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2B- February 2, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
2B - February 2, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
snaps losing streak
'Clammy Sosa'mascot p
mirrors dominating
Wolverine victory
By JOE STAPLETON
Daily Sports Writer3
Early in the second half of theK
Michigan women's basketball game T
yesterday against Wisconsin, a base-e
ball-playing clam mascot named
"Clammy Sosa" walked onto the .
court during a timeout. The clam
walked over to a Wisconsin student
assistant and promptly "ingested"
him.
According to the official Clammy
Sosa website, the mascot "slurps up ;
and swallows everything in sight."p
The clam walked off the court-
when the timeout ended, the assis-
tant still trapped inside of it with his
feet dangling.
Like Clammy Sosa, Michigan
swallowed the Badgers - figuratively,
of course - winning the game 70-42
to snap their six-game losing streak.
Former players Katie Dierdorf
and Krista Clement, both 2008
graduates, were in attendance, and
they had no doubt the Wolverines
would come out strong..
"We are completely confident
they can pull it out tonight," Clem-
ent said before the game. "They
killed us a few years ago, so we have
some bad memories of Wisconsin."
Michigan didn't disappoint.
Wisconsin (4-9 Big Ten, 14-10
overall) may have been at Crisler
Arena physically, but it didn't appear
to mentally show up. The Badgers
were held went scoreless in the SAID ALSALAH/Daily
first five minutes of the game while Senior Melinda Queen was Michigans most effective presence in the paint Sunday.
Michigan (3-8, 10-12) jumped out to "We put a great deal of emphasis on The Wolverines hadn't scored 70
a quick 9-0 lead. getting it in there and being strong points since their second game of
The Wolverines found success by with the ball" the season, in a 70-60 win on Nov.
deviating from their normal game The Wolverines didn't let up in 15 against Kentucky. After watching
plan. Instead of desperately jacking the second half, drawing five Wis- the offense stall out in so many of its
up 3-pointers, they drove into the consin fouls in the first seven min- closelosses,thiswas exactlythe kind
lane and scored inside. Senior Carly utes. Senior Melinda Queen led the of offensive performance Michigan
Benson scored half of Michigan's charge in the paint and finished needed to get back on track.
first 14 points and found her touch with 11 points. She was one of five Everything seemed to go right
inside on two nifty left-handed Wolverines to score in double digits. for the Wolverines yesterday. Hicks
hooks. "That's the ticket," Borseth said. hit two 3-pointers that seemed to
The first half ended with Michi- "If you've got five players in double bounce around on the rim forever
gan holding a commanding 16-point figures in every game, then you're before falling through.
lead, thanks in part to a 58-percent good." "I like to think of it as shooter's
shooting percentage and 11 Wiscon- Sophomore Veronica Hicks led touch," Hicks joked. "As long as it
sin fouls. the way with 15 points, but Michi- goes in, I don't care if it bounces
"They're hard to score on inside," gan made a point of spreading the around 20 times, that's good enough
Michiganenh KevinBrsethsnid weanlth.form"
Keep Yost a
hands-on arena
No touching" is the rule
for visitors at prisons, at
least if Arrested Devel-
opment can be trusted. But the
Michigan Athletic Department
sent an email to students this
week that threatened to take the
first step toward making Yost Ice
Arena a hands-
off venue.
To set the
context for f
those of you
who have been
under a rock
for over a week
.now, here is a NATE
brief history S
of whathap-
pened: Late in
last Saturday
night's 5-3 win over Michigan State,
two Spartans viciously attacked
Michigan defenseman Steve Kamp-
fer. As Kampfer lay motionless on
the ice, a very loud chant started
rumbling from the student section.
"F.Y.S."would be an appropriate
acronymfor the chant.
Minutes later, Kampfer's father,
Bruce, entered the visiting locker
room and went after one of the
Michigan State players involved in
the incident.
On Thursday, the Athletic
Department announced increased
security standards around the visit-
ing locker room at Yost. That same
day, students received the afore-
mentioned e-mail with the not-so-
coded subject, "Fan Behavior."
Here is the key excerpt from
EISENS
From page 1B
meaning there wasn't enough
video evidence to overturn the
call.
"If that would have been
reviewable - the camera couldn't
see it - it would not have been a
goal," Berenson said.
Still, it's tough to argue the
referees mangled the entire game
with one bad call eight minutes
and 15 seconds into the game.
Michigan had plenty of time to
even up the score.
But the only thing to excuse
Aaron's premature blowing of the
whistle with less than a minute
left in the game is blindness. Hell,
that might not even be a good
enough explanation.
As junior defenseman Steve
that e-mail: "We believe the fan
conduct last week was not appro-
priate to Michigan standards
and will not be tolerated in the
future. The actions on the ice do
not excuse what was heard or
displayed.... We will eject, with-
out warning, individuals who use
profane language and/or make
obscene gestures."
That's all well and good in
theory, but part of being a fan at a
sporting event is reacting to what
takes place on the ice.
Clearly, what the Michigan
State players did was serious.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have
been suspended for the rest of the
season. When something serious
happens in the course of a game,
the players, coaches and referees
have an avenue to respond.
But so do the fans - and they
have to do it with words instead of
actions.
When tensions are high on the
ice, they should be high in the
stands, too.
If the fans weren't meant to
have a voice in how a game plays
out, why would the Athletic
Department be shelling out free
tickets to men's basketball games,
giving out thunder sticks at hock-
ey games and sending out count-
less e-mails urging students to go
to women's basketball games?
The Athletic Department
knows fans are important to cre-
ate a winning environment for its
teams, but now they're trying to
tie fans' hands.
Whatever the terms and condi-
tions listed on the back of each
ticket, the events at the end of last
Saturday's game more than war-
ranted the response the student
section gave. It's probably a small
miracle the animosity didn't man-
ifest in more dangerous ways.
And the real reason the Ath-
letic Department is so upset is
that "FY.S." was clearly audible
on television and YouTube videos
that have been viewed more than
300,000 times.
Of course, the Athletic Depart-
ment has the right to eject any
fan, at any time, for any reason.
But going too far down that path
threatens to take awayone of the
pillars of Michigan hockey - the
Yost student section.
No one is saying the student
section is perfect. Chants often
go over the line. But the well-rea-
soned majority always manages
to rein in the outliers. When some
students threw objects on the ice
after last Saturday's game, their
peers booed them.
The student section has proven
capable of policing itself.
If the Athletic Department
wants to play assistant principal
from here on out, well, there's not
much the students can do.
But the Athletic Department
has a choice here, and the right
one is to keep Yost a hands-on
arena.
- Sandals can be reached
at nsandals@umich.edu.
4
4
4
TEIN Refs stay out
Kampfer poked away at a loose
puck next to sprawled-out Notre
Dame goalie Jordan Pearce, Aaron
blew the whistle because he sup-
posedly saw the net come loose.
For what it's worth, he was
standing 60 feet away at the
blue line, and a scrum occurred
in front of the goal, obstructing
Aaron's view. Philo, who was
positioned right next to the goal,
didn't make a call on the play..
And a split-second later, Kamp-
fer put the puck into the net,
potentially tying the game and
causing senior forward Travis
Turnbull to throw his hands up
into the air in celebration. But the
play was ruled dead, and Aaron
reviewed the play and waved off
the apparentgoal. The Wolverines
had to settle for-the split when
they had a legitimate shot at mak-
ing a run at another conference
title.
"Now, if the net comes off
because their player pushed it
off, I mean that's a serious infrac-
tion in the last two minutes of the
game," Berenson said. "But I don't
know (whether) they pushed it .
off or if it was just the scrum that
pushed it off."
And he probably doesn't know
because not a soul in Yost Ice
Arena saw that post move a hun-
dredth of a centimeter except
Aaron, and that cost the Wolver-
ines the game.
How did he end up with a
whistle?
- Eisenstein can be reached
at mseiseniumichedu.
4
4
4
Junior forward Brian Lebler reaches for the puck in Saturday's loss to Notre Dame at Yost Ice Arena.
FIGHTING IRISH
From page lB
appear to contest Aaron's ruling,
which was upheld after an official
review.
The decision halted the Michi-
gan comeback and effectively
ended the game. Saturday's final
frame, where Michigan outshot
Notre Dame 14-3, marked the best
period the Wolverines played all
weekend.
The Wolverines set up three
scoring chances in front of the net
with crossing passes in the game's
final minutes, but couldn't get a
shot off any of them.
"You're never safe in this build-
ing," Notre Dame coach Jeff Jack-
son said of Yost. "(The Wolverines
are) a momentum team. The crowd
gets them going."
Michigan coach Red Berenson
said last week that he didn'tbelieve
in a "switch" that talented teams
can "turn on" during moments of
crisis. But if such a thing exists, it
certainly appeared off as the Wol-
verines entered the third period
down by three goals.
Tied for fourth place in the
CCHA standings, the Wolverines
are in good position for a first-
round bye in next month's con-
ference tournament. "Urgency"
remains the operative word for
the second half of this season, and
Michigan showed plenty of it dur-
ing Saturday's final 20 minutes.
"I think we played'with more
desperation in the third," Beren-
son said. "But you can't play one
period against a team like Notre
Dame."
Turnovers and defensive break-
downs throughout the first two
periods proved to be Michigan's
undoing. Eight minutes into the
game; Irish forward Calle Rid-
derwall intercepted a Miller pass
inside the Wolverine blueline. Rid-
derwall then slid the puck to.for-
ward Billy Maday, who redirected
it with his skate past sophomore
goaltender Bryan Hogan for the
critical first goal.
Four minutes into the second
period, Notre Dame forward Ryan
Thang took an outlet pass in front
of Kampfer, who was out of posi-
tion, and raced to the net. Kamp-
fer hooked Thang down before he
could get a shot on Hogan, draw-
ing a penalty shot.
Thang made good on his second
chance, beating Hogan glove-side.
It was the first penalty-shot goal
against the Wolverines since 1997.
The Irish, hailed last week by
Berenson as the best forecheck-
ing team in the conference, played
excellent positional hockey during
Saturday's first 40 minutes. Notre
Dame's forwards harassed Michi-
gan's skaters as they tried breaking
out into transition, and packed the
neutral zone to get into the passing
lanes and disrupt the Wolverines'
timing.
"That's where they generate
so much of their speed," Jackson
said. "Michigan's a great team....
They're great offensive speed in
transition and they're very skilled.
They take full advantage of it."
Wolverine acting captain Chris
Summers said Michigan simply put
on a better effort during the final 4
20 minutes. Palushaj and Czarnik
also indicated that the Wolverines
suffered from lapses in intensity in
the first and second frames.
Despite missing a golden oppor-
tunity for a sweep, the players
seemed to take solace from their
third-period performance.
"We showed glimpes of(energy)
in the first and second," Palushaj
said. "We showed a couple shifts
here and there, but it wasn't a full
two periods. (If) we come out like
we did in the third, we're a tough
team to play against."