F1 h *drc 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 NI TISSOT particularly The Revolutionary New Tissot Quartz The new Tissot Quartz watches have a patented timesetting feature which enables you to adjust the date and hour, minute or second all by means of the crown and without impairing the accuracy. And Tissot Quartz watches run for 3 years on just one normal battery. See the many different Tissot styles at Schianderer's on South University. 113 SUTH NIVESIT Y ANNA111 p6 37 *Skiing *Bacpacking *Tennis *Baseball *Tme best in footwear UOF M Washentaw Close Carpenter Packard campus- 1-94 r, US-23 "s-23 3150 Carpenter Rd. 971-4310 lon.-Fri. Sat. Sun. 12-9 10-6 12-5 ~/ I"t.71V I Why read :4UiIQ sports? The Daily is the ONLY paper in the state which sent reporters to every in-term foot- ball, basketball and hockey game last year- and had their stories into, your hands by 8 the next morning. Home or away, conference or non-conference, big game or not, the Daily covers the action. While the other papers largely confine their coverage to the "Big Three" sports, the Daily believes a true sports fan wants to know about more than football, basketball and hockey. That's why we also offer extensive coverage of baseball, track, wrestling, tennis and every other team Don Canham produces. College sports probably isn't your only in terest, it's not ours either. In fact, the Daily has sent reporters to every Detroit Tiger baseball game, along with more reporters to home Piston, Lions, Express and Red Wing games than any other newspaper in Washtenaw County. When All-American center Phil Hubbard injured his left knee on the first day of prac- tice last season, Daily sub- scribers read about it the next morning. Free Press and News readers waited nearly two weeks. - r s Daily sports coverage doesn't begin with the opening kick- off and end with the referee's whistle. We talk to Bo during the week to find out about injuries, next week's opponent or his impressions of the na- tionally ranked teams. We'll also find out why linebacker Ron Simpkins is regarded as highly as any player in Mich- igan history or what Rick Leach thinks of his Heisman ohaneaC e nn * t iavct cattla4fnr Phil Hubbard .le FsrI~itns:aiI3 For subscriptions: h.:? U W Q.:. . -us.F..a...' I : . I 1 _. .. _ _ _. _