Michigan - Penn State: Open Thread

Part of me wishes that Red would have retired after making the title game a few years ago. There is something to be said about going out on or near the top. And if we had taken care of Duluth, I think he would have called it a career. That being said, I do feel like Red should be allowed to stay as long as he wants to. The man is a living legend. Not just in college hockey, but across the entire sport. He should and hopefully will have a statue outside Yost someday. I know Michigan doesn't usually do things like that, but I think they should make an exception for Red. I'm hoping he knows when to retire and maybe that should be now, but I don't want to force him out the door either.

We need to root for Colgate, Cornell and Minnesota State to lose and hope for no major upsets.  I think the best we can do is a 4 seed. 

Apologies for the long post with thoughts about Red Berenson's decision to stay or leave.

After yesterday's loss to Penn State, I'm thinking of another former college hockey power whose program hasn’t been as strong as it was in the 1990s. They had a legendary coach who probably had outlived his shelf life behind the bench a few years before he retired. But he was a legend, so it would’ve been hard to let him go, unless it was on his own terms.

In the 16 seasons from 1997-98 through 2012-13, that school missed the NCAA Tournament in seven seasons and made the Frozen Four only once. Outside of that one year in the Frozen Four, the team's NCAA tournament record in those 16 seasons was 3-8.

But that one trip to the Frozen Four undoubtedly bought the coach a few more seasons behind the bench, though it might have been understandable had Boston University’s Jack Parker decided to go out on top after his team’s miracle 2008-09 season in which they’d won seven of the seven trophies they’d competed for, including the NCAA championship. They’d also had the Hobey Baker winner as one of their captains that season.

Boston University’s rink is named after Parker, and he’s still considered to be one of college hockey’s all-time great coaches, but his teams missed the NCAA tournament in three of the four seasons after they’d won it all in that epic wild finish in Washington, D. C. in April 2009. He coached for 40 seasons at BU, but called it quits last year. He turned 69 years old this month, and he’s being honored by Hockey East this weekend when he becomes the first Hockey East coach to be awarded the Hockey East Founders Medal for his service to the league.

Red Berenson will become 75 years old in December. Yet he still skates with NHL legends when they play those NHL and Michigan alumni games. Like Jack Parker, Red Berenson is one of college hockey’s legendary coaches. Three years ago, Berenson came very close to accomplishing what Parker had done at the Frozen Four in 2009. An NCAA championship was in Michigan’s grasp, but that overtime loss to Minnesota-Duluth destroyed the dreams.

If the disappointment of the past two seasons isn’t enough to convince Red Berenson to end his illustrious coaching career at Michigan, then who’s going to be the one to force him to step aside?

If Red Berenson considers what happened to Jack Parker’s teams after the 2009 Frozen Four, then he might have good reason to walk away from coaching, but if he does so, the loss could be devastating and the pain excruciating for Michigan.

After Parker stepped down a year ago, former BU captain and All-Hockey East defenseman David Quinn replaced him. Quinn had coached for several years with the USA National Development Program in Ann Arbor. He’d been an assistant with the Colorado Avalanche when BU hired him, and he was Parker’s assistant during that 2008-09 championship season. Yet this season, thanks to departures and key injuries, BU suffered its worst season in 50 years. They won only ten games, and four of them resulted from weekend sweeps in the first and last weekends of the season, so they won only six games from mid-October to early March and only one game on the road (their last regular season game.)

I've suggested in other threads that if Red Berenson decides to step aside as Michigan's hockey coach, then Michigan could consider replacing him with John Hynes, another BU alum with connections to the US National Development Program, college coaching expereince at Wisconsin and UMass-Lowell, and currently in his fourth season as head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins' top affiliate.  But I think that the decision about Red Berenson's future behind the Michigan bench probably deserves to be made only by him.

Wins by Cornell or Colgate ( either one) and Minnesota state all but take us out.

 

If both Colgate and Cornell lose and Minnesota State wins and no suprises from any other teams - were in

 

If colgate and Cornell both win you want Cornell to win their conference tourney if Minneosta state loses their first game

 

the best thing is having all 3 lose their first game,

 

We can still make the tourney if Cornell won their conference tourney over colgate if Minnesota state loses their first game , and no other surprise teams get in.

 

So root for Union and Quinnipac..