes it so difficult to play there.
If the athletic department successfully
cleaned up this "problem," Yost would
lose the advantage the athletic department
is so quick to hype.
But all that aside, Yost brings more fans
closer to the action than the Big House and
really doesn't have a bad seat in the house.
How's the view from row 90 at the Big
House?
If none of that convinces you why the
Old Barn is better, Yost has Score-O.
Brian Schick can be reached at his seat
in section 13 and at bschick@umich.edu.

MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily
Sophomore Rueben Riley, below, earned his first start Saturday and opened up holes for freshman Mike Hart.

Riley and the rest of the offensive line opened
up holes all day against Minnesota for the runner
they call "Midget." Hart - a true freshman - had
the finest day of his young career, running for 160
yards (a Michigan freshman record) and a touch-
down on 35 carries.
The offensive line also provided ample pass protec-
tion against the Golden Gophers, especially in Michi-
gan's final drive.
"In all actuality, who made (the game-winning
score) happen was that offensive line," quarter-
backs coach Scot Loeffler said. "When you real-

ly look at the big picture, when you were sitting
upstairs, it was absolutely unbelievable what that
offensive line did."
Said Riley: "I just wanted to focus on staying active.
A two-minute drill can get you pretty tired, so stay
active, keep moving your feet and don't let them touch
the quarterback."
Although Riley's week may have been more nerve-
wracking than normal, following Saturday's win he
had one of the biggest grins in Ann Arbor.
"Perfect ending," Riley said. "Couldn't have script-
ed it any better."

Rogers bears 'C' in Nystrom's absence

By Jake Rosenwasser
Daily Sports Writer
DAYTON, Ohio - Senior defenseman
Jarandon Rogers is progressing through
lis A-B-Cs. This past weekend, with the

absence of captain Eric
Nystrom due to a nag-
ging rib injury, Rog-
qrs donned the "C," for
captain, on his uniform
instead of his usual "A"
fpr alternate captain.

Rogers, despite the new label, struggled
along with the rest of the defense against
Northeastern on Friday in the 4-2 loss. He
finished the game with a minus-one rating
and four minutes in the penalty box.
"I'd trade the "C" to have (Eric) Nys-
trom back right now," Rogers said. "He's a
big part of the team and it hurts us not to
have him in the lineup. We want him back
as soon as possible."
But Rogers rebounded with a better
performance against Boston University
on Saturday. The Mighty Duck draft pick

$ °

collected a goal and an assist against. Just
three minutes into the game, Rogers was
credited with an assist when he started a
counter attack. Rogers fed freshman Kevin
Porter who passed the puck to sophomore
Matt Hunwick. The defenseman buried a
shot over Karson Gillespie's blocker.
Later in the first period, with Michi-
gan already leading 3-0, Jeff Tambellini
slammed the puck off the boards in Bos-
ton's zone. Sophomore T.J Hensick took
the puck at the blue line and spotted Rogers
flashing towards the net. Rogers took the
pass and sent his shot between Gillespie's
legs for the score.
Rogers is one of three alternate captains
on the roster. Juniors Jeff Tambellini and
Al Montoya are the others. Nystrom has
been practicing with the team lately and
might be able to make his season debut this
weekend against New Hampshire and St.
Lawrence at Yost Ice Arena.
QuIcK STARTERS: When Michigan lost
to Northeastern 4-2 on Friday night in its
opening contest, it was the first time the
Wolverines lost their opening game of the
season since 1991 when Michigan State
beat Michigan 5-3.
After losing on Friday night, the Wol-
verines were in danger of doing something
they had never done in 21 years under coach
Red Berenson - start the season 0-2. The
Wolverines prolonged that positive trend
on Saturday, when they trounced Boston
University 7-2.
"We were hoping to get through that
first game in better shape," Berenson said
on Saturday. "But we didn't do it. I think we
tightened up in a lot of areas tonight and we
competed harder."
In fact, Michigan has not started 0-2
since the 1944-45 season. The program

has won nine national championships and
has had 109 players drafted into the NHL
since that time.
WHERE IS EVERYBODY?: Michigan is used
to playing in front of packed crowds at Yost,
but this past weekend at the Lefty McFad-
den Tournament in Dayton, Ohio, the Wol-
verines played in front of, to be generous,
sparse crowds. Attendance figures for each
game never cracked 2,500 in The Ervin
J. Nutter Center that holds 12,000 fans at
capacity. Berenson refused to blame the
poor crowd for the team's performance.
"The crowd is the same for everyone,'
the coach said. "The crowd had nothing to
do with (the loss.)"
CELEBRITY SIGHTING: Although there
was a meager crowd on hand, among
the handful of fans was a hockey lumi-
nary. Ray Bourque, who was a 19-time
All-Star and a member of the Colorado
Avalanche Stanley Cup championship
team of 2001, was on hand to watch his
son, Chris Bourque, compete on the col-
legiate level for the first time with his
Boston University squad. The younger
Bourque lines up at left wing, unlike
his father, who spent 22 seasons as a
premier defenseman in the NHL. Chris
Bourque notched an assist in the third
period against the Wolverines.
Two other famous hockey sons were
on the benches for the game. Though he
didn't play, Nystrom is the son of New
York Islander legend Bobby Nystrom and
Mike Eruzione Jr., son of Mike Eruzione,
the captain of the "Miracle on Ice" USA
team of 1980, is a walk-on freshmen for
the Terrier squad.
NoTEs: After its 1-1 weekend, Michigan
slipped to No. 3 in the USCHO poll behind
North Dakota and Boston College.

