Oregon daily emerald., November 06, 1997, Page 9, Image 9

Williams, Harris break rookie stereotype
In their Jirst season at the
Division I-A level Erik Williams
and Peter Harris have made
veteran contributions
By Tim Pyle
Freelance Sports Reporter
The term “freshman” generally conveys in
experience, immaturity and over exuberance.
It is not uncommon to hear a sports an
nouncer say with disappointment, "Oh, an
other freshman mistake.”
Freshmen are not usually counted upon for
big contributions in college athletics.
Similarly, a transfer is commonly expected
to require an adjustment period upon joining
a new team and is not relied upon for immedi
ate payoff.
However, the Oregon Club Sports hockey
team is discovering new definitions for those
two terms — that of hard-working, high-scor
ing leaders — upon the arrival of two players,
sophomore Erik Williams and freshman Peter
Harris.
Williams, the center on the firstline, and
Harris, the secondline’s right wing, combined
for six goals and three assists in leading the
Ducks to victories over California in their first
two games of the season.
Harris was unable to travel with the team to
Los Angeles for Oregon’s road trip Oct. 24
through 26 because of financial reasons. The
Ducks could have used his scoring ability as
they suffered three consecutive defeats — two
to Southern California and one to UCLA.
However, Williams provided a bright spot,
tallying three goals and three assists in Ore
gon’s three losses.
While most people would be surprised at
the immediate success of two newcomers in
the tough Pacific-8 Hockey Conference, head
coach Geoff Norman begs to differ.
“They both have strong hockey back
grounds,” says Norman, searching for evi
dence for his lack of astonishment.
Harris began playing hockey as an 8-year
old in Littleton, Colo. He competed in the Lit
tleton Hockey Association throughout his
young career, while concentrating solely on
Williams agrees with Robertson.
“He’s a big kid and has a really good hockey
sense,” Williams says.
Harris is also blessed with speed on the ice,
according to teammates and Norman.
“He wins most battles one on one because
he has an extreme package of moves,” Norman
says.
Harris says he enjoys the competition and
camaraderie of the team. However, he warns
that he doesn’t want to get so serious that all of
the fun he finds in playing hockey would be
left behind.
Williams, unlike Harris, took a more cir
cuitous route to end up in Eugene. Williams
grew up in Portland and graduated from Jesuit
High School in Beaverton.
After graduating, he traveled to hockey pow
er Shattock Saint Mary’s Prep School in Min
hockey.
Goalkeeper Stuart
Robertson cites Harris’
knowledge of the game
as a reason for his
prompt breakthrough
with the Ducks.
nesota for a year of postgraduate schooling.
From there, Williams went to Canada for a
brief stint of junior hockey before being re
leased and enrolling at Saint Mary's University
in Wynona, Minn.
However, Williams says he didn’t like the
hockey program or the school, and he returned
to his home state to attend Oregon this year.
Even after two years in the hockey hotbeds
of Canada and Minnesota, Williams says he is
"pleasantly surprised” at the level of competi
tion here.
"It’s better than I thought it was going to be,”
Williams says.
Robertson, Norman, Harris and even
Williams all point to speed and stick-handling
as the biggest strengths in Williams’ game.
“He’s fast, can change directions and his
stick-handling is just awesome,” Harris says.
Norman is still in awe of a short-handed goal
Williams scored in the Ducks’ second game of
the season against the Bears.
“It was just amazing!" Norman exclaims.
“He got the puck about center ice, burst down
the left wing, cut hard to the far post with a de
fender right on him and just roofed it.”
Williams says he wants to score as many
points as he conceivably can this season in or
der to help the team out as much as possible.
He points to the Pac-8 Hockey Tournament,
which will be held in Eugene Feb. 20 through
22, as the pinnacle of the season for the team.
“Our goal is to win the Pac-8 in our own
rink,” Williams says.
With newcomers Williams and Harris lead
ing the way, the Ducks may finally attain that
goal and move on to nationals at Rutgers in
New Jersey.
Mac Court: Oregon may improve windows, awnings
■ Continued from Page 7
year-old facility.
