,11 SENIOR CENTERS ICER SURGE Finals and failure, Lerg skates on BY GARY LEVY Over the past four years, the *ichigan hockey team has seen the highest peaks and the lowest valleys of collegiate hockey. And senior Dan Lerg has been through it all A a freshman, he was a member of the squad that reached the NdAA finals before bowing to Wisconsin in over- time, 6-5. Michigan failed to live up to pre-season expectations Lerg's sophomore year, finishing 15-20-1, *king an unexplainable dive in mid- season. Injuries plagued Lerg and his teammates his junior year as the icers plunged to record (8-27-1) depths. But . this year in his final season, Michigan has climbed back to respec- tability once again with a 21-8-1 record, the team determined to finish its season in Providence, R.I., home ot the '79-'80 NCAA finals.' Throughout these highlights and har- dships, the 5-9, 165-pound center has *een a consistent contributor to Michigan's offense, as his statistics in- dicate, and in his senior year is en- joying the finest season of his career. "We count on him as one of the main scoring threats," said Michigan Coach Dan Farrell. "He's one of the most ex- perienced players at this level of hockey." After graduating from Detroit Catholic Central High School, Lerg walked on to -the Michigan team and arned a spot centering the fourth line. He finished sixth in scoring (24-19-43) on the '76-'77 squad which captured 14 of its final 17 games, the three losses coming at the hands of champion Wisconsin. "We didn't become a great team until later in the year," said Lerg. "We were on a seven-game losing streak until we turned it around and won twelve straight." IHfis freshman season proved to be a valuable learning experience for Lerg. "I'd learn something from about every' player just by watching them," he said. "They'd teach you a little bit about the game every day in practice, and in games too. Players like Kris Manery, Dave Debol, Rob Palmer, Kip Maurer, Billy Thayer; I learned so much from them, it's unbelievable." "I've never seen anything happen quite so bad," continued Lerg. "We were going so great and all of a sudden -to take a dive like that, it was very disappointing, that's for sure." Despite the dismal season, Lerg finished second to Debol in team scoring (21-28-49). Torn knee ligaments shortened junior Gordie Hampson and freshman Bruno Baseotto, Lerg is having the finest offensive season of his career (32- 32-64). "Gordie is a good checker and- obviously Bruno can pass and score. We complement each other well. "Not much was expected4rom us this year and we could've just gone with the approach, 'Hey, if we win, we win. If we don't, well, that's what was expected.' But now all we expect to do is win. Despite this season's success, as in his freshman year, Lerg sees no com- parison between the two squads. "This year we rely on hard work, discipline and drive," he said. "We just keep plugging away. We don't have the finesse players like we had then with Manery and Debol. They're going to score 80-90 points for you a year, but this year,,everybody's chipping in. It's an all-out team effort. "That year, we were more talented. I'm not saying that team didn't work hard, but a lot of things came naturally for them, whereas this team it doesn't, so we make up for it with hard work," Lerg added. With each season, Lerg said he has improved his abilities and realizes this improvement must continue. "My freshman year I was a terrible skater. I think I've improved that and a little bit of everything," said Lerg. "You have to improve to keep playing or otherwise you'll be out of a job." Lerg has already been drafted by the St. Louis Blues and said he will -definitely give professional hockey a try. "You just can't walk out on something you've been doing all your life and say, 'Hey, goodbye,' without giving it a shot, because a couple of years from now, I'd be kicking myself wondering, 'Could I have done it or couldn't I?' " Lerg has been through all the ups and downs over the past four years and for now is determined to end his college career the way it began - a winner. The Michigan Daily-Thursday; February 14, 1980-Page 13 .abortion? ree Pregnancy Testing Immediate Results Confidential Counseling Complete Birth Control Clinic Medicaid o Blue Cross V .4. (313) 941.1810 Ann Arbor and Downriver area (313) 559-0590 Southfield area: -9 Northland Family Planning Clinic, Inc. Michigan foliowers had high expec- tatins for the '77-'78 season, as did Lerg himself. The icers started strong with an 11-3 record and a number one ranking, but somehow managed a com- plete collapse (4-17-1) the remainder of the season which is something that even Lerg cannot explain. "Ever since my freshman year when we went to the NCAA tournament, I ex- pected to go four years straight. And I thought we were on our way until we lost two to (Michigan) Tech just before Christmas. Then we got bombed at the Great Lakes Invitational, and after that, we didn't win too many." Lerg's junior season to 23 games and in- juries to several other key players caused the icers '78'79 campaign- to never get off the ground. Michigan won its first thre games, but took another nosedive, finistling a lowly 8-27-1. "We could have had a really good year," said Lerg, who still managed 12 goals and 19 assists. "Everybody talks about the injuries, but you've still got to play over them. "Obviously it hurt us, though, because if you look at this year when we've stayed healthy, we've done one heck of a lot better." Centering the first line along with a CAVS RALLY TO 107-102 WIN By D Spec PONTIAC - hough the scrip conclusion, but Pistons sink deeper in. REW SHARP CLEVELAND forward Mike Mitchell On an impressive note, Piston guard ial to The Daily led all scorers with 40 points, including Ron Lee started his first game and For a while, it looked as 20 in the fourth quarter. Greg Kelser led played some gutsy ball, diving after pt would have a different the Pistons with 23 points, while Leon stray passes and playing steady defen- once again the inep- Douglas added 