Friday March 18, 2005 sports.rmichigandaily.com sports@michigandaily.com SPORTS 9 Icers out to stop underdog Alaska N FOOTBAL Blue has plenty to practice this sping By Ryan Sosin Daily Sports Writer DETROIT - Alaska-Fairbanks has begun to make a habit out of doing the unthinkable. Last week, it put Bowling Green's season to rest by taking the open- ing round series on the road. Yesterday, the Nanooks solved Northern Michigan goalie Tuomas Tarkki, scoring five goals on the CCHA Player of the Year. The 6-3 victory for the sixth-ranked team - Ti IV the sixth goal was scored on an empty net - has paved the way to the next item on its list, a matchup T s with top-ranked Michigan X p: in tonight's semifinal. Saturday I The win was Alaska- Fairbanks' first ever in Super 6 play in just its second appearance in tournament history. "When these guys put their mind to something we haven't done before, they get it done," Nanooks coach Tavis MacMillan said. "Now we've never won two games in the Super 6." The Wolverines and Nanooks face off tonight, but Michigan will see a completely different team than the one it swept in a two-game series in January. When Alaska-Fairbanks came up from Bowling Green to face Michigan in Ann Arbor during the regular season, it was riding a six- game winless streak. Following the victory yesterday, Alaska is 9-4-3 in its last 16 games and undefeated in five- contests. "They are a team that you are going to have to show up and play and skate," :<_ :>i IC Michigan assistant coach Billy Powers said. "If you don't skate against Alas- ka, you'll be in trouble. What Powers saw in tonight's oppo- nent was a team that was rolling. The five goals against Tarkki were the most he has allowed all season against conference opponents. "I think we'll have our hands full in terms of containing the puck against their top-two lines and (Ryan) """""""" McLeod," Powers said. "I .EKEND really think, offensively, they are as gifted as we are. A >."<' That's how highly I think of them." IAMA 4-5 Perhaps most indicative ts Net of the roll that Alaska-Fair- aals - 4:O banks is on comes from the s<35 names of last night's scor- ers. Junior Kelly Czuy, the team's third-leading scor- er, was held without a point against the Wildcats, while second-ranked scorer Curtis Fraser had just an assist. The Nanooks power play - which accounted for all four of Alaska- Fairbanks' goals at Yost in January - scored three goals against North- ern Michigan. Powers attributed much of this success to the traffic created in front of the net. Even though he believes that blocking shots before the Nanooks can get close to the net could be a difference maker, Powers said it comes down to walking the fine line of keeping the front of the net clear while staying out of the penalty box. "It's up to our defense to be smart on how they are moving people (in front of the net) and not taking pen- alties," Powers said. "It's not easy. If someone gets good position on your With the first of 15 spring practices set for tomorrow, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr says he is eager to get to work. "It's really a new team, and that's always an exciting time," Carr said. "You've got to find replacements for the guys who left and do the things it takes to put another team together." The Wolverines return 15 starters from last year's team, a squad that finished 9- 3, shared the Big Ten championship with Iowa and lost the Rose Bowl to Texas on the game's final play. Many consider Michigan a preseason top-five team, but Carr readily admitted that there is plenty to work on between now and the spring game on April 16. The most critical issue is the defense's play against the spread offense and mobile quarterbacks, the emergence of which Carr called "the biggest change in college foot- ball since the wishbone." After a solid start to the season, the Wolverines allowed 33 points per game in the season's final four games. Although Carr didn't specifically say what he had learned from his evaluation of last season's finish, he said that both the scheming and the performance of individu- al players - open-field tackling in particu- lar - will be worked on. "You have to tackle better, and that's a challenge," Carr said. "With everything spread out, players are asked to make tack- les in the open field. It's a much different game than 20 years ago." In the next month, Michigan will also spend time finding replacements for receiv- er Braylon Edwards, cornerback Marlin By Sharad Mattu Daily Sports Editor Jackson, offensive lineman David Baas and safety Ernest Shazor, all of whom were All-Americans last season. Filling the void left by the four won't be up to specific players, Carr said. To replace Edwards, who carried the Wolverines' offense for stretches last season, Carr hopes projected starters Jason Avant and Steve Breaston will have their best seasons yet. Carr is also looking forward to seeing how quarterback Chad Henne and running back Mike Hart progress during their first spring in Ann Arbor. Henne will receive the vast majority of snaps in the next month. Matt Gutierrez, who had shoulder surgery last fall, will not participate in contact drills and