Unbeatens to battle
for conference lead

By Ben Voss
For the Daily

The Big Ten will serve three courses
of outstanding matchups this weekend.
For the appetizer, Minnesota will travel
back to the great state of Michigan to

play a not-so-great
Michigan State team.
For the main course,
Ohio State will find
out just how crusty
it is when it tries
to avoid crumbling
under Iowa. And, for

0 '9
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BIG

RYAN WEINER/Daily
Senior Brandon Rogers took over captain duties In Eric Nystrom's absence this
weekend, and struggled initially before recording a goal in a win over Boston University.

M MEN'S SOCiRn
Yarborough brings wealth of experience

dessert, the Wisconsin-Purdue game
will be the sweetest end to a great foot-
ball Saturday.
No. 12 Wisconsin (3-0 Big Ten, 6-
0 overall) at No. 5 Purdue (2-0, 5-0)
- 5:30 p.m., ESPN 2
If you watch one game this week-
end, this should be it. Both teams have
a chance at a Big Ten Championship
and an Orange Bowl trip in their sights.
The outcome of this game not only pro-
vides the new leader of the Big Ten, but
it also affects the chances of Michigan
to capture the conference title further
down the road.
This game will be a battle between
Purdue's offense and Wisconsin's defense.
Purdue's Heisman candidate Kyle Orton
is the No. 1 quarterback in the Big Ten
and rated second in the nation in pass-
ing efficiency at 69.2 percent. It will be a
challenge for Wisconsin's defense to shut
Orton down the way it did last Saturday
to Ohio State's Justin Zwick. The Badgers
held Zwick to 125 yards.
Wiscnsin's nouarterback. John Stoc-

This will be a meeting of two of the
most mediocre of the conference. Iowa,
that pesky housefly of a team that Michi-
gan swatted out of the Big House two
weeks ago, will be well rested after an
idle weekend. Ohio State hasn't won a
single conference game this season. This
matchup will be like watching a tractor
pull at the county fair - there will be a
lot of power, but no real drive.
Two weeks ago against Michigan State,
Iowa ran for just 124 yards, while Ohio
State amassed an embarrassing 99 yards
rushing against Wisconsin last week. The
Buckeyes should at least get into triple
digits of yardage against Iowa.
It's a good bet that after Ohio State's
loss last weekend, which broke an 18-
game home winning streak, it'll come out
fighting. For the most part, Iowa has won
games by a little, and lost games by a lot.
This game, however, will be a close one.
Ohio State 27, Iowa 24
No. 20 Minnesota (2-1, 5-1) at
Michigan State (2-1, 3-3) - noon
Last week, Michigan edged its way
past Minnesota in the last three minutes
of the game. This week, Michigan State
might not be so successful. Even though
Minnesota dropped to No. 20 after the
Michigan game, it is still the solid team
that leads the Big Ten in rushing, averag-
ing 301 yards per game. But they are a
weak passing team, with an average of
185.2 yards per contest.
Though Michigan State is right
behind Minnesota in rushing with
194.3 yards per game, Drew Stanton
is the biggest rushing contributor on
thei team. and he's the qunarterback. In

By Anne Ulble
Daily Sports Writer
There are very few people who have more experience
in soccer than Ernie Yarborough, one of the Michigan
men's soccer team assistant coaches.
He has played at every level of the game, been a part
of winning and losing teams and coached a variety of
squads. Though just 30, Yarborough is a seasoned vet-
eran of the sport.
"There probably isn't a single job that I haven't had on or
off the soccer field," Yarborough said. "I've been a part of

because I was a walk-on."
Though he redshirted his first year as a Hoosier,
Yarborough worked harder than most freshmen
because he had fought for his position as a walk-on.
In his second year, the Indiana coaches felt that Yar-
borough wasn't "fit" enough to be the team's starting
goalie and, although they left him on the roster, Yar-
borough was demoted to the role of student manager.
He managed the team's equipment, painted the field
lines and the team's water for practice.
"Although it wasn't the most glamorous job, I took
advantage of any playing time opportunity I was given,"

jumped around in coaching positions. He coached a
high school team in Indianapolis and then returned
to Indiana as a volunteer coach. He helped the Hoo-
siers win back-to-back national championships in
1998 and 1999. In 2000, Yarborough was offered the
assistant coaching position at Michigan and enthusi-
astically accepted. But he admits that changing his
allegiance in the Big Ten was difficult at first.
Indiana sits atop the Big Ten standings (3-0) this year
after beating Michigan on Sunday in an emotional 2-1
defeat in Bloomington.
"Every year I want Indiana to win every game of the