15. se. titude of the Detroit Pistons shined through as they succumbed to the Cleveland Cavaliers, 107-102 at the Silverdome last night. The Pistons played their customary steady first three quarters of play, but as usual they were dead asleep in the final quarter and tallied their seventh consecutive defeat. The Pistons took the lead midway through the first period and stayed on top until the Cavs took a 93-91 advan- tage with 5:25 left in the game. John Long, however, erased that lead with a jumper from the top of the key. Cleveland regained the lead and kept it following two straight buckets from Mitchell. Luge, Downhill trials underway at Olympics Luge LAKE PLACID, N.Y. - Veteran Det- tleff Gunther of East Germany zipped o an early lead in defense of his 1976- Olympic gold medal last night with a track record 43.20 seconds in the first of upper half of the course - to finish first in the first run. U.S. champion Jeff Tucker of West- port, Conn., posted the top finish for an American with a 45.16 run, good for 17th place. Earlier in the evening, Vera Zozulya of the Soviet Union led from the top of the run in her bid to turn the tables on Melitta Sollman of East Germany in women's competition. Debbie Genovese of Rockford, Ill., was the top American finisher: 16th with a time of 40.50. The only other Americans, Donna Burke and Sue Charlesworth, were 19th and 24th, respectively. Downhill Herbert Plank, the bronze medalist in the downhill at the 1976 Olympics but a forgotten man in this year's event, has reminded his competitors that he's a skier to be reckoned with. In the final training run Wednesday for the men's downhill, the 25-year-old Italian charged down the 3,009-meter course- in one minute, 43.91 seconds - more than a second faster than his nearest competitor and significantly better than any time recorded in the three-day practice session. Runnerup in Wednesday's training session was Peter Wirnsberger at 1:45.12. 1 "RONNY'S A hustler," said Piston Coach Richie Adubato. "He's aggressive. We're hoping to channel his aggression because he's a little over- aggressive." The most stirring event of the entire game occurred with 2:50 remaining in the first half, when the crowd of 5,437 began chanting "McAdoo! McAdoo!" The clamor was meant for forward Bob McAdoo, who reportedly had requested to be traded. McAdoo came off the bench and pop- ped in four of his 10 points. Afterwards he confessed he did not make any statement suggesting that he wanted to leave. "I DON'T know where those repor- ters got the idea that I wanted to play elsewhere," McAdoo said angrily. "I guess they're looking for things to write, because I never said that I wished to leave Detroit." The loss left the Pistons even deeper in the cellar of the NBA Central Division. 'Sweet Lou' tops brass DETROIT-The Detroit Tigers. received a harsh welcome to the realities of modern-day bargaining Wednesday when an arbitrator ruled in favor of second baseman Lou Whitaker instead of the baseball club. Meanwhile, Wednesday, another arbitrator heard the case of shortstop Alan Trammell in Chicago while, in cellar Detroit, first baseman Jason Thomspon-who also had filed for arbitration-signed his 1980 contract. Arbitration cases still are scheduled Feb. 22 for pitcher Mark Fidrych and Feb. 23 for leftfielder Steve Kemp. "THE TIGERS will certainly comply with the arbitrator's decision for Lou Whitaker," Tiger General Manager Jim Campbell said. "It's the same attitude as we had going in." The exact amount of the Whitaker settlement was unknown, but Whitaker's agent, Rick Brode, had said he was asking up to $125,000 for the young second baseman who was the 1978 rookie of the year. Whitaker's case was heard in Chicago on Tuesday by University of Michigan law professor Harry Edwards. Campbell, who also is president of the club, refused to comment further on the arbitration cases, however, saying he did not want to "influence the cases still scheduled." THE SIGNING of Thompson was not unexpected even though he tdo had filed for arbitration. The slugging first baseman slumped to a .248 batting average last season, hitting 20 home runs and driving in 79 runs. -AP Las Vegas is the place where people go when they want to have a good time... in style. EG&G Energy Measurements Group has made this action city our home. We found it an ideal spot for aggressive Engineers and Programmers to live the good life for experiencing de- manding career assignments. The climate is warm and the day perfect for waterskiing, golf and tennis. What- ever you need. Look into what's happening now at EG&G. Don't graduate without talking to the FAG&G re- cruiters. We'll be visiting your campus on Thursday, Feb. 21, 1980 to discuss these opportunities: ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS / FIBERS-OPTICS These assignments are involved with providing ex- pertise in areas such as lasers, fiber-optic transmis- sion,integrated optics and electrical optical A / D con- vertors. 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Familiarity with PDP-11 systems highly desirable. A BS degree rquired. Make an appointment today at your Placement Center to visit with us on Thursday, Feb. 21, 1980. If you won't be able to meet with us in person, we invite you to send your resume to the address be- low, or you. may call us COLLECT in Las Vegas at (702) 739-0501. Don't miss us while we're there. Be sure to sion your V I LWA.-04-1 orb &tq g EG&G In Las Vegas Will Give Your Career A Warm Feeling. four men's luge runs in the 1980 Winter. Olympics: Gunther, virtually unbeatable when the chips are down in the oldest winter sport, did not have an exceptional start but picked up time through the Labyrinth - a series of wriggles in the SCORES* NBA Cleveland 107, Detroit 102 Philadelphia 107, Utah 85 New Jersey 98, Indiana 96 Milwaukee 1l1, Chicago.101 NHL Detroit 2, Atlanta 2 I Buy 2 drinks for the price of one! Scheduled Events Winter Olympics a *~ W nterOlym ics Tues. Feb.12, 9-11pm 1 h wide screen TV -*Thurs. 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