Lakers' Borek can't fool Shegos

When you're a young hockey team like Lake Superior, en route to being outshot 38-14 by defending national champion Michigan, you look for every advantage you can get.

Lake Superior coach Scott Borek bought into that theory yesterday, trying to persuade referee Matt Shegos into letting the Lakers' Blaine McCauley off the hook without serving his minor penalty for slashing.

It was an odd sequence of events, which saw Shegos call three consecutive minor penalties on Lake Superior, including two at once.

"We were confident that the penalty had not expired when the goal went in," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "If (the penalty) had not started, then it's too late."

McCauley's penalty, at 2:39 of the first period, didn't get served right away since the Lakers already had two players in the 'bad-boy box.'

WARREN ZINN/Daily He faced just 14 shots, but Michigan freshman goaltender Josh Blackburn was spectacular when he had to be, earning a shutout in his first career start over Lake Superior, 2-0.

Michigan's Dale Rominski scored a power-play goal at the 3:26 mark to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead, just as Lake Superior's two minor penalties were scheduled to end.

An animated five-minute controversy ensued, as Shegos wasn't allowed to view a replay of the clock's status on television. The Wolverines contested that extra seconds had run off the clock after Rominski's score, and that McCauley should stay.

Lake Superior claimed that the penalties had expired, and that McCauley should be freed. Releasing McCauley would've put the Lakers on the power play, since Michigan's Bubba Berenzweig still had 15 seconds remaining on a charging penalty.

Shegos originally decided to let McCauley out of the box, but after some enlightening advice from veteran Michigan coach Red Berenson, reversed his decision.

"Actually, Red was right," Borek admitted. "I tried to talk Matt (Shegos) out of it, but he made the right call."

No-fluke Lakers?: Although the Lakers were rated a lowly ninth in the preseason CCHA media poll, they have established a notable presence in the league's first weekend.

Despite going 0-2 in their two road contests, Lake Superior played two highly-touted teams tough before losing.

At Notre Dame on Friday, the Lakers jumped out to a 1-0 lead over the Irish, eventually losing 3-2.

Lake Superior has 22 underclassmen on its roster, and knows this season will be a true test of its character.

"We didn't come to lose," Borek said. "I'm not happy with the result, but we played very, very hard."

Slowing The Flow: Lake Superior's best, and perhaps only, chance of beating Michigan was to play a plodding style and slow the speed of the game down to its level.

"We had to slow Michigan down and play physical," Borek said. "They're an extremely talented team."

All of the Lakers got into the slowdown strategy. A total of 16 minor penalties were levied against Lake Superior, but the Lakers were relentless.

Even Lake Superior goaltender Rob Galatiuk got into the action. Aside from turning away 36 Michigan shots, Galatiuk kept the Wolverines off balance using an unusual weapon - his shoulder blades.

Whenever Michigan intensified the offensive pressure, Galatiuk helped stop play, knocking the net off its moorings four times to prevent extra shots. Sometimes Galatiuk was subtle, but on other occasions it was a blatant attempt to stop play.

Shegos never found Galatiuk to be the culprit for a delay of game penalty, calling for faceoffs every time instead.

Although holding Michigan to just two goals was the feat that likely earned Galatiuk the honor of being the game's second star, his sly shoulder bumps also were a defensive asset.

10-12-98