Clayton Richard is currently playing on Michigan's baseball team. The hope for Hart - the Big Ten's leading rusher last fall - is that he will not have to be the workhorse he was last season. Carr said he is looking forward to seeing freshman Max Martin and Kevin Grady, who will be a freshman in the fall but is already enrolled in classes, during the next month's practice sessions. Aside from individual improvement, a priority for many Wolverines this spring will be simply to get healthy. Carr said he couldn't remember having so many play- ers either out or limited by injury, and, as a result, there will be less contact drills and tackling. Among those dealing with injuries are defensive linemen Jeremy Van Alstyne and Tim Jamison, as well as offen- sive linemen Jake Long and Leo Henige. Because so many players are banged up, Carr had a message for fans contemplating making the trip to Michigan Stadium for the spring game on April 16th: "If you're looking for tackling, come back on Sep- tember 3." TONY DING/Daily Nanook defenseman Cramer Hickey (12) squares-off with Michigan's Tim Cook, T.J. Hensick and Kevin Porter. The two teams meet tonighin the CCHA Super 6 semi-finals. goalie, you're better off almost leav- ing them there. Because if you start to get involved, there are two guys screening (the goalie). It's a bit of a science and an art." INJURY UPDATE: Michigan will be without senior David Moss for at least tonight's game against the Nanooks as he nurses a calf injury. Michigan will move sophomore David Rohlfs back from the point to his native position on the wing and bring soph- omore Tim Cook back into the line- up to fill the vacant spot. Sophomore Mike Brown will play tonight after he took yesterday's practice off to attend to family business. CRASHED cup: Should the Wolver- ines claim the CCHA title, they're not sure what they will be carrying during its parade around the ice. The Mason Cup, awarded to the tourna- ment champion, was dropped during last night's CCHA award banquet. According to witnesses, the silver cup at the top of the trophy survived the fall while the base shattered onto the Fox Theatre floor. "I heard (the trophy) go thump," one witness said. "I turned around and just saw pieces of it all over the floor." Top grapplers escape upsets By Mark Giannotto Daily Sports Writer ST. LOUIS - There is a belief in college wrestling that any- thing can happen once the NCAA Championships start. On the first day of this year's tournament, that theory held true. In the first and second rounds of the championships, numerous top seeds went down to previously unranked opponents. Luckily for No. 6 Michigan, all of their ranked wrestlers prevailed, and the team finished the first day in sixth place overall. Freshman Josh Churella almost succumbed to the upset bug in his second-round match. He narrowly defeated unranked Don Fisch of Rider University 10-8 in double overtime. Churella, the No. 3 seed in the 141-pound weight class, opened the match aggressively, recording two takedowns in the opening minutes, but gave up a takedown and a reversal to Fisch later. After the match, Churella conceded that he had been suffering from a chest cold and that the cold had affected his stamina dur- ing the match. Churella used nearly all of his injury time during the match due to his weakened condition. In overtime, Churella looked like he got his second wind. Although he was unable to get a takedown during the one-min- ute sudden death period, he was the aggressor throughout. He nearly got several takedowns but failed to finish any of them. The match then went to double overtime, where Churella used his momentum from the first overtime and turned Fisch to his back for two near fall points and captured the victory. The win moved him to the quarterfinal round this morning. "It wasn't the prettiest win, but you just have to win," Churella said. "I want to come back strong for the quarterfinals, and hope- fully make All-American." Junior heavyweight Greg Wagner was also nearly beaten earlier than expected in his second-round match. Against Northwestern's Dustin Fox, who he defeated 14-1 at the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago, Wagner could not finish any of his takedowns. The match moved to overtime in a 1-1 tie. Fortu- nately for Wagner and the Wolverines, he was able to take down Fox with a quick double leg maneuver. E WOMEN'S SWIMMING Tankers wade through day one By Sara Uvingston Daily Sports Writer TONY DING/Daily Josh Churella won his first match at the NCAA Championships. "(Fox) made some adjustments from the last time I faced him," Wagner said. "You have to take it match by match here because anyone can beat you." Churella and Wagner will be joined in the quarterfinal round by freshman Eric Tannenbaum and co-captains Ryan Churella and Ryan Bertin. All three made easy work of their opponents. "It helps a ton to get through the first day of the tournament easily," Bertin said. "You get a lot of the nervousness out of your system and get used to the environment here." In addition to the wrestlers who qualified by advancing to the quarterfinals, the Wolverines also have sophomores Nick Roy and Mark Moos