Poison ivy can be quite annoying.
All of a sudden, you develop a constant itching. You scratch and scratch and scratch. It bugs you and it's uncomfortable. It's something that doesn't go away immediately and drives you insane. It's a condition that nobody wants to get.
The question is whether Ivy League mainsta, Brown will be able to infect the Michigan hockey team with some of its own poison Ivy this weekend.
The Bears, who are affiliated with the East Coast Athletic Conference, take their 1-4-1 record into Yost Ice Arena for two games, tonight and tomorrow night, against the Wolverines. Both games will be played at 7 p.m.
If there is anything deceiving about Brown's losing record, though, it is the fact that the Bruins have been in every game and lost by one goal to No. 10 Cornell - the only nationally-ranked Ivy League school.
It's been a while since Michigan (6-1-1 CCHA, 9-1-1 overall) has competed against Brown. December 28, 1976, to be exact. That's when the Wolverines crushed the Bears, 7-2, at the Great Lakes Invitational at Detroit's Olympia Stadium. Michigan holds a 5-0 series edge.
The Wolverines' last regular season game against an Ivy League team at Yost Arena was in the 1979-80 season against Princeton.
Even though Michigan players don't have a "last time" to recall about the Bears, the Wolverines know that even a struggling Brown team, just like all of Michigan's opponents, will have extra motivation against the defending national champions.
"It's going to be like any other team in our league," Michigan left wing Jason Botterill said. "Brown is going to be coming here, knowing that we are national champions, and is going to give us their best game. I'm sure they've looked to these two games on their schedule for a while."
Brown will get a first-hand look at Michigan's changed lineup. During practice this week, Michigan coach Red Berenson tinkered with his lines, which is something he does frequently during the season.
Michigan captain Brendan Morrison and Botterill have been struggling as of late. Morrison has scored just four goals so far this season. And Botterill (6-5-11) was scoreless last weekend in Michigan's victory over Michigan State and tie with Bowling Green.
On the other hand, center Matt Herr has played spectacularly. Herr (8-6-14) carries an eight-game scoring streak into this weekend.
As a result, Berenson spilt up the Morrison line and reshuffled two other lines.
Berenson has moved Botterill to a line with John Madden and Warren Luhning. Matt Herr has switched to Morrison's line, with right wing Bill Muckalt staying put. Mike Legg has jumped to a line with freshman forward Andrew Merrick and Sean Ritchlin.
But Berenson doesn't consider the shakeup of Morrrison's line as a negative and doesn't think of the lines as the No 1 and No. 2 lines. He feels that a change of lines may be exactly what Morrison and Botterill need.
"It was good for Botterill, Morrison and Herr to move," Berenson said. "I think it will be good for both those lines. I wouldn't say that one line is our first line and one is our second line. Both those lines are first lines as far as I'm concerned."
Botterill welcomes the sight of Madden and Luhning next to him. Besides, he now will be playing next to Madden - this week's CCHA Defensive Player of the Week, the league's scoring leader (23 points) and Michigan's hottest player.
"I'm real excited about playing with (Luhning and Madden)," Botterill said. "They are two of the grittiest players on our team. They're not afraid to use their wheels out there, and they are not afraid to do a little crash and bang."
Merrick's phyiscal play is the primary reason for him moving up to play with Legg and Ritchlin. Berenson said that his effort and hard play were the reasons for his move. It shows that goals don't mean everything. Merrick hasn't yet to score his first goal as a Wolverine.
"I've been working hard trying to get up there," Merrick said. "I feel more comfortable out there. Maybe it's confidence. I'm not scoring, but I'm just working harder."
It has been a busy week for Brown. This weekend's back-to-back games will be the Bears' fourth and fifth games in seven days. After tying Princeton, 3-3, last Friday, Brown defeated Yale, 5-4, the next night. The Bears fell to Harvard, 2-1, on Tuesday.
While 13 different players have scored for Brown, the Bears' offense has been bad. Defenseman Jimmy Anderson leads the team with seven points, while forward Michael Flynn follows with six. The Bears' leading goal-scorer is forward Adrian Smith who has three.
To put things in perspective, four Wolverines - Madden, Morrison, Luhning and Herr - at least double Brown's top scorer.
Herr knows the most about Brown.While at Hotchkiss Prep School, he played with or competed against a few of the Bears. He also is familiar with the ECAC, since a lot of his prep school teammates and friends went on to play in the ECAC.Herr knows that Brown will bring a different style of play to Yost Arena tonight.
"I think there is more size (in the CCHA)," Herr said. "The guys (in the ECAC) are little smaller, but still are pretty fast."
WARREN ZINN/Daily
Michigan left wing Jason Botterill will skate with Warren Luhning, instead of against him, tonight.