The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - January 21, 1991- Page 7 Streaks collide in 'M' sweep ........... by Dan Zoch Daily Sports Writer BOWLING GREEN, OHIO - Nothing could help Bowling Green beat Michigan this weekend. The Wolverines, still flying from capturing the Great Lakes Invitational, were on a six-game winning Streak heading into a home-and-home series with the Falcons. Bowling Green, on the other hand, was headed in the opposite direction. After starting the season with hopes of capturing a CCHA title, the Falcons dropped an incredible eight straight games. Their goaltender, Angelo Libertucci, went-from being a CCHA Player- of-the-Week to a Gosh-I-Hope-I-Start-Friday kind of guy. Before Friday's game, the Bowling Green pep band struck up, appropriately, the "Rocky" theme song. If Michigan was supposed to play the role of Apollo Creed this weekend, it did its job, only better. With less than a minute into the game, Don Stone nailed a slapshot from twenty feet out to give the Wolverines the lead. Defense was a no-show for the beleaguered Falcons, as was, apparently, offense. They surrendered nine goals to the Wolverines, and their only score resulted from a fluke play. Center Martin Jiranek's shot bounced off the backboards and right toward the awaiting Steve Shields. Shields lost control of the puck, though, and it fell in. Final score: Michigan 9, Bowling Green 1. A pretty pathetic effort from a team that seriously challenged the best teams in the CCHA not long ago. "The thing with Bowling Green is that they're obviously a good hockey team.," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "They're going to beat somebody, and you have to worry that they might get over the hump against you." But Saturday's game in Ann Arbor was no different. The Michigan pep band even played"Rocky" (It also played the Hokey Pokey - does anybody account for good taste anymore?). Michigan went out and repeated its efforts of Friday in almost the same fashion. Don Stone, again in the first minute, drilled the shot that would keep the Falcons begging. Again. Still, Berenson doesn't think the Wolverines have yet to reach their peak. "It was a big weekend for us," Berenson said. "We wanted to try to build and get better every weekend. We wanted to emphasize our work ethic and our checking, and that was a big part of our success. "We didn't let them do a lot. They just couldn't generate anything offensively and that's what we were trying to do." That's an understatement. Libertucci, after having an incredible start in the net this season, has fallen on hard times. He gave up five goals in the first period of Friday's game before getting pulled in favor of senior John Burke. Burke, in an almost equal showing, gave up four goals in the final two periods. Given the choice of Libertucci or Burke for Saturday, Bowling Green coach Jerry York chose Libertucci. Brett Harkins, the great offensive threat for the Falcons, was completely shut down by the Wolverines. Harkins has been in the thick of the leading scorer battle in the CCHA for most of the season. Harkins had 39 points leading into the series, only two ahead of Michigan's Dave Roberts. Harkins left the series with 39 points, four points behind Roberts. "I've been in slumps. My teams have been in slumps," Berenson said. "The longer you go without scoring, the more frustrating it be-comes. Right now, we're scoring goals and we're making things happen. Right now we're playing good hockey." Michigan is playing so well that they've broken into the top five in national hockey polls. In the. WMEB-Radio Media Poll, Michigan has climbed as high as fourth place. This week, the Wolverines should edge even closer, as No. 2 Minnesota lost on Friday. As Bowling Green heads towards the CCHA basement, Michigan fights for the top spot with an ever-elusive Lake Superior State. Barring disaster in next weekend's series with Ferris State, the Wolverines will clinch second place in the conference, and any chance that they hold for capturing first place lies within a LSSU collapse. Berenson and the rest of the Wolverines can't be counting on a complete breakdown from the Falcons, however. The last thing Michigan wants to do is to face Bowling Green in the early rounds of the CCHA playoffs. Slumps don't last forever. Winger Daivd Roberts takes a shot at the Bowling Green goalie. He ended the night with 3 goals and 2 assists. Michigan outscored the Falcons 15-3 this weekend as they swept both games of the home and home series. FALCONS Continued from page 1 leading 31st goal of the season. Mike Stone knocked in another one past senior John Burke, who replaced Libertucci (11-12-1) after the first period. Kramer, a native of Findlay, Ohio, playing in front of family and friends, and his teammates were wary of a let down following the easy win Friday. "It was a lot of fun tonight," Kramer said after Friday's game, "but we have to come out the same way tomorrow night." They did. As if on cue, Don Stone came out and fired the first goal in before the first minute had ticked away. And just like the night before, the Falcons let Roberts wait with the puck behind the net on the power play before finding Kramer open for another easy goal. However, those times where the man with the puck was left alone were few and brief in the series. To the surprise of no one, both games were extremely physical and much of that had to do with past history. "There's a lot of resentment be- tween the two teams," sophomore co-captain David Harlock said. "Last year we got snubbed and they got into the tournament and that just goes along with the ri- valry. " The physical play kept Bowling Green out of its offensive synch. While Michigan racked up 28 penalties for 80 penalty minutes and chalked up several highlight film hits, the defensive play was solid and consistent in the series - especially on the power play