“What [fans] will see is a bright,
new old building,” said Ernie
Kent, the Oregon men’s basketball
head coach.
The off-season’s renovations are
the final phase of improvements
to the inside of the facility that
have been taking place over the
past five seasons, said Jamie
Klund, Oregon media services as
sistant director.
“The fans love this place so
much, and I think for them they
will really appreciate things,” said
Jody Runge, the Oregon women’s
basketball head coach. “Their
voice has been so strong about be
ing in love with this place and not
going somewhere else that I think
they’ll just appreciate the fact that
we’ve given it a facelift.”
In this latest phase of construc
tion, the floor-level seating was re
' done to include theater-like seats for
donors who own season tickets, and
the bleacher seating for University
» students and the band is also new.
“On the floor level, it is going to
be a much more comfortable
building,” Kent said.
Fans will no longer have to walk
in front of the coaches and players
on their way to their seats as there
will now be enough room to walk
behind the bench.
All the entrances to the floor
level were also redone.
Instead of two four-door en
trances on the east and west sides
of the court, there are now four
two-door entrances on all sides.
The two new entrances on the
north and south sides, where the
baskets are, are the main entrances.
Probably the most noticeable ad
dition is the new scoreboards. A
main scoreboard and seven auxil
iary scoreboards have been added.
Also, a triangle-like 30-second
clock will sit above the backboards
for easy fan viewing, Kent said.
The facing of the balconies was
painted white, giving the arena a
new color scheme. The cost of the
paint is not included in the
$600,000 in improvements.
And for the fans’ ears, Oregon
put in a new public address sys
tem.
While this was the final phase
of construction inside, Oregon
may still make improvements to
windows and awnings on the out
side of the facility, Klund said.
CHAD PATTESON/Emerald
Mac Court was given a make-over that improved the floor-level seat
ing and added new main and auxiliary scoreboards.
Centers: Carson added 18 pounds of muscle in off-season
■ Continued from Page 7
season, Nelson averaged more than two rebounds per
contest and shot 65.2 percent on his way to winning
the team’s Jesse Nash Award as the most improved
player.
Oregon fans should see even more improvement
this year, as Nelson has improved his strength and
conditioning in the off-season.
His improved cardiovascular conditioning should
help in Kent’s run-and-gun offense, which should
award the first player down court with a scoring op
portunity. Nelson described his role in the new sys
tem in just one word: “Run!”
The final full-time post player could be the most
intriguing: Flo Hartenstein, a 6-foot-9, 255-pound
freshman from Mainz, Germany. The graduate of
Thurston High School in Springfield originally
signed with Oregon in the spring of 1996, but sat out
last season to improve his TOEFL (Test of English as
a Foreign Language) score.
Hartenstein was a member of three German Junior
National Teams before coming to the United States
and averaged 11 points, eights rebounds and three
blocks per game at Thurston.
Hartenstein, the strongest player on the Oregon
roster, has been a pleasant surprise to Kent.
“He’s made some great strides early on and has
shown some flashes of brilliance,” the coach said.
“Once he understands how to use his strength to his
advantage he’s going to be a very effective post play
er.”
Joining Carson, Nelson and Hartenstein for occa
sional action in the post this season will be Henry
Madden and A.D. Smith, two players whom Kent
values for their ability to play on the perimeter and
down low.
“We’re going to play [Madden] at the [small for
ward] spot, but you’ll see him at the [power forward],
too,” Kent said. “And [Smith] can score inside, but
can step outside and shoot the ball, which gives us
an ability to cause some problems for some people,
particularly when big guys guard him.”
Should Kent’s perimeter players fail to score on
the break, with no less than five players able to play
the post position, they will have a large presence to
go to in the middle.
Centers
■ CARSON: played In 27 of 28
games last season... had a ca
reer-high of 19 points twice in
1995
■ NELSON:Jesse Nash Award
winner for most Improved play
er last season... has a 60.7 ca
reer field-goal percentage
■ HARTENSTEIN: Three-time
German Junior National Team
member... sat out last season
to study for TOEFL
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