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By GARY KICINSKI
Two years ago, not much was
bpected of the Michigan hockey team.
Ut after finishing third in the WCHA
e icers went all the way to the NCAA
Ials, where they lost to Wisconsin in
lie championship game.
Last year, a lot was expected of the
Sichigan hockey team. Too much, as it
rmed out, since the Wolverines could
ye more easily passed as a skydiving
am than a hockey team. Ranked
mber one in the country at one point,
e icers had made a quick take-off and
ere flying high following a pair of
me victories over the Badgers.
But after their 9-3 start, the
olverines became free fall experts,
oibig 3-16-1 over their next 20 jumps.
Vhen the chutes finally opened,
ichigan found itself tangled up in a ,
eventh-place tree with Minnesota-
n'luth and Notre Dame. The latter two
ams went to the playoflfs, while
ichigan and coach Dan Farrell sat
round and examined their ripcords.
After a pair of seasons like that, the
ipeoming campaign appears to be
otally unpredictable. -
Having lost eight seniors to
raduation, the icers will have to
epend mostly on freshmen and
ophomores this year as the club seeks
o reverse its losing ways of the year
'one by.
All-American center Dave Debol and
ugh-scoring forwards Kip-Maurer and
ill Tha'yer lea've behind big skates to
ill The Wolverines have aso los two
John McCahill, a defenseman now
rying to mnake it with the NHlL's
Folorado Rockies.
Last year's club was beset with slop-
ydefense and inconsistent goalten-
ing, two areas which Farrell feels
must be improved if this year's team is
robe respectable.
"'We definitely have question marks
in, goal and on the blue line," Farrell
admitted. "A lot of our problems will be
solved if we can improve in those two
areas."
displeased wirth thperformances of
some of his veteran defensemen last
year, and he said he wouldn't be at all
surprised if some of the letter-winners
were beaten out of a job this fall.
Jarrell has signed three freshmen
~fensemen, all of whom are six-feet-
ii.gh then die,
p from top to
plus and have the potential to become
starters as rookies. "We'll have nine
defensemen in camp fighting for four
starting spots and it will make for lots
of competition. Hopefully that will
make them all work harder," he said.
Returning lettermen on the blue line
include senior John Waymann, juniors
Dave Brennan, Rod Pacholzuk and Dean
Turner, and sophomores John Blum
and Tim Manning. Turner, the
Wolverine hit man, not only leads the
team in penalty minutes but probably
also in fans. His sluggish skating and
booming checks and slap shots make
him the most visible Michigan skater.
Manning was weakened by a back in-
jury but played well as a freshman and
was voted Rookie-of-the-Year by his
teammates. The University of Detroit
High School grad is known for his shot-
blocking ability. "Manning can be a
pretty good player," Farrell said, "but
he needs to get a lot stronger. He's a
very intense player."
An even bigger question mark
remains parked in the goal crease, as
sophomores Rudy Varvari and
newcomer Bob Sutton are expected to
battle it out for the starting job. Sutton
is a transfer student from the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania, whose hockey
program has been disbanded. Varvari
saw action in just seven games last
year, as he backed up senior pipe-
keepers Rick Palmer and Frank Zim-
merman.
In the scoring department the
Wolverines have lost many of their top-
of-the-line products, but are hoping that
some of the lesser-known items will
become big sellers this year. Goneare
the brand names like Debol and
Maurer, but Farrell is counting on cap-
tain Mark Miller and junior Dan Lerg to
move to the front of the shelf.
Miller, one of only four seniors on this
year's squad, is a bard-working left
winger who scored 19 goals and added
14 assists last season. The six-foot
speedster has a strong shot and was
consistently singled out by Farrell last
year as being Michigan's lone plum
when everybody else had been playing
like rotten prunes.
Lerg, the speedy little center out of
Detroit's catholic Central, has scored 43
goals in his two-year stay at Michigan.
Lerg is known for scoring in' bunches,
as he tallied four goals in one game
against Wisconsin and also had a hat
trick against the Denver Pioneers.
"Miller and Lerg are our top two
returning scorers, but we've got to get
better years out of everybody. We're
hoping that Doug Todd can bounce back
and that guys like Gordie (Hampson)
and Johnny Olver can come into their
own," Farrell said.'
Hampson and Olver were Farrell's
two prized reapings from last year's
rookie crop, and this year Farrell has
picked a bushel full of promising
recruits. In addition to goaltender Sut-
ton and the three big defensemen, the
Michigan coach has signed three high-
scoring forwards out of Canadian junior
hockey.
Two of the three, Murray Eaves and
Terry Cullen, are centers who have
made tremendous impressions on
Farrell.
"We don't have any two guys on our
team right now who work as hard as
these two guys," Farrell said ad-
mirably. "They're excellent face-off
men and they play with great intensity.
icers
pot
We could be great down the middle with
Lerg, Hampson and these two."
Eaves was the leading scorer last yar
on the Windsor Royals of the, Western
Ontario Junior 'B' league, and Cullen
scored 33 goals and added 99 assists in
smashing the all-time Ontario Junior
'A' league scoring record.
An intra-family WCHA rivalry will
now be established, with Murray
Eaves-dropping in to Ann Arbor and
brothers Mike and Mark already
playing at Wisconsin.
Farrell, never one to refuse a
challenge, is looking ahead to this
season despite all the question marks.
"We tried to recruit players who played
with intensity. We've recruited some
pretty good ones-how good they'll be
as freshmen or how fast they'll develop
remains to be seen.
"But I think since last year we've
come to grips with all our problems. I
think it will be a challenge to improve
our standing."
The Michigan Daily-Thursday, September 7, 1978-4 e
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