in the consolation bracket. Sophomore Joshua Weitzel was the only wrestler eliminated on the first day. "I thought, overall, we had a great day," Michigan coach Joe McFarland said. "We've got seven of our eight guys still in the tournament. Our goal is to try and get in the top five, and we want some guys wrestling for national championships. If our guys keep wrestling the way they did today, we've got a good shot at accomplishing our goals." The NCAA Championships continue throughout the weekend with the championship bouts scheduled for Saturday night. After just one day of competition in West Lafayette, the No. 14 Michigan women's swimming and diving team sits with 37 team points in 10th place at the NCAA Championships. The Wolver- ines had eight swimmers qualify for the championships on Thursday, reaching either the finals or consolation race in three of the five events. "The races let us know that we can swim with a lot of the big boys in certain events," Michigan coach Jim Richardson said. "We just have to dig deep a little bit. And things aren't going to come as easily here as they did at Big Tens, but I think some of the swimmers really swam through despite still being tired." In the 200-yard freestyle relay - Michigan's strongest race - the com- bination of sophomore Kaitlyn Brady, senior Amy McCullough, junior Abby Seskevics and sophomore Lindsey Smith clocked in at a time of 1:30.46 in the preliminary race, good enough to qualify for the finals. But, in the finals the Wolverines were unable to shave down their time, finishing in fifth place with a time of 1:30.55, nearly a full second slower than their winning time from the Big Ten Championships of 1:29.56. Georgia won the event, beating the Wolverines by 2.45 seconds and set- ting a new NCAA record. "I was kind of hoping we would go 1:29 again," Richardson said. "I think that it speaks of how well we were a month ago and how we were able to come back at this meet and be the fifth best team in the U.S. I think that this is a great accomplishment for this group of young women,, and they have come a long way with this relay, and they all deserve to be All-Americans." While they were unable to reach the finals, Brady and freshman Justine Muel- ler had the opportunity to earn Michigan always-critical team points in the consola- tion races. Brady, who came in 14th in the preliminary race, struggled in the conso- lation race. She put up a time of 23.01 and finished in seventh place (15th overall in the event). In the preliminary race, Mueller placed 12th in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:59.84. Muel- ler was able to overcome any first-time jitters and clocked in with a time of 1:59.07, finishing first in the consola- tion race (ninth overall in the event) and shaving .77 seconds off of her pre- liminary time. "I thought she handled the pres- sure of being a freshman and being in a meet like this extremely well," Richardson said. "She swam really well and really maintained her focus throughout the race." Sophomore Susan Gillian failed to qualify for the finals of the prelimi- nary round in the 500-yard freestyle, coming in 48th place with a time of 4:53.66. The Wolverines' 400-yard medley relay team clocked in at 18th place, also failing to earn a spot in the finals or consolation race. The team - consisting of junior Carolina Sierra, freshmen Valeria Silva, Brady and McCullough - posted a time of 3:44.30 and was six seconds away from reaching the consolation race. While many teams in attendance had been focusing on the NCAA Champi- onships all season, ignoring their con- ference tournaments and structuring their schedule so that their swimmers would be in top form for this event, the focus of the Wolverines' season was the Big Ten Championships, where the Wolverines won several individual Big Ten titles. "We're just not deep enough to finish in the top five," Richardson said. "(We had) different agendas this year in where we were going to peak, and we chose to do that in Big Tens. Our focus was Big Tens. We wanted to swim well there and we did." The NCAA Championships continue tonight and tomorrow. Michigan will be competing in 11 more events while earn- ing points to add to its score for the team championship. Attention: Pre-Med/Pre-Nursing Students Excellent opportunity to work with doctors in a camp infirmary setting, as a Camp Health Officer.We will pay for the short certification course. Enjoy working in a beautiful Northern Michigan setting. ArARTU fE A comic opera by Kirke Mechem Can a desperate family prevent a pious con-man from stealing their inheritance in this high-spiritedfarce? Japan Student Association presents: Maturi Japan Cultural, Festival- 2005 HIREYOURSELF Just starting out? Finding the right job can be tough, especially with every student's least favorite word - experience - popping up in nearly every want ad. With Tupperware, the best business opportunity in America, you'll quickly be on your way to earning a terrific income, developing leadership skills, Directed by Kay Walker Castaldo Univ. Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Andrew George UM School of Music Opera Theatre Sung in English with projected