Coach Red Is Beyond Awesome

Submitted by User -not THAT user on

...but we already knew that.  I've read stories of him skating in practice with the team and taking slap shots to the chest with minimal (if any) effect, so reading stories like this doesn't really surprise me:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/red-berenson-always-coaching-even-while-playing-alumni-211913720--nhl.html

Hockey is my favorite sport...it is, as Gordie Howe once said, "a man's game".  And as much as I love the football program at Michigan, hockey is just so much dearer to me, and Coach Red is a big reason why.  Reading stuff like this is a reminder of just how special the man is and how I am REALLY going to miss him when he decides to hang up the whistle.

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LSAClassOf2000

January 2nd, 2014 at 1:42 PM ^

I had to chuckle at the end there when he said he was looking for some guys his own age on the Leafs alumni team. Great little writeup though, and nice to see him taking a little of the coach in him to the Alumni Game as well. He will be very much missed when he retires - someone will take over the program someday, but I don't think you replace a guy like Red Berenson. 

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130608

tybert

January 2nd, 2014 at 2:13 PM ^

I was in school, actually living across the street from Yost at the time, during his 1st season. Remember thinking that he was a great guy but UM hockey had been down (both in performance and from a memorable hazing) and wasn't sure if this was a "Michigan" hire that would work out.

Went to a game that 1st season with Sparty friends during a fricking snowstorm, when we got smoked at home by MSU, which was elite team at the time

Just amazed and damn proud of what this guy has done!

Joined: 11/17/2008

MGoPoints: 8454

Sten Carlson

January 2nd, 2014 at 3:10 PM ^

As a an alum of both Michigan and many a Red's hockey camp in the summer, I couldn't have more respect for Coach Berenson.  The man had the greatest backhand ever -- when he shot it that puck would whistle and the snap it made on the twine when it hit put even my hardest slap-shot to shame.  I remember him showing us how to throw a hip check, no pads, just skates, gloves and a stick -- woe be to the poor sap kid that had to try to get by him down the boards.  Dude was tough as nails.  Lots of great times spent inside Yost as a fan, a camper, and a player.

Great coach, great player, great Michigan man!

Joined: 11/16/2009

MGoPoints: -56

Bando Calrissian

January 2nd, 2014 at 5:26 PM ^

About five years ago at the Alumni Game, Red was playing in the seniors game on a line with Bob Nystrom (Eric's dad, won a bunch of Cups with the Islanders, etc.). Watching the two of them play together was damn near close to magical. They were seeing the game on a whole different level than everyone else, anticipating passes and plays before anyone on the ice. Together they accounted for like five goals. And Red was pushing 70 and Nystrom was in his late 50s. I've never seen anything like it.

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 68117