Lerg is a breath of fresh air for Spartans

ST. LOUIS -- No one on Michigan State's hockey team was fazed. Jeff Lerg, least of all.

Fueled by a competitive fire that, at times, is as breathtaking as the asthma he's battled since age 4, Lerg simply reverted to what he's done all his life after allowing the University of Maine a pair of first-period goals in Thursday's Frozen Four semifinal at the Scottrade Center.

Michigan State's 5-foot-6-inch sophomore goaltender dug deep, fought back, and shut down the Black Bears in the remaining 56 minutes 36 seconds, making 24 of his 29 saves, to backstop the Spartans to a 4-2 victory and a berth in tonight's national championship game against Boston College.

"It's a little weird to see, but I knew for someone like him, he's so mentally tough it's unbelievable," said junior Bryan Lerg, who grew up across the street from his cousin, Jeff, in Livonia, Mich. "I knew it wouldn't faze him. I knew he'd be on top of his game the rest of the night.

"To tell you the truth, when [Maine] was up, 2-0, I was thinking, 'If they can score this quick, we can score two the rest of the game, for sure.' We stuck together as a team and I was really proud to see our team show a lot of character."

Especially from the goaltending position.

When it comes to Jeff Lerg, though, character has never been in short supply.

A construction management major with a 4.0 grade-point average, Lerg has set a daily example in the Michigan State locker room with his indefatigable work ethic, never allowing his condition to become an excuse to take a short cut.

"I've always demanded the best out of myself and I've always demanded to be an elite player," said Lerg, who played two years with the Omaha Lancers of the US Hockey League before committing to Michigan State, a decision that influenced his cousin, Bryan.

"I've grown up with a lot of great players on a lot of great teams, so I've always been fortunate that way," Jeff Lerg said. "So I never really let [his size and asthmatic condition] bother me because I try to make winning a part of my life and I try not to let anything bother that."

When he arrived at East Lansing, Mich., Jeff Lerg made an immediate impact, winning the respect and admiration of his teammates for all he had to go through with asthma to get on the ice. "He seems to have the effect of being able to have players want to play with him and for him," said Jeff's father, Ken Lerg, who played hockey at Ohio State from 1969-72. "Coach [Rick] Comley said in all his years of coaching he's never seen a freshman have such a big impact in the locker room as him, so that's a pretty big compliment."

Said Bryan Lerg, "For sure, he's the most competitive kid on our team. He's the first on the ice, last off the ice, fighting his asthma every day. He's got to do his inhaler, breathing nebulizer. It's unbelievable.

"It's interesting to see guys' reactions, but Jeff will just play it off like it's not even on," Bryan added. "He'll be there in the locker room, taping his stick with his nebulizer [mask] on, and guys will look at him like, 'What the heck is that?' He doesn't act like it's a big deal. It's a daily thing for him."

It's been that way since Jeff was diagnosed with asthma 17 years ago.

"He was about 4 years old and had trouble breathing one night," Ken Lerg recalled. "We took him to the hospital. He'd been wheezing and hacking and, obviously, as his parents, we thought he had a cold. But after four days, we took him to Children's Hospital in Detroit and had him diagnosed."

When he was growing up, Lerg never allowed asthma to hinder him from playing soccer, baseball, and hockey. It was just another thing he had to deal with before he engaged in athletic competition. He never allowed it to set him back. "Not at all," Bryan Lerg said. "It may have ended his street hockey games a couple of minutes short, but that's about it."

That's when his mother, Jane, would make sure Jeff was doing his treatments six times a day.

"I'd go from the soccer field to a breathing machine, and then right to the baseball diamond for a game," Jeff said. "When it was a hockey night, I'd go right from soccer to hockey. My parents helped me all the time. By the time I got to hockey, I was used to it. I'd do the breathing machine in the car on the way, and it was on to the next sport."

Ken Lerg laughed at the recollection of how his son attended every soccer practice, but begged out of games because it conflicted with his weekend hockey schedule.

"He had to be the only kid in town who went to every single soccer practice, but couldn't play the games on the weekends," Ken said with a chuckle. "He made every practice but he'd tell the coach, 'Hey, I've got a hockey game this weekend, so I can't play the game, but I'll see you at practice.' He practiced like crazy.

"It was a running joke with the coaching staff that they'd always hear excuses from kids who couldn't practice during the week but would be ready to rock and roll on the weekend in the games," he added. "Jeff went the whole year and played in just two games, but he never missed a practice. His coaches, to this day, still crack up when they talk to him about it."

It gave a glimpse into Lerg's sense of commitment.

Now that he has helped guide the Spartans (25-13-3) to their fifth appearance in the national championship game, and first since 1987, Lerg is committed to stopping BC's Nathan Gerbe, a high-flying 5-6 sophomore winger from Oxford, Mich., who had two goals and two assists in Thursday's 6-4 victory over North Dakota.

"Oh yeah, they have a lot of speed and a lot of offensive talent," said Lerg, who played youth hockey with Gerbe in Michigan. "So I'm going to have to be at my best to give our team a chance to win, I know that. It's going to be a tough challenge for us."

Tough challenges? Jeff Lerg has never been fazed by those.

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.