Kosick not worried about lack of goals

The Michigan hockey team looks upon forward Mark Kosick as an important piece of a winning team puzzle.

While Michigan's defense ranks second in the CCHA overall, the Wolverines lie a distant fifth in goals per game with 2.95 - almost a full goal behind Northern Michigan (3.77).

Although the holiday season is over, Kosick seems to keep the seasonal spirit in his game, as he seems to enjoy giving more than receiving.

The sophomore leads the team in assists with 13, but is a distant sixth in goals with five.

"I know I haven't been scoring the goals, but I'm getting the chances," Kosick said. "I'm just not putting them in the hole. I am going to start bearing down a little more around the net.

Michigan forward Mark Kosick doesn't lead the team in goals. Mike Comrie does. But Kosick's does lead the Wolverines in assists with 13.

"Once they start going in, then they are just going to keep going in for me. That's the way it's been my whole life."

The difficulty of turning on the red light plagued Kosick last season when he notched 14 goals and 32 assists.

But the sophomore isn't worried about whether his role requires a certain amount of scoring.

"I don't really know yet. Normally my role has been an offensive one and that's what I feel it is, but whatever role I am put into, I'll try to do the best I can."

But with the Wolverines in the middle of the CCHA pack as far as goals are concerned, Michigan might need Kosick to pick up more scoring slack.

"We're making some plays, the plays are there, we just have to put them in," Kosick said.

While Kosick hasn't received a lot of media attention, but reaching the front page isn't one of his immediate goals.

"I could really care less about (getting) press," Kosick said. "Individually I just want to be the best player I can be when I'm done here, so I have a chance to play hockey (afterwards). That's my dream.

"I have two and a half years left to improve."

This season didn't begin pleasantly for the icer. He spent the first week and a half recovering from a dislocated shoulder. But Kosick battled back to achieve the fifth highest plus-minus rating - +9 in 21 games - and reaching second on the team in points.

Berenson isn't worried about the number of goals next to Kosick's name.

"I think he will score more," Berenson said. "But I'm not concerned with his points. I'm concerned with his overall play."

After trying new lines this past weekend, Berenson looks to continue playing Kosick at center on a line with Greg Crozier and Sean Ritchlin.

"We played together last year, and we had a lot of success scoring a lot of goals," Kosick said.

Berenson, who has shuffled his lines in the past couple of weeks, is still searching for the right combination, but hopes Kosick can lead his line to better performances.

"We'll see (about the line), they just played this (past) weekend. I saw some things that I liked and some things I didn't like," Berenson said. "If Kosick plays well it should help the wingers play well."

MIA Icers: Several Wolverines missed practice yesterday for various reasons. Defenseman Mike Van Ryn is still suffering from the bronchitis that plagued him after his return from world juniors. Senior captain Bubba Berenzweig went to the dentist for a root canal.

Berenson said that freshman Craig Murray, suffering from the injury bug almost all season, is doubtful to play this weekend because of lace bite.

WARREN ZINN/Daily

01-13-99