!f it's cold, it's hockey time agair
1
1978-79 Roster
No.
Name
Pos.
By BILLY SAHN
As ithe puck flies loose off of a stick and the metal
blades of skates grind the ice, you know that the cold
weather is on its way. The iciest of the winter sports,
hockey, has returned to Yost Arena.
The Wolverines started their season last weekend
with a pair of overtime victories against Bowling
Green. However, Michigan takes on Minnesota-
Duluth this weekend marking the start of the Western
Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) season.
Although the ice itself will be on the cool side at
Yost, the Blue dekers hope they vWill not be.
Last season, the Wolverines had a tough time at it
as they went a bleak 15-20-1 overall, including a stret-
ch that saw them lose 16 out of 20 one point in the
season-
But that was last year. It's a new year, a new
season, and a new team.
"Skill, strength,and speed, that's what this year's
about," said Michigan Coach Dan Farrell.
Farrell's outloook appears optimistic. It has to be.
The icers this season are sporting new, young and
fresh faces.
In all, the dekers lost nine seniors. Dave Debol, Dan
Hoene, Ben Kawa, Kip Maurer, Steve Luongo, John
McCahill, Rick Palmer, Bill Thayer, and Frank
Zimmerman are all gone. Also gone is Dean Turner.
But, that was last year; one when the Wolverines
didn't make the playoffs.
In what could be considered a good recruiting year,
the Wolverines show signs of life and hope compared
to the morbid picture at the end of last season.
"We recruited kids who play with a lot of inten-.
sity," commented Farrell.
Among the ten newcomers to Michigan this year
are wo tough and skilled kids. Terry Cullen at the'
center position out of Bishop MacDonell High School
in Puslinch, Ontario, is perhaps the brightest
prospect on the ice this year for the Wolverines.
"Cullen was the most heavily recruited player in
North America," commented a more than pleased
Farrell.
Another center, Murray Eaves from Windsor also
have a bright future ahead of him in the comforting
confines of Yost Arena.
A very sore spot last year for the Wolverines was
defense. The loss of two goalies, Zimmerman and
Palmer, and the folding of the Penn hockey team, led
sophomore Bob Sutton to Michigan. Sutton started in
the nets for Penn last year.
Hence, Farrell has supplemented the returning
nucleus with top rated youth. The vivaciousness of
the newcomers will inevitably influence the returning
playes.
"The returning players will have to play with more
intensity," said Farrell. "The spirit of competition
was good in training camp." .
Without will, you can hardly expect effort,
especially that extra bit needed when you're down.
"Last year's group," said Farrell, "was like bumps
on a log." It's easier to get a young team up for
games."
Thus, with their new attitude, the icers will face
basically the same schedule they faced off against
last season.
There will be one difference this year. The usual
ten team division of the WCHA has been split up into
two divisions of five each. Along with Michigan in one
division, will be the other Big Ten schools-Michigan
State, Minnesota, Wisconsin-and Notre Dame. The
other division will consist of Michigan Tech, Denver,
Colorado College, Minnesota-Duluth, and North
Dakota.
Farrell rates Minnesota the best team overall in
Michigan's division, while he picks North Dakota as
the top contender in the other division.
The always-potent Badgers of Wisconsin should
maintain their image this year. They're known to
provide hard checking games.
Notre Dame, who finished ahead of Michigan
last year's final, WCHA standings is questionable
defense after the loss of its two top goalies. I
remaining team in the Wolverines' divisi
Michigan State, looks weak as ever (their fi
WCHA record last year was 7-23-2).
In the westward division, Michigan will facesso
very tough teams.
According to Farrell, "Denver (who took1
WCHA title last year) was super last year. TI
won't be as good, but they're well coached. Howev
I think North Dakota is the class of that division.''
Tech looks to be the other top contending team
the division. "They'll be good; they always do a gi
job."
The two remaining teams in the division-M
nesota-Duluth and Colorado College also faired qu
respectively in the WCHA last year. If anything, th
add to an already strong group of teams.
Hence, the Wolverines will have to lay all their c
ds on the line as they battle the other nine WC]
teams this year.
Strategy, wise, Farrell has worked extensiv
with the team in training camp, hoping to impr
over last season's performance.
"We've changed the method of forechecking a
the method of defensive coverage," remark
Farrell.
This change may lead to more aggressive pl
and/or more conscious play.
Of course, with only two games into the seas
Michigan's capabilities have yet to be determined.
"We're much stronger than last year," s,
Farrell, "yet we've got quite a bit of skill."
All in all, the Wolverines are looking forward t(
challenging season. The competition will be tou
and the intensity of play will be high. But, that'si
something new for the WCHA.
