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THE MICHIGAN DAILY
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1961
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By TOM WEMBERy first game, "We took to long clear- to a season that would find them against Minnesota on the Gophers
it looked :like it would be a long ing the puck from our own end battling right to the final gun for home ground for the right to go
season as the Michigan defense- and made too many mistakes" If second place in the WCHA. to the NCAA playoffs.
men vainly tried to clear the puck there was a bright spot in the First place belonged to a Den- It was a Just end to a long ac-
from the onrushing Toronto for- game it was the play of Gordon ver powerhouse which finished tion packed season, for the two
wards as the Wolverine icers ab- "Red" Berenson. Great things had league play with only one loss. Sec- Big Ten foes had been feuding all
sorbed a 4-3 defeat in their open- been predicted of the second-se- and place finally went to Minne- season.
Ing game. mester sophomore and he showed sota after much heated action both The controversy began way back
;That was way back in early the home crowd why with two on and off the ice, in the beginning of the season
December, 1960, and Toronto was goals within 2:20 of the first per- The sophomore-studded Wo- when Minnesota finally came up
supposed to be the weakest op- iod and his exciting rink length verines finished WCHA play with with a successful team after many
ponent on a schedule which in- rushes. a very respectable 13-8-1 won-lost ears of failure. At the end of the
cluded four games with each of But as dismal as that first ap- record which was enough to nose previous season, Gopher head
he other six teams in the West- pearance ofthe season was, so Michigan Tech out for third place coach John Marucci had some-
ern Collegiate Hockey Association. the second game was a complete by a few percentage points- how managed to avoid scheduling
Coach Al Renfrew had been a reversal. With sophomore goal- thanks to the tie game. And it the customary four games with
little worried about his defense, tender Dave Butts gaining a shut- took a head-on clash with the Denver. And since the WCHA
with only John Palenstein and out in his first varsity appearance Huskies in the frozen north on standings are figured on a per-
Bernie Nielsen back along with the (veteran Jim Coyle had worked the next-to-last weekend of the centage basis and Minnesota had
seldom-used Tom Wilson. Gone~ the first night) and the defense- season to accomplish the feat, probably saved itself from four
was all - American defenseman men playing like time tested vet- Michigan went into Houghton losses, the Gophers figured to be
Bobbie Watt via graduation. The erans, the Wolverines easily gain- needing three wins out of its re- tough from the start.
fourth member of the rear guard' ed a 4-0 win. maining four games to assure a American Squad
was sophomore Don Rogers, and Leads Attack third place finish. Renfrew decided This might not have been so bad
he along with the other three had Berenson again led the attack to shake u his lines for the im- were it not for one other small
a bad night in that opening loss, with two goals and an assist to portant first game and the move matter-the Minnesota team was
Renfrew commented after that start the Wolverines on their way paid off with a 4-2 victory. The composed of all Americans but one.
Huskies, however, stormed back Lest this seem unstartling may it
with a 6-1 win, be pointed out that the rest of
Win Two the teams were almost totally
Michigan won its last two games composed of Canadians.
from that old nemesis Michigan The whole affair came to a
State, but couldn't catch second head in January, when Michigan
"place Minnesota. traveled to Minnesota for a fiery
" So Michigan settled for third two game set with the then un-
" place to enter the playoffs. In the beaten Gophers.
WCHA playoