Bronco Preview
 
The 1990-91 Western Michigan University hockey team had few stars,
but lots of determination.  The 1991-92 Bronco squad is of the same mode,
according to senior captain Brian Tulik, but with a slight exception.  "This
year, we have even fewer stars, but even more determination."
 
Last year, Head Coach Bill Wilkinson's determined Broncos well surpassed all
expectations.  They went from a sixth-place pick in the Central Collegiate
Hockey Association's coaches' and media pre-season polls to 14th in the final
NCAA selection committee poll.  They were 22-17-3 overall and 16-14-2 in the
CCHA for fourth place and their first trip back on the "road to the Joe" since
1988.  At the CCHA Championships, Western Michigan finished third.
 
Although only four seniors were lost to graduation from that squad, their
leadership and character will be hard to replace, said Wilkinson.  Gone are
second-team All-CCHA center Mike Eastwood (29-32-61), captain and left wing
Tom Auge (15-26-41), assistant captain and defenseman Chris Clarke (4-23-27),
and defenseman Mike Ross (6-17-23).
 
Wilkinson will now look to his "thunder and lightning" quartet of senior
captains to help guide the 1991-92 Bronco mission.
 
The thunder is Tulik and assistant captain Andy Suhy, a pair of rugged
defensemen who are intimidating with their physical game.  Western Michigan
was helped tremendously by Tulik, who returned from an injury red-shirt season
(1989-90), and Suhy, who exploded with force as a junior, in changing from an
offensive-styled team to a defensive-styled one last season.  Both men are
known more for their hard-work ethic and team orientation, than their finesse,
as evident by the fact that they both earned +12 plus-minus ratings for the
year, the third-best rating on the team.  But it's those two characteristics,
hard work and team orientation, which Wilkinson's most successful squads were
built upon.
 
The lightning is assistant captains right wing Keith Jones and center Scott
Garrow, Western Michigan's top two returning scorers.  Jones (30-19-49) was
the leading goal scorer on last year's squad with 30 lamplighters and ranked
among the nation's top 10 in that category through much of the year.
 
Garrow, who was one of Wilkinson's most consistent role players in the first
two years of his career, was asked to bring his game up a notch in 1990-91 to
help replace the scoring punch lost by the eight graduating seniors of
1989-90.  He responded with 33 points, two more points than his previous
two-year career total of 31.  This year, Wilkinson stated Garrow is being
asked to become an even more dominate factor in the Bronco game plan.
 
Like Garrow, junior wings Jason Jennings and Byron Witkowski were among the
most noticeable successes in Wilkinson's challenge to "play bigger" last year.
 Jenning earned four points and played in 28 games as a rookie, then came back
as a sophomore to play in all 42 games and rank as WMU's fifth-best scorer
with 29 points.  Witkowski struggled through his freshman season, seeing
limited ice time, and appeared unable to break the cycle in the first half of
last season.  However, following the holiday break, Witkowski exploded for 10
goals and ended the year with 31 games played and 14 points.
 
 
Maybe the biggest question Wilkinson's staff faces heading into 1991-92 is
not how the rookies will fit into the Bronco system, but how much more and in
what ways can the spunky sophomore class continue to contribute?  Last year's
freshmen came in and surprised everybody, including Wilkinson, with their
drive, maturity, willingness and tenacity.  If Wilkinson was looking for the
right group of men to help him get back to his successful "blue-collar" style
of team orientation, he found it in forwards Colin Ward, Pat Ferschweiler and
Lynn Zimmerman; defensemen Brent Brekke and Derek Schooley and goalie Craig
Brown.
 
What impressed me most about these guys was not so much their skill level,
but their attitude," Wilkinson said.  "Even when they were making mistakes out
there, they were doing it with intensity."
 
Defenseman Chris Belanger will rejoin his classmates on the ice this season.
 Belanger, a highly-touted blueline recruit coming into the 1990-91 season,
was red-shirted last year when he suffered an ankle injury in October.
 
Like last year, Western Michigan enters the new season with a solid trio of
goalies.  Brown took over the number one position in 1990-91 and ranked among
the top four netminders in the CCHA in wins (17) saves (785) and minutes
played (1898).  He shared the goaltending duties primarily with senior Rob
Laurie, who stepped into the nets for the middle portion of last season and
posted a five-game winning streak to help the Broncos take their trip to Joe
Louis Arena.  Also vying for net time this year will be all-league performer
Brian Renfrew of NAJHL's Kalamazoo Junior Wings."
 
We have to be optimistic about our goaltending.  We feel we have three solid
guys at that position, any one of which could step up and take over the number
one spot," said Wilkinson.
 
Five other newcomers have signed letters of intent to join the 1991-92
Broncos.  The freshmen class consists of Renfrew, defenseman Brad Swain
(Foothill Bisons); and forwards Brian Gallentine (Detroit Little Caesar's),
Ryan D'Arcy (Minot Americans), Fancois Leroux (Hawkesbury Hawks) and Mike
Whitton (Wexford Raiders).
 
"When I think about what we accomplished last year, I get motivated to get
off the golf course and back on the ice," said Wilkinson.  "We're back on the
national hockey map, one of the top 20 in the nation, and that's where we want
to stay.  We'll have to work hard to hang onto that honor, but I think we have
the right guys to do that."
--
Keith instone @ (euclid bullwinkle andy) .bgsu.edu