"We've got the best amateur hockey in No
America," said"Farrell.
1 RUDY VARVARI................................. G
(Dearborn Heights)
i in 2 JOHN WAYMANN ............................... D
on (St. Lambert, Que.)
The 3 BRIAN LUNDBERG ............................. D
on, (Lake Cowichan, B.C.)
nal 4 TIM MANNING .................................. D
(Dearborn Heights)
me 5 DAVE RICHTER ................................. D
(St. Boniface, Man.)
the 6 DAVE BRENNAN ............................... D
hey (Weston, Ont.)
er, 7 ROD PACHOLZUK ............................... D
(Penticton, B.C.)
in 8 JEFF MARS ..................................... RW
ood (Duluth, MN)
9 BILL WHEELER ................................. LW
[in- (Southfield)
cite 10 MIKE COFFMAN ., ...........:.................. RW
hey (Richfield, MN)
11 DAN LERG ...................................... C
ar- (Southfield )
HA 12 TERRY CULLEN........................... C
. (Puslinch, Ont.)
ely 14 MARK MILLER .................................. LW
ove (Essex, Ont.)
15 DOUG TODD .................. .................RW
nd (Stouffville, Ont.)
ed 16 JOHN OLVER.......... ................... RW
(North Burnaby, B.C.)
lay 17 MURRAY EAVES................................C
(Windsor, Ont.)
18 DENNIS MAY ............. ................RW
(Calgary, Alb.)
aid 19 GORDIE HAMPSON .............................C/L
(Edina, MN)
oh a 20 ROGER BOURNE...... ...................... C/W
igh (Ann Arbor)
not 21 STEVE RICHMOND.............................. W/D
(Chicago, IL)
rth 24 JOHN BLUM .................................... D
(Warren)
25 PAUL BRANDRUP .............................. D
(Rochester, MN)
27 JEFF TESSIER ................................. LW
(Windsor, Ont.)
28 MARK PERRY ................................ D
(Ann Arbor)
29 ANDY BUPPERT ................................ G
(Sewickley, PA)
' D30 BOBSUTTON .............................. G
(Oakville, Ont. )
DON DALES . ................. .............. C
Hgt. Wgt.
5-10 185
5-11 193
Yr.
So.
Sr.
Fr.
5-11
5-11
186
175 So.
6-5 208 Fr.
6-0 185 Jr.
6-0 172 Jr.
6-0 195 So.
5-9 173 Sr.
6-1 192 Sr.
5-9 170 Jr.
5-8 160 Fr.
5-11 177 Sr.
6-1 193
Jr.
6-1 185 So.
5-10 180 Fr.
5-10 177 Fr.
6-3
5-9
6-0
212 So.
185 So.
185 Fr.
Puckih9
Bury the past...
.. and build for the future
By BRIAN MILLER
Six years ago, Michigan's present ticket manager, Al Renfrew, retired
as coach of the Wolverine hockey team. To replace him, Athletic Director
Don Canham brought in a relative unknown named Dan Farrell to take over.
It would be satisfying to say the diminutive native of Hamilton, Ontario
was able to turn the program around and make hockey in Ann Arbor a huge
success - but that hasn't happened yet. And, after last year's finish, it might
take a little bit longer than Farrell had anticipated.
In his inaugural campaign, Farrell guided the icers to a seventh-place
finish and a spot in the playoffs after the previous team had finished dead
last in the ten-team WCHA. Since then, his teams have shown marked
improvement as they've followed up with sixth, fourth and third place
finishes in the WCHA. Until last year, that is.
Last season was one of the most disappointing in Michigan hockey
history and no one knows it any better than Farrell. Last year couldn't be
described as anything else but a disaster. What was so ironic about the
team's poor showing was the fact that before it even began, the Wolverines
were predicted to win the 1977 NCAA National Championship.
Fast start, then disaster
Michigan expected to field a strong team that year, including the return
of both its starting goalies - Rick Palmer and Frank Zimmerman, both of
whom had played effectively in their previous seasons. In fact, Palmer
played in the nets almost exclusively at the end of the '76-77 season, while the
Wolverines won 12 straight games plus one important victory that put the
icers into the NCAA tourney in Detroit.
Dave Debol, the conference's leading scorer in 1977-78, was back along
with another big scorer, Kip Maurer. Farrell did predict at the start of the
season that the defense would be the deciding factor on how good that team
could be. He turned out to be quite an accurate forecaster.
