Michigan Spikers Ready to Go
The Michigan men's volleyball team opens its season tomorrow in East
Lansing at 10 a.m. The Wolverines will be competing in the Back to the
Hardwood Classic.

Page
Frida
October 27,190


I

Darkins out with ankle injury as Gophers visit Michigan Stadium

I

By Darren Everson
Daily Sports Editor
Something will be missing from the
Minnesota team that takes the field
against Michigan tomorrow - some-
ting rather important.
Star tailback Chris Darkins will not
play against the Wolverines because of
a high ankle sprain suffered against
Michigan State last week; the Golden
Gophers hope to have him back for the
Ohio State game next week.
Minnesota (1-2 Big Ten, 3-3 overall)
is not losing just another ballplayer
here. For the Gophers, losing Darkins is

like a track starlosing a leg. Afterbeing
able to run with the best of'em, Minne-
sota now may not be able to run at all.
"That was a big, big loss," Minnesota
coach Jim Wacker said. "He's our best
football player."
Darkins would rate as just about
anybody's best football player. The 6-1,
215-pound senior is No.2 on the school's
all-time rushing list, trailing Darrell Th-
ompson. This season, with opposing de-
fenses focusing their sights squarely on
the No. 44 on his jersey, Darkins has
averaged 114.3 yards per game.
Replacing Darkins will be Rafael

Cooper, a 5-11, 194-pound sophomore.
This game has a little extra meaning for
Cooper, who is a Detroit native.
"I'm looking forwardto playing against
Michigan, my home team, my home
crowd," Cooper said.
For some time now, Minnesota has
been the kind of club that teams like to
schedule for homecoming, simply be-
cause a game against the Gophers is as
close to a guaranteed win as one can get.
Minnesota can hardly afford to lose a
player like Darkins at any time. However,
this injury comes at a really bad time for
Minnesota.

For the past couple of weeks, the
Golden Gophers have been coming oh-
so-close to a breakthrough victory, a
win that might propel them to a winning
season and bowl berth. Against both
Northwestern and Michigan State, Min-
nesota held double-digit leads at some
point, only to falter in the end.
For a team that finished last in the Big
Ten last season, nearly knocking off the
front-running Wildcats seems like quite
an achievement. These Gophers, though,
have grown kind of tired ofcoming close.
"Close doesn't count at this level,"
Minnesota linebacker Justin Conzemius

said, "and I've had that frustration (of
being close) for fouryears. Unfortunately.
the past couple of weeks we probably
haven't given the best effort possible."
The effort that Conzemius speaks of
has been lacking especially on defense.
Minnesota opponents have been averag-
ing almost 400 yards per game.
Last week against Michigan State, the
Gopher offense scored 31 points-with-
out the aid of Darkins late in the game -
and still, that wasn't enough to win.
"We never did really stop them effec-
tively on defense," Wacker said. "I was
really disappointed in our defensive ef-

fort."
This is nothing new - for years no
the Gophers have been giving away yar
like they were going out of style. Mic
gan took advantage of Minnesota's su
pect defense last year and racked up 5
yards of total offense.
In that game, the Gophers were det
mined to stop the Wolverines runni
game, and had some success doing
- Tyrone Wheatley rushed 21 tim
for 90 yards. And coming in
tomorrow's game, Minnesota's foc
See MINNESOTA, Page'


d

MIC I A N 6" AI4

Icers ma
on c cn
knock of
By John Leroi
Daily Sports Writer
AUBURN HILLS - Call it revenge.
Call it retribution. You can call it any-
thing you like.
Michigan coach Red Berenson calls it
a win.
The Wolverines thumped Maine, 6-3,
in the first annual U.S. Hockey Hall of
Fame Face-Off Classic at the Palace of
Auburn Hills.
But more importantly, the victory
helped Michigan (3-1) avenge two sea-
son-ending overtime losses to the Black
Bears (2-1).
Maine knocked the Wolverines out of
the NCAA semifinals last season in a
triple-overtime thriller that was the long-
est NCAA playoff game ever.
The Black Bears also sent Michigan
home from the 1993 NCAA semifinals
with a 5-4 overtime win on the way to the
school's first national championship.
"The win sends a message to the nation
that we're back," left wing Jason Botterill
said. "We didn't really know how good
we can be, but ifweputourminds to it and
do the little things right, we can be a good;
team.
"I think we had more to prove to them,

ke goo'
es to
fMaine
but they were still up for this bigg
The NCAA looks at these non-conf
ence games a lot at the end of the ye
We've had agoodrivalry between Mai
and Michigan the last couple of years.
Maine coach Shawn Walsh broug
almost the same team into this year
matchup including last year's top thr
scorers - centers Brad Purdie, D
Shemerhorn and Tim Lovell.
Michigan played a solid defensi
game, holding Maine's high-scoringce
ters scoreless on the night. The Wolve
ines played well in neutral ice and goal
Marty Turco came up big on Maine
scoring chances.
"I really liked Turco out there tonight
Michigan coach Red Berenson said."
sensed he had a challenge. Allisonplay
sowell lastyear. Martyplayedso wellla
year. He knew this was a game he'dbha
to step up."
The Wolverines also played their be
offensive game of the season,' getti
goals from six different players. Mai
outshot Michigan,37-23,but the Wolv'
ines put enough quality shots on Mi
goalie Blair Allison, forcing Wtlh-
pull his first-team All-Americantidw
See ICERS, Page 1
ng way to go
Fame in Eveleth, Minn. and inlu
teams from outside the WCHA for t
first time,Moreover, itwasbeinIbro
cast on ESPN2.
Bob Fallen, one ofthe directors Ir
the Hall of Fame, was upset about t
poor attendance, but was quick to po
out thatthe circumstances thatli gro
was placed under weren't exactly ide
"More (preparation) time wouldi
been the key," Fallen said. "Witp2
months notice, to find a corporati
that hasn't spent their incremental d
lars to sponsor an event liketbis
really hard.
"It takes time to gain influencei
new community. We need to knoww
wants to put corporate dollars into
event like this. It's a matter of timi
and we have a good foundation."
Fallen refused to look at ticket sa
as the lone barometer for the even
success.
"With the exception of ticket sal
everything went perfect," Fallen sai
Well, without ticket sales, is th
really any point in staging the even
College hockey, you have along
to go, baby.

Michigan's Greg Crozier celebrates after assisting on Harold Schock's goal, which gave Michigan a 2-1 lead last night at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Read Daily Sports
THE COMPREHENSIVE STUDIES PROGRAM
WILL BE RETURNING TO ITS PERMANENT
LOCATION IN ROOM G155 AND ROOM 1159
ANGELL HALL EFFECTIVE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27TH.
OUR OFFICES MAY BE ENTERED FROM THE GROUND
FLOOR OR THE FIRST FLOOR OF ANGELL HALL.
WE WILL BE CLOSED WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25TH AND
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26TH TO MAKE THIS MOVE.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO SERVING YOU
IN OUR NEW OFFICES.

Small crowd shows college hockey still has a l

By Alan Goldenbach
Daily Sports Writer
AUBURN HILLS - By inaugurat-
ing the Face-Off Classic and getting
two top-name
such as Maine
andMichiganto
participate, the
U.S. College
Hockey Hall of
Fame was hop-
ing to get colle-
giate hockey the
type of expo-
sure that profes-
sional hockey °
has gained so
rapidly in recent years.
If someone wanted an indication of
how far collegiate hockey is from be-
coming a major sport in the public eye,
one number from yesterday's game can
describe exactly where it is.

4,733.
That was the announced attendance
for an October Thursday night at the
Palace of Auburn Hills to see the No. 2
Black Bears and the fourth-ranked
Wolverines.
Are you kidding me?
And that was clearly a generous total.
Perhaps only half that figure were actu-
ally on hand. Well, maybe a bit less if
you subtract the Michigan pep band.
The 4,733 were almost all on the Wol-
verines' side, with a notable exception
being a spectator in a Maine sweatshirt
who was relentlessly booed by the over-
whelming crowd every time he appeared
on the PalaceVision scoreboard.
There seem to be few reasons why
there was such a low turnout.
Prices were extremely reasonable,
especially for a venue like the Palace.
Cheap seats went for $5 while the top
ducats fetched seven dollars more. An

excuse could have been made if the
game was in a non-hockey market, but
the Midwest is arguably the most
hockey-feverish region in the country.
Also, remember that these two teams
played perhaps the greatest college
hockey game ever only six months ago
in the NCAA semifinals. What better
reason for hockey fans to come out and
see ifthe two powerhouses could possi-
bly put on an encore performance?
Michigan fans had the chance to
hope that their team would rebound
from that tough 4-3,triple-overtime loss
against those very same Black Bears.
Michigan students who didn't have ac-
cess to a car to get out to the Palace had
the opportunity to take a bus that left
from Yost Ice Arena. Obviously, few
took advantage of the offer.
Or any of these other reasons for that
matter.
"I was surprised," Michigan coach
Red Berenson said. "It wasn't well-
publicized. The powerful hands were
tied in this. And a lot of it had to do with
the marketing."
The game was moved from the home
of the U.S. College Hockey Hall of

The diploma you
can wear.

I II

D "V
,

Fl
C
S


OTBALL

LEAT
ALE!


Deloitte & Touche

Consulting
Group

.4,



HURRY,
SALE ENDS

Business & Systems
Analyst Program
The Deloitte & Touche Business and Systems Analyst program,.gives
individuals with superior academic and extracurricular background significant
experience in Management Consulting.
This challenging 2 or 3 year program is an excellent stepping stone to top

JOSTENS
REWARD YOUR ACHIEVEME N T


i


11