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Show /port/ B4 MONDAY • NOVEMBER 20 • 2006 Russian impact said about Malakhov's abilities. "He handles the puck well." Sports Writer Malakho's arrival is not only about playing hockey, though. The The UVSC hockey team has ex- American Collegiate Hockey Assotended its reach into Russia to find ciation, the league UVSC competes new talent, thanks to the help from in, prohibits the awarding of athletic the Utah-Russia Institute housed on scholarships. Beaudry said that Malcampus. akhov had to do the legwork needed Head Coach Matt Beaudry visit- to apply and win an academic scholed Moscow in the off-season to look arship to study English as a second at some hockey players and found language at UVSC and that is the several that he was interested in reason he is here at UVSC. bringing over to Utah to play for the Malakhov has succeeded on the Wolverines. One of the players, left ice and at school. The transition from winger Nikita Malakhov, decided to living in a city with several million jump at the chance to play hockey in people in tight quarters to coming the United States and is now figur- out to the western United States to ing prominently in the Wolverines live has been tough for Malakhov. squad. "Very big culture shock," he said. "Very good perspective to underBack home in Moscow, Malakhov stand for the future," Malakhov said. is used to spending time with friends Malakhov has been playing hockey in coffee shops and that is one thing since he wasfive-years-oldand look- he misses about home. He does love ing to see how the North American seeing movies and, fortunately, the style of the game is played. Provo area has no shortage of movie In comparison, European hockey theaters. Also, meeting good friends is more finesse-based and uses crisp has helped Malakhov adjust to his passing and good positioning to set new surroundings as well. up their offense, while the North In his time on the ice, Malakhov American style features more of a has played in 11 games so far for the physical game that depends more on Wolverines, despite suffering an instrength to score. jury against Utah and having to reMalakhov talents on the ice in- hab his knee. He is the third-leading clude his speed and his play-mak- goal scorer with eight goals thus far ing ability. "He is a sniper," Beaudry in the fall. Jason Adkins — *^ - • ' • < * * Jaime Teerlink //NetXNews MNUV. 27 STUDENT CENTER ART WALL Jaren Wilkey/BYU Cameran Jensen gets his team to play defense against Wyoming. BYU only allowed a late touchdown in their 55-7 drubbing of the Cowboys at Lavell Edwards Stadium. SIGN UP Cougars look back IN S.C. 105 Ben Webster Sports Editor UNPLUGGED Whether the BYU Cougars are back is still up in the air, but one fact is that this year's Cougar team is having a great season after going four years without a winning record. After BYU beat up on Wyoming for their seventh straight win, the Cougars moved up in the national rankings, a place they were used to being during the tenure under Lavell Edwards. Since the first year Gary Crowton coached the Cougars, BYU has been a stranger to any kind of long win streak and national attention. Crowton never managed to right the ship after year one, but when Bronco Mendenhall took over he made it a point to get this team back to what it once was. By looking back, Mendenhall hoped his netxnews.net squad would somehow capture what BYU football had stood for, for so many years. Last year, Mendenhall's first year as head coach, BYU went 6-6 but the season ended with an overtime loss to the Utes and a Las Vegas Bowl disappointment to California. It was something to build on, though. "There were expectations set on this program that the coaches set and our leaders make sure those things are happening," Mendenall said. "There was an initial framing of these things a year and a half ago, almost two years ago but it's been day by day, week by week, game by game, to get to this point." It is no secret that Mendenhall has brought in former players and even the great Edwards to speak to his team in hopes of igniting a fire amongst his current players. Perhaps that is what worked for BYU. They are playing like the Cougars of old, putting up points with consistency and excellence at the quarterback. They are winning games without doubt on the field. With an opportunity to have a special season, the Cougars look back at the aged players that played on the same field, but they also have to think about what truly could have been this year if they would have won close games against Arizona and Boston College. Coach Mendenhall looks at those two losses as steps, "We have tasted what it's like to lose close games to teams we feel like we are better than, and we 'don't intend to do it again." The Cougars will talk about the past and what it means, but they remain focused and continue to say, "The next game is the most important game." |