As many people know, Michigan began the year fast, jumping off to an
11-3 record - including a sweep of the mighty Wisconsin Badgers when the
Wolverines,scored an amazing 18 goals against college hockey's finest
defense. In fact, Michigan scored 11 of those goals against the BAdgers' All-
American goaltender, Julian Baretta, who just happened to be leading the
conference in goals against average at the time.
But the team collapsed immediately after that series, spending six of the
next eight weeks on the road, including one stretch of four straight road
series against the four teams with the best home records in the conference.
The icers lost ten out of those twelve games including seven straight in the
*WCHA.
Enough has been written and said about last year's travesty however,
and Farrell is doing all he can to put that year behind him.
For a start, Farrell has placed a
S new emphasis on defensive game
~ ,:.strategy. Gone will be the up and
down, free-wheeling style of hockey
Michigan fans have grown
accustomed to. Discipline and
positional play will be the key to the
r Wolverines' success this year.
Also gone are many of the small,
y finesse style of players from the
,y f roster. Wolverine teams in the past
have been too easy to push off the
puck and too easy to keep away from
the net. Last year, Denver,
Wisconsin and Minnesota had
physical teams and they finished
one, two, and four in the conference.
Farrell is able to make these
changes this year due mostly to the
freshmen and transfer students he
recruited. Size, speed and goalies
are what he went after and size,
Farrell speed and goalies are what he got.
6-3 191 So.
6-1 180 Fr.
5-10 165 Fr.
5-10 190 So.
5-10 180 Fr.
6-0 1'75 So.
5-7 155 Fr.
1978-79 MICHIGAN
HOCKEY GUIDE
1 977-78 Final Statistics
Graduated Seniors listed in capital letters
Editor
Brian Miller
Writers
Billy Sahn, Billy Neff, Dan Perrin
Bob Emory and Bob Miller
Photos by Brad Benjamin
Alan Bilinski
78-79 Schedule
Oct. 20 ............ BOWLING GREEN
Oct. 21 ............. at Bowling Green
Oct. 27-28..... MINNESOTA-DULUTH
Nov. 3-4 ........... MICHIGAN TECH
Nov. 10-11 ............... at Wisconsin
Nov. 17-18 .................. DENVER
Nov. 24-25 ............. at Notre Dame
Dec. 2-3................. at Minnesota
Dec. 8.............. at Michigan State
Dec.9............ MICHIGAN STATE
Jan. 5-6...............MINNESOTA
Jan. 12-13 .... COLORADO COLLEGE
Jan. 19-20 ............ at North Dakota
Jan. 26-27 ..............NOTRE DAME
Feb. 2-3............. at Michigan Tech
Feb. 9-10 ................... at Denver
Feb. 16-17...............WISCONSIN
Feb. 23-24.........at Minnesota-Duluth
Mar. 2............ MICHIGAN STATE
Mar. 3 .............. at Michigan State
Dec. 29-30 ................ Great Lakes
Invitational Tournament at the Olym-
pia vs. Michigan Tech, Boston Uni-
versity and Ohio State.
ALL HOME GAMES AT YOST ICE
ARENA-STARTING TIME 7:30 p.m.
77-78 Final Results
,John Knox
* 5 Denver
* 5 at Notre Dame
* 7 at Notre Dame
* 8 Michigan State
* 4 at MICHIGAN STATE
* 7 Minnesota
* 7 Minnesota
* 2 at COLORADO COLLEGE
* 6 at Colorado College
*11 Wisconsin
* 7 Wisconsin
* 2 at MICHIGAN TECH
* 3 at MICHIGAN TECH
# 4 Lake Superior
# 3 MICHIGAN TECH
3 MOSCOW DYNAMO
* 2 ar WISCONSIN
* 4 at WISCONSIN
* 3 at MINNESOTA
* 2 at MINNESOTA
*10 NORTH DAKOTA
* 5 North Dakota
* 4 at DENVER
* 2 a'r DENVER
* 4 NOTRE DAME
* 1 NOTRE DAME
* 7 at MINN-DULUTH
* 1 at MINN-DULUTH
* 1 Colorado College
* 2 COLORADO COLLEGE
* 3 MICHIGAN TECH
* 1 MICHIGAN TECH
* 7 at Michigan State
* 3 Michigan State
* WCHA Regular Season
# Great Lakes Invit., Detroit Olympia
I
I
NAME
DAVE DEBOL ...................
Dan Lerg ..--......................
KIP MAURER ....................
BILL THAYER..... ...........
Mark Miller....................
JOHN McCAHILL .................
Doug Todd ...................
John Olver...................
Dean Turner .................
Mike Coffman-...................
BEN KAWA .......................
