Friday, December 17, 2004
Students take interest in college hockey due to NHL lockout Dexter students find the best part of UM games; the rowdy crowd Thomas Leonard co-sports editor
If there’s one guy who knows University of Michigan hockey, it’s senior Korey Waggoner. Players crashing the boards with brutal checks and scoring the winning goal in overtime in front of a sold-out arena, the roaring crowd heaping insults on an opposing player who dutifully trots to the box. Waggoner’s seen it all. He’s seen it for years too. “I went when I was five months old,” Waggoner said. “That was my first game. We won 4-3. I don’t remember it. I was told later.” Throwing around phrases like, “Yeah, Coach (UM hockey coach Red Berenson) came over to my house the other day,” and “My dad canoes with (Berenson) over the summers,” Waggoner could easily be confused with a team manager or coach’s relative. Clad in a snug leather varsity jacket sporting the block M icon instead of Dexter’s D, Waggoner also tells tales of UM Hockey players. Referring to UM grad Andy Burnes and UM sophomore T.J. Hensick as “Burnsey” and “T.J.” respectively, Waggoner speaks about the UM hockey community as a family. He takes the place of a younger brother. “(John) Madden (who plays for the New Jersey Devils) gave me the jacket,” Waggoner said. “It took me a few years to get it, but I really wanted it.” Waggoner’s intensity doesn’t typify most hockey fans, yet he says that he is seeing a growing attendance at UM Games. Seating 6,603 people, Yost Ice Arena is not big by college standards, but it draws sell-out crowds most games. “Here’s the two reasons why,” Waggoner said, explaining his theories for crowd growth. “There’s no other hockey going on and the local players.” Waggoner knows the Red Wings fan base won’t wither during the current lockout, but said, “The real hockey fans really need to find other games.” Waggoner is not the only one who loves Michigan hockey. Senior Marissa Wojcinski shared Waggoner’s sentiments. “You gotta support your hometown team,” she said. Continuing, she said she has attended “a bunch of NHL games,” but recently became more interested in UM. “I like how these guys aren’t highpaid icons. They’re just people you could see on the street.” Waggoner calls the recent influx of UM hockey supporters “fair-weather
Tearing up the ice: Brandon Kaleniecki draws crowds with his local ties, graduating from Livonia fans” but admits that the crowd has something to do with it. Proudly, Waggoner said “USA Hockey Magazine said (Yost) was the hardest place to play in the US” Junior Jon Carender, a Dexter hockey player heard the same ranking, the crowd didn’t attract him. It’s kept him going for eight years. “The best part is the crowd,” he said. “It’s definitely a rowdy place.” The crowd also gives UM hockey a plus, junior Keith Bado said, but it’s the fast action and the atmosphere that he said reeled him in. “There’s no commercial breaks,” he said, a testament to lack of TV intrusion in a college-town atmosphere. Bado has only attended a few games this year, but could rattle off a handful of Dexter students he’s seen at Yost. More than Dexter students are attracted to Michigan games. Waggoner contributed the Ann Arbor Ice Cube’s US under-18 team to feeding a steady flow of local players into UM’s program and raising awareness for hockey around the area. The program boards 37 players at local homes and high schools. “It used to be 15 out of 25 came out of Canada,” Waggoner said. “Now there’s nine out of the US under-18 program on the team. Werner is from K-zoo, Burnesey is from Farmington Hills or something like that.” Bado testifies to the Yost crowd’s power and UM hockey’s tradition. “It’s always been a tradition,” he said. “I don’t think it should change.”
11
the Squall
sports
Women’s basketball bounces to a third straight District victory
Women’s Varsity Basketball Record
11-12 Pinckney Willow Run Albion Huron Milan Bedford Jackson Adrian Saline Ida Lincoln Pioneer Tecumseh Bedford Chelsea Adrian Lincoln Saline Tecumseh Chelsea
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Raleigh Holmes morale manager
Districts Bye Erie Mason Ida
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Regionals Detroit Ren.
Photo by Mark Jennings
“We a family”: The women’s basketball team holds hands before their game. According to junior Jenny Cowen, the team will find it harder to feel like a family next year without so many seniors.
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In the fourth quarter Dexter was up 42-41 with 4.2 seconds left in the women’s basketball district final game against Ida. Dexter stepped out of bounds. Ida got the ball. It went up, nothing but rim and Dexter won the district championship title for the third year in a row. According to junior Jenny Cowen the team’s 11-12 record doesn’t show its ability. Cowen said that the team’s goals this year were to beat Chelsea twice and win districts, which it did. Not only was it the first time Dexter beat Chelsea twice in one year since 1998, but it was also the first time they beat Chelsea in the new gym. “The first game against Chelsea was tough,” Cowen said. “It came
down to the wire, but we pulled it out with a 47-45 win. In the second game, though, we were ready for them, and we knew we could beat them. “The team really played up to their potential; I thought we did really well during the season. The teams that we played helped us prepare for districts.” The team’s motto this year was “We a Family” representing how close they are. But Cowen said with the seniors leaving it will be hard to have that same family feeling. “They will definitely be missed, but we are trying to stay optimistic for next year,” Cowen said. According to Cowen, next years line up looks pretty good; they have eight returning players and three returning starters. “A lot of JV players
“ We had a great season, I was really happy that we could finish my senior year the way we did.”
“Winning Districts was big because not very many people thought we could do it.” Chantel Jennings sophomore
Kristin Burrows senior
were moved up for our district games, so they are somewhat experienced as to what it’s going to be like to play at a varsity level,” she said. Freshman Kelsey Johnson was one of the JV players who got moved up for Districts and Regionals. “It was fun to be a part of the team,” Johnson said. “We got to practice with them which really improved my playing. We got to see was it was like to play on a varsity level.” Being part of the team’s district championship meant a lot to Johnson. “It was so much fun to be on the team for that, even though I didn’t get to play it was still really exciting,” she said. Cowen can’t wait for next year. “I’m really excited for my senior year on the team,” she said. “I want to go for a four peat at Districts.”
“Our season went really well, especially beating bedford and Chelsea twice.” Julia Keinath junior
What is wrong with athletes these days? Lee Hoggard co-sports editor
About a week ago when I returned home from my Friday night adventures, I turned on the TV to see Jermaine O’Neil of the Indiana Pacers get a running start and drop a Pistons fan who was running across the floor. It took a while before I realized how big this fight really was. Fans throwing beer at players, players beating up the fans. It was crazy. The brawl was finally broken up and as the players were escorted off the court by body guards, all of America saw a chair thrown across the Palace of Auburn Hills that struck one of
Jermaine O’Neil’s body guards in the The lasting image of the fight was head. Who throws a chair? I mean a South Carolina player running from people do a lot of dumb things, but the 50 yard line to the Clemson end who is about to throw a chair? zone and getting laid out by about five In the end, Ron Artest was sus- Clemson football players. The next pended for the rest of the season. day both schools announced that Jermaine O’Neil neither school would and Stephen attend bowl games, Jackson are suseven though they are pended for a total both bowl eligible. It is good that of 55 games. The All of these brawls pistons Ben Walgot me thinking, Dexter can be lace is out for six “has anything like games, and the known for win- this happened at the Pacers season as high school level?” ning and not they know it is In 2002 at a varsity virtually over. soccer game against brawling. Then if that Tecumseh a fight wasn’t enough for broke out between the weekend, in both benches. Howa rivalry football ever, that never really game between South Carolina and turned into a huge incident. Clemson a fight broke out on the last After talking to the Athletic Direcplay of the game. tor John Robinson I learned that the
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biggest high school brawl he had ever heard of happened at the state basketball championships. It happened the same year former Michigan star LaVell Blanchard was a senior at Pioneer. Robinson said even though he did not attend the game he heard that it was a pretty bad incident with kids running onto the court and getting involved in the fighting. But over all throughout the years Dexter has received much praise for its good sportsmanship. During the ‘03-‘04 school year Dexter received a letter from the MHSAA commending the sports program for receiving no official reports of concern, ejections, or poor sportsmanship during the past school year. This shows how far Dexter’s sports program has come, It is good that Dexter can be known for winning and not brawling.