where they held the Falcons scoreless in 16 tries due in part to. the play of Jim Ballantine and Mike Stone. "That's a role that Coach has put us in," Stone said. "We work hard on it during the week. In prac- tice we work on stopping our own power play and they're so good it helps us a lot." l5 4)Mimhn St985 ae 5) . Mcia n1 Women swimmers victorious over Michigan State in lackluster meet by Jason Gomberg Daily Sports Writer Maybe it won't go down in the history of collegiate swimming as the most flawless and prolific dual meet ever, but for the women swimmers of Michigan, a victory is still very much a victory. In its final home dual meet .of the season Friday at Canham Natatorium, Michigan won the first ten races - eleven including the 50-yard freestyle, which wasn't scored. They cruised to an early 140-48 advantage, before defeating a depleted Michigan State squad by a deceptive 165-108 score. The victory atoned for last week's sweep by UC-Berkeley and Stanford. The two-meet winless streak was Michigan's longest since 1985-86. Michigan could have won by far more, but chose not to race its premier swimmers in all of their best events. Once again, junior Lisa Ander- son justified her value to the team. Shrugging off inflammation in both shoulders, the Big Ten Swimmer of the Month for December cap- tured the 200-yard freestyle in 1:54.38, and the 200 backstroke in 2:07.44. She also swam leadoff for the 200 medley relay, which won in 1:50.34. Michigan coach Jim Richard- son called Anderson's performance "solid," and lauded her courage. "Her shoulders were tender from the change in training (to speed work), but she showed a great will to win. She probably has a sign on her door saying 'No Wimps Al- lowed."' lower times." On the diving platform, MSU senior Julie Farrell-Ovenhouse outpointed Wolverines Whitney Scherer and Lisa Cribari on both the one and three-meter spring- board, tallying 303.00 and 296.25 points, respectively. Several technical glitches plagued the meet. On two separate occasions, timing pads were re- moved from the pool and replaced with backup units. The 50-yard free went unscored, as the computer- ized timing system ceased work- ing, causing a 15-minute delay. The Wolverine swimmers lack- ed their normal fire and intensity against the less talented compe- tition. They joked on the sidelines more than usual, and junior Chrissi Rawak actually competed in the 1650 free swimming entirely back- stroke. Gehrs cited two factors for the absence of competitiveness. "We had two hard meets against tough competitors last week, and we were all tired," Gehrs explained. "We were also in off-events, so I guess we weren't as intense." Next week, the Wolverines travel to Austin, Texas for their toughest challenge of the season. There awaits both the Longhorns of the University of Texas, No. 1 -in the nation, and top-ten Southern Methodist University. Anderson Senior Sandy Smith swims the freestyle this weekend in a dual meet against Michigan State. The Wolverines were victorious 165-108. STANFORD Continued from page 1 Namesnik also swam with tremendous power and poise, win- ning the 200 IM both days and the 1000 free against Stanford. He placed second in the 200 back against the Cardinal and first against Berkeley. Namesnik team- ed with Barrowman, Noel Strauss, and Jarret Winter to win the 400 medley relay against Berkeley. Barrowman continued to be the the swimming dynamo that he was in winning the 200 breaststroke at the World Championships in Perth, Australia. He won this same event * both days. He also swam the 200 IM, finishing first at Stanford and second at Berkeley. Gunn shot out of the gate, fin- ishing first in the 200 fly, and sec- ond in both the 500 and 1000 free. "I knew what I had to do, and I was able to give the team a boost," Gunn said. "I felt I really swam up to my potential." Although the victories were not a surprise, they were great accom- plishments. The momentum picked up should carry through the the rest of the season which resumes next weekend at Southern Methodist University. Michigan visits EMU While half the squad was across the country on the West. coast, the rest of the Michigan men's swimming team was across town competing against Eastern Michigan University. On Saturday, ten Wolverines made the hike to Ypsilanti to swim in the dual meet. The Hurons pro- vided ample competition against the Wolverines. However, the match was not complete and no "winner" was declared. "Basically, the meet was just good for the guys who couldn't go to California to do some racing," Michigan freestyler Rich Mitval- sky said. Michigan only learned of this extra meet on January 15th. "It was a little hard to get motivated, but Rick (Wilkening, graduate as- sistant) tried to keep it fun," sophomore Andy Stabile said. "When we heard about how our guys did, it was really great. That kind of helped us to get it to- gether." Stabile must have been particu- larly motivated by the news. He won both the 200 and the 1000 freestyle races, leading all Michi- gan swimmers. Sophomore butterflyer Mindy Gehrs also provided some fine ef- forts. Gehrs won the 200 fly in a dominant 2:08.65, finishing ahead of MSU sophomore Alissa Gowing by over eight seconds. She also swam in the medley relay. "Her (Gehr's) butterfly tempo is really coming around," Richardson said. "She was ready for the race." "I had been feeling tired during the week," Gehrs said. "But I'm better now, and I'm looking to set U Publishing Opportunities Gale Research Inc. has immediate openings for students & graduates to do research and writing for our reference books and other information-based products. Qualified candidates must have- , college coursework in liberal arts ._ -1 .z / --- } : --, , PARIS CELEBRATES SUMMER PROGRAM 1991 Intersession: May 27 - June 14 Summer Session: June 17 - July 26 lisp AA -.A., 1 A e .1-t --n nn L Lamnar tturn Eranra A ...e. !i.