Spor Mndy Tri In what year did the Michigan ice hockey team last capture an NCAA Championship? Inie':Sports Moda 'M' Sports Calendar 2 Athlete-of-the-Week 2 Q&A 3 Gill Again 3 Ice Hockey 4 Swimming 5 Gymnastics 5 Women's Basketball 6 Fraternity IM results 7 Fencing club 7 g Cr 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 . _ . ,. i