Spor Mndy Tri
In what year did the Michigan
ice hockey team last capture
an NCAA Championship?
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The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday February 4, 1991
M'
arrests OSU
Blue sweeps in penalty-filled weekend
by Matt Rennie
Daily Hockey Writer
COLUMBUS - This is the city:
Columbus, Ohio.
Fifty-four thousand students
pursue their higher education here.
Not all of them know how to play
by the rules.
Every two minutes, someone
does something illegal on ice. On a
given evening, eighty minutes worth
of penalties are committed.
That's where I come in. I carry a
whistle.
My partners' names are Edwards
and Harvey. My name's Graff.
They're linesmen. I'm a referee. We
feel like cops.
We entered the OSU Ice Rink at
7:30 p.m. We were expecting a
hockey game. We found something
quite different...
All right, maybe it wasn't that
bad, but one cannot ignore the fact
that the game summaries from this
weekend's Michigan-Ohio State
series read more like a police report
than a boxscore. Here are just the
facts: the teams were handed 70
penalties over the course of the two-
game series, good for 151 minutes.
Between altercations, the teams
managed to play 120 minutes of
hockey, as the Wolverines extended
their winning streak to 12 games
over the hapless Buckeyes, 8-2 and
4-2.
The physical play in this rivalry
has been brewing since the teams'
first meeting this season, after which
Ohio State coach Jerry Welsh was
incensed over what he called cheap
shots by the Wolverines. After that
series, Welsh said that Michigan
"outclassed us in everything except
class."
This time, the Buckeye skipper
was humming the same tune.
"We can't stoop to the game
that's being played against us,"
Welsh said after Friday's game. "I'm
sure they'll pretend that we drew
them into that, but they were taking
shots at our bench when the play
was over near the boards, and there
was nothing from our bench."
Few others shared Welsh's
evaluation of the proceedings, as
most felt the Buckeyes' physical
play was an effort to neutralize
Michigan's speed advantage.
"I'd compare it to a dog that's
nipping at your heels," Michigan
coach Red Berenson said. "You've
either got to keep running or you've
got to turn around and kick the dog.
"We were trying to play hockey,
believe me, but they won't let us.
I'm not happy with this kind of
game."
In the Wolverine lockerroom, the
players seemed frustrated with the
entire situation.
"That's just their style," soph-
omore defenseman Chris Tamer said.
"We start playing our game, and
they try to slow us up with that
stuff. I don't know if they're coached
that way, but their coach doesn't
stop it. He can see what's going
on.
Adding complexity to the
situation is the possibility that the
two teams could meet again in the
first round of the-CCHA playoffs.
"We can't worry about who we
play," Berenson cautioned. "Whoever
it is, we'll have to be ready to play."
However, while a rematch does
not strike most observers as an
attractive prospect, there is at least
one person who would welcome it.
"I'd sort of like it," rookie de-
fenseman Aaron Ward said. "There's
a few guys on their team I wouldn't
mind having another shot at."
The Wolverines (21-4-3 in the
Central Collegiate Hockey Associa-
tion, 24-5-3 overall) don't need
another chance to prove their
superiority over the Buckeyes (8-15-
3, 10-19-3) on the ice. They did that
in convincing fashion, overcoming
tight first periods in each game with
See BUCKEYES. Page 4
Michigan's Mike Helber delivers a crushing check to Buckeye Don Oliver. The Wolverines displayed this
dominance throughout the weekend as they swept Ohio State.
Chippewas pinned by Blue wrestlers
by Jason Gomberg
Daily Sports Writer
In their song, "Walking in Your
Footsteps," The Police sang that
"the meek shall inherit- the earth."
Well, the planet remains safe from
such a revolution - at least for
0 now - as the Micih 'n wrestling
squad squashed overm,.,ched Cen-
tral Michigan last Thursday, 37-3.
The 34-point drubbing was the
ninth straight Wolverine triumph
over CMU. In their "rivalry,"
Michigan owns a perfect 9-0 mark,
y including five victories by more
than 30 points.
The Wolverines (10-4) leapt
quickly out of the gate in Mount
Pleasant, winning the opening six
matches - one by pin and three.
by major decisions. Overall, they
tallied two falls, one technical
fall, and three -major decisions,
giving one of their most dominant
performances this season.
"When you win the first six
matclhes, you can definitely say it
was a good team effort," Michigan
assistant coach Joe Wells said,
"We showed a little more intensity
(than CMU), and that's encourag-
ing, especially away from home."
A critical match for the
Wolverines occurred at 150
pounds, where redshirt newcomer
Brian Harper (16-14-1) decisioned
Chippewa Doug Schyck by a nar-
row, 5-3 margin. With time running
out in the closely fought match,
Harper executed a double-leg
takedown to place the outcome out
of reach. The last-minute victory
was his second in his past two
matches.
"Harper really kept his compo-
sure; I was impressed at his
poise," Wells said, "Schyck's
been their most experienced guy
and has been giving us a lot of
trouble for the last three years. He
kept up a barrage of activity at the
end, but Brian stayed real intense
and had another close match go
his way."
At the 126-pound weight class,
true frosh Mike Mihalic (1-4) out-
pointed Bob Gentile, 9-7. It was
Mihalic's first victory at the colle-
giate level after four defeats. As he
continues to improve with each
match and gain confidence,
Michigan's void at the 126-pound
class appears to be evaporating
away.
"He (Mihalic) took a few shots
and scored on more of them than I
think he planned," Wells said,
"He wasn't apprehensive at being
able to shoot out."
"I've changed my style to lean-
ing on my other side to protect the
ankle," Mihalic said. "It just goes
along with learning about what
works in college wrestling."
142-pound sophomore James
Rawls (26-7), on fire lately with
five consecutive victories, made it
six in a row Thursday with a 12-4
major decision. Fellow sophomore
Joey Gilbert (23-6) avenged an
early-season defeat at the hands of
CMU's Jamie McCloughan as he,
too, won by major decision, 13-4.
"Considering how competitive
those two had been earlier," Wells
said, "Gilbert won very decid-
edly."
Another sophomore, 177-
pounder Lanny Green (22-8), ex-
acted his own revenge over a Cen-
tral wrestler who had previously
beaten him, defeating Mike Galvin
by a 4-2 count.
As usual, the senior veteran
Wolverines executed near-flaw-
lessly. Salem Yaffi (21-9-1)
recorded a fall over Dan Cherovian
at 2:30 of the first period, and
team captain Fritz Lehrke (24-5-2)
overpowered Sam Wakefield, win-
ning by technical fall.
"Salem came through in fine
form," said Wells.
The only setback for Michigan
was at the still-unsettled 167-
pound division. Replacing Bill
Mercer in the lineup, rookie Kevin
Williams (5-10-1) was shut out by
Larry Luft, 5-0.
DETERMINED SWIMMER SHOOTS FOR GOLD
by Ken Sugiura
Daily Staff Writer
For Eric Namesnik, the race is
never over.
Witness the junior's performance
at the recent World Swimming
Championships in Perth, Australia.
Namesnik took home two silver
medals in the 200 and 400-meter
indivjdual medley (I.M.), lowering
his American record in the 400 I.M.
.36 of a second to 4:15.21.
Furthermore, he lost only to
world-record times, chasing Hun-
garian Tamas Darnyi to world marks
in both events.
So what is Namesnik's reaction?
Jubilation? Uncontrollable glee? Try
again.
"I was a little disappointed; I was
hoping to finish a little better," he
said.
For Eric Namesnik, there is no
being satisfied with the status quo.;
If he gets the silver medal, then
he wants the gold next. If it's USC's
NCAA champion David Wharton he
has caught, then it's world champion
Darnyi who must next be surpassed.
Namesnik' s
drive
possesses no limits
worker. Just work, work, work."
As a high school junior in
Butler, Penn., a town outside of
Pittsburgh, Namesnik decided he was
not receiving the training he needed
to meet his goals. Being a local hero
- the big kid on the block - was
not enough for him. So he went to a
different block. Hundreds of miles
away in Florida.
"I didn't think that I'd be able to
get to the level I am today if I stayed
at home. So that's why I moved
away," he said.
But. it is in the pool, in training,
that his competitive fire and inten-
sity clearly reveal themselves.
"He works real hard. Nobody can
outwork him," Urbanchek said. "He
can endure a lot."
In his rookie season with the
Wolverines, he contracted mono-
nucleosis. Yet he stayed in the
water, despite the objections of the
coaching staff.
"He's very intense when we work
out. He's not one to mess around
once workout starts going," junior
Eric Wunderlich observed.
In fact, he is perhaps "too'
serious," as Urbanchek stated. Dur-
ing practice, he focuses so much that
he is left vulnerable to the potshots
and wisecracks of teammates.
"He gets picked on a lot,"
Urbanchek said. "Everybody picks
on him."
However, his collegiate ac-
colades are nothing to pick at. He
has been named All-American three
times, and last year reset the Big Ten
-a - AAAI. ,- T A .
File Photo/JOSE JUAREZ
Leah Wooldridge comes up-court versus Indiana last week. Michigan
had an up-and-down weekend as it split against Minnesota and Iowa.
Women split, gain first
conference road victory
by Matthew Dodge
Daily Basketball Writer
The Michigan women's
basketball team spent early
Sunday afternoon taking a nap in
the corn fields of Iowa. But the
team woke up with a start during
halftime of its game in Iowa
City.
The Wolverines were playing
in front of 9000 fans, which is
more than an entire home season
at Crisler Arena. "Pinch me." It
was thouroughly outplaying a
solid Iowa Hawkeye squad, and
leading 37-25 at the
intermission. "Pinch me again."
Sorrv Iowa's alarm clock -
tempered because the Gophers
(4-14, 0-7) are the league
punching bags.
Against Iowa, Michigan lit up
Carver-Hawkeye Arena by
hitting 57 percent from the floor
in the first half. But the
Hawkeyes enacted their version
of "Awakenings" by pulling the
fuse from the Wolverine attack.
"(Iowa) played the second
half with higher intensity,"
Michigan coach Bud
VanDeWege said. "They started
to get some good offense against
our zone, and that picked up
their defense."
At the outset of the second
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