6 Gordie Hampson-...............
3 DAN HOENE ......................
5 John Waymann ....................
4 Tim Manning ...... .. ........ .
9 Bill Wheeler..................
3 Dave Brennan.................
5 Rod Pacholzuk ................
5. Jeff Mars....................
3 FRANK ZIMMERMAN.........
3 RICK PALMER ...............
3 Roger Bourne ..... .....
6 Rudy Varvari ................
STEVE LUONGO..............
3 John Blum ........................
Overall (15-20-1)
POS G A TP
C 20 38 58
C 21 28 49
C 25 20 45
W 13 21 34
W 19 14 33
D 5 23 28
W 11 13 24
W 7 12 19
D 5 14. 19
W 6 12 18
D 10 6 16
W 9 7 16
C 7 9 16
D 2 13 15
D 5 8 13
W 2 10 12
D 2 5 7
D 0 6 6
W 0 2 2
G 0 2 2"
G 0 1 1
C 0 1 1
G 0 0 0
D 0 0 0
D 0 0 0
WCIIA (12-19-1)
G A TP
18 33 51
20 26 46
21 17 38
13 18 31
16 13 29
5 21 26
10 11 21
6 10 16
3 12 I5
6 12 18
9 4 13
7 6 13
7 8 15
1 12 13
4 7, 11
1 9 10
2 5 7
0 5 5
0 1 1
0 2 2
0 1 1
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
8
12
8
5
5
5
2
Zimmerman ...............
Palm er.....................
Varvari ....................
GOALIE STATISTICS
W-L-T GA AVG
7-6-1 70 4.70
6-9-0 83 5.34
2-5-0 39 6.40
W-L-T
6-5-1
5-9-0
1-5-0
GA
60
76
39
2
14
9
7
5
8
6
3
5
4
~2
7
2
1977-78 Final Standings
SCORES
M
Denver ....................................................
Wisconsin .................................................
M ichigan Tech ............................................
Minnesota....... ................................
Colorado College ..........................................
N orth Dakota ..............................................
M innesota-Duluth ..... . ................................
Notre Dame ..............................................
MICHIGAN ...............................................
M ichigan State ............................................
W L
27 5
21 9
21 11
18 13
13 19
13 19
12 19
12 19
12 19
7 23
T
0
2
0
1
0
0
1
1
I
2
AVG
4.66
5.37
7.25
TP
54
44
42
37
26
26
25
25
25
16
7
6
*10
at Bowling Green
Bowling Green
Denver
Opp
2
4
WCHA sports new look
By BOB MILLER
For the first time since 1972, the
Western Collegiate Hockey Association
(WCHA) has made an alteration in its
division alignments. Back then it was
the addition of a new team, Notre
Dame, that brought the league mem-
bership to its present amount of 10
schools.
Six years later the WCHA still sports
the same number of teams, but the
league decided last April to split the
conference into two divisions. As of yet
unnamed, the divisions are supposedly
set up in an East-West alignment.
As it stands, the East teams are:
MICHIGAN
Minnesota-Duluth
North Dakota
There were a number of schedule
contingencies included which will take
effect in the 1979-80 season. What it en-
tails is that each team plays a home-
and-home schedule (total four games)
against each of the four other teams in
its division for a subtotal of 16 games.
Then, each team plays the five teams
in the other division once each year
(two game series) for another 10
games. Here is where it gets sticky. Af-
ter that, any team that wants to play a
full four-game series against another
inter-division rival may do so, for in-
stance, Minnesota and Duluth.
THEREFORE, IT IS possible that
16-16-0 (32 points) and the Badgers en-
ded the season at 13-12-1 (27 points),
Wisconsin would be higher in the stan-
dings than Michigan by .019 (.519 to
.500).
Evenmore confusing is the WCHA
playoff system. In the past, the top
eight teams qualified for the post-
season action. The top team plays the
bottom team and so on, until there were
two teams left. The team with the bet-
ter record that remained after two
playoff series automatically received
the West berth in the NCAA tour-
nament.
Starting this year, the top four teams
in each division make the playoffs. The
top team in the east (E1) plays number
immediately into the NCAA tourna-
ment against two teams from else-
where in the country (usually the East
Coast).
BUT, SINCE the rise of the Central
Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA)
and a number of independents, the
WCHA was not automatically given two
places in the tourney. So, the league
decided to play a championship round
two years ago (Wisconsin swept
Michigan) with the loser forced to meet
the CCHA tournament champion for the
final NCAA spot.
Last year, the WCHA championship
round was scrapped. Wisconsin got the
NCAA berth by virtue of its better
record than Colorado College, the other