Teams voice concern, name Michigan preseason No. 1

DETROIT - As the CCHA season readies to begin, it seems that each team has its own little problem to fight through.

These problems were the focus of the coaches, spent a luncheon with the press during yesterday's CCHA media conference at Joe Louis Arena.

Each of the head coaches from the 11 teams made short speeches underlining the different challenges ahead of them. They included poor defense, offense, special teams or even a poor schedule.

Ohio State especially understands that last problem. The Buckeyes play 14 out of 20 of their first games on the road.

Their brand new stadium, the $105 million Jerome Schottenstein Center, won't be ready until late December sending the Buckeyes on early roadtrips.

WARREN ZINN/Daily The media and the CCHA coaches think that sophomore Mark Kosick and his Michigan teammates will have a lot to cheer about this season. The Wolverines are ranked No. 1 in both the coaches' and media's preseason polls. The polls were unveiled at the CCHA Media Conference at Joe Louis Arena yesterday.

The stadium, which holds around 20,000 seats, contains luxury boxes and acts as the home of both the hockey and basketball teams.

But, besides the scheduling issue, coach John Markell says he coaches the most experienced team in the conference.

"It's going to be an interesting season for us," Markell said. "For the first ,time we are returning a mature hockey club, with mature players who understand the systems."

Markell has the most returning players of any team, including six of the team's top seven scorers, four of the six defensemen and both goalies.

On the other side, several other coaches showed extreme concern about keeping their teams out of the bottom of the standings.

Alaska-Fairbanks coach Dave Laurion hopes to pull his team out of the CCHA doghouse. The Nanooks have fallen near last place for all three years they've been in the league.

"We want to do better than 11th place and I hope we'll be a surprise team this year," Laurion said. "We're certainly bigger and stronger."

Bowling Green coach Buddy Powers' concern echoed Laurion's.

Upset about Bowling Green's poor 8-27-3 record last season, Powers said he will force everyone on his team to fight for their positions.

"We're out to prove that that was an aberration," Powers said. "We're going to look for guys to compete for jobs."

Lake Superior State coach Scott Borek was also concrened about his team's showing last season, but from a different perspective.

After having been among the dominating teams in the CCHA for years, the team's performance fluttered last season.

"Tradition is earned, not inherited," Borek said. "It was a lesson that was difficult learning, but learned very well."

Borek stated that last year's poor record was mostly due to the team scoring just 2.88 goals a game - the lowest in the school's history.

With 22 underclassmen on the team, Borek has a tough job ahead of him this season.

Other teams are dealing with the inexperience of young players, too.

Miami (Ohio), graduated 10 seniors from last year, forcing coach Mark Mazzoleni to perhaps dress four freshmen on defense this season.

Ferris State will also have a young defense with five out of six players freshmen or sophomores.

Michigan also has its own youth problems with two new freshmen goaltenders and a slew of new recruits.

New faces: On the Western Michigan front, acting coach Jim Culhane represented the Broncos in place of coach Bill Wilkinson who was suspended early in the week by the university for alleged underage drinking by players at a home he owned.

All of the coaches wished the new commissioner luck, and many talked about the unfortunate fate of Wilkinson and gave him support.

"Those who know Wilkie, know certainly that he has done nothing wrong," Northern Michigan coach Rick Comley said "If anything has happened there, it was out of his control."

Culhane said he would not comment on the issue, but did say that Wilkinson is the coach of the team.

"Bill Wilkinson is still the head hockey coach of Western Michigan University," Culhane said. "The entire staff is just viewing this whole process that

09-25-98