Tougher foes lie ahead for Wolverines

For most of the hockey season, two typed signs have been sitting along the glass at Yost Ice Arena. Each one reads "Beat 'em in Boston."

Although those signs haven't really stood out before, people are now starting to take notice - of both the signs and the Wolverines.

At the onset of the season, most fans and even hockey 'experts' were saying that this season was going to be a disappointment. No chance to make it to the NCAA championship in Boston. No chance for Michigan to live up to the legacy left by the Wolverines of the recent past.

The preseason coaches' poll picked the Wolverines to finish third in the CCHA - behind Michigan State and Miami (Ohio) - while the media picked them for second place.

Even Michigan coach Red Berenson said it would take at least half the season for the Wolverines to come together as a team. Captain Matt Herr speculated that the team could lose as many as 10 games early in the season before they jelled.

What a difference a few short months make.

The season has reached the halfway point. And - who woulda thunk it? - Michigan is on top of the CCHA.

And suddenly those same people are making hotel reservations in Boston for April 2-4.

The fair-weather fans and media are starting to talk about a 30-win season and an ahead-of-schedule return to national dominance.

Hold on, not so fast.

It's true that the Wolverines have been dominant since fall term classes ended back in December. It's true that goaltender Marty Turco has shown why he's one of the best in the country, keeping the Wolverines alive in one-goal and two-goal games.

Michigan has beaten up on the lower half of the conference - 10th-place Western Michigan, sixth-place Ohio State, 11th-place Bowling Green and ninth-place Alaska-Fairbanks. It's true that anyone in the conference can beat anyone else on any given day, but these teams just aren't the competition the Wolverines will face in the postseason.

Michigan's only loss since mid-December came to the top-ranked Spartans. Although No. 5 Michigan sits atop the conference standings, the Wolverines are ranked below the Spartans and just above No. 7 Miami (Ohio) nationally. Until the Wolverines defeat at least one of these teams, they won't advance further in the national rankings.

This brings us to the present: the upcoming weekend against the Red Hawks is the most crucial of the season, and the players know it.

"This is like the turning point in the season, whether we go forward or we go backward," Michigan center Bobby Hayes said. "These two games are probably the most important games of the season for us right now."

This weekend the Wolverines can really turn some heads. In Oxford, the Wolverines have a chance to show just how good they are, or just how much work they still have to do.

So don't make reservations for Boston just yet.

01-20-98