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Date: | Wed, 17 Jan 1996 08:52:43 -0900 |
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In response to John Haeussler's comments...
First of all, Bob Schwark is admittedly not a very good defenseman. But =
he tries hard and has improved a lot over the last year. He used to be =
a guaranteed penalty, goal or near goal when he was on the ice and was =
usually always out of position. The first and nearly only time we saw =
him two years ago he was assessed a game misconduct and disqualification =
for skating the width of the ice at full bore into two players engaged =
in some fisticuffs and a linesman trying to untangle them taking them =
all down into a heap. Basically, he went beserk and we hardly saw him =
again that year. He had nearly as many penalty minutes as minutes =
played. I believe he led his junior team if not league in penalty =
minutes as well. He is interestingly enough I believe a justice major =
and we used to call him "defender of the innocent" after the incident =
above.
To his credit however Schwark has greatly reduced his penalty time and =
kept his temper in check and that is the first time he has done anything =
that I know of more like his previous game style. He definitely does =
try to overcompensate for his other teammates sometimes poor defensive =
play the only way he knows how which is to use the body and his stick. =
If he is going to have to revert to that it means UAF might as well pack =
it up. But there is a reason this is his first disqualification--he =
hasn't done anything until now to deserve one. Drygas is big but very =
young and was knocked down so many times against MSU he has rather =
unwisely begun to retaliate with his own physical body play. He =
retaliated to a brutal elbowing and knockdown against MSU along the =
boards at the blue line with a severe slash of Tuzzolino which nearly =
escaped being penalized. Both UM and MSU appear to have figured out =
that both players are somewhat hot headed and can use it to their =
advantage.
Part of the problem last night is that Laurion benched another two =
players (Milles who has been the key to most of the teams improvement =
the last two months and Norton) for undisclosed team rules violations. =
That follows demoting Oakenfold at Ferris State to the 4th line for =
another violation and a four game benching in Novermber and demotion to =
4th line the next game to Forest Gore which finally resulted in his =
quitting the team (some other division I team should take a look at him, =
he could be a very fine player and we miss him a lot on this team). =
Whatever these team rules violations are we don't know, but we are =
wondering what in the world is going on. Then we see Lundgren throw a =
Ferris State player into the goal cage intentionally and wonder why he =
doesn't sit for a while. Our lines are in total disarray now so don't =
expect to see much other than attempts to feed Bowtell for the breakaway =
unless Laurion can put the lines and team back together again pretty =
soon.
I don't know, maybe the team can get its act back together again, but I =
worry if we're on the verge of total disintegration and plummeting into =
the bottom of the CCHA. I'm sorry Schwark tried to take out Morrison =
and he deserves to sit for it (we can't afford any more of this as a =
team), but that is not like anyone on the teams usual play. The players =
appear to be getting more and more unhappy and more and more out of =
control or not into the game at times. Laurion seems to be trying to =
control the team, but who knows?
Now something I'm particularly upset about. Please do not judge the =
entire UAF program based on, as you admit, one game out of five. Think =
about those two games you attended here or ask the MSU fans and team =
about their trip up here a few weeks ago. If you have a bad feeling =
about the game or individual players then I don't have any objection =
even if I don't like your calling them "chumps", saying that they've =
been let of cages, or suggesting another team rearrange a player's face. =
You're suggesting doing exactly what you've just criticized! Moreover, =
I have heard in the last three weeks some very bad things about visiting =
Ann Arbor and the behavior of your fans and treatment of visiting fans =
and players. I have never been there so I will likewise try not to =
judge your program by what I've heard. Try to remember too that UAF is =
in the middle of a very long road trip, that you are definitely better =
than our team and after 3 games on your ice on the very short end of the =
score that tempers get short and the players' pride is the only thing =
left to play for. I'm not excusing what Schwark did, just try not to =
judge us yet and we'll try to extend you the same courtesy.
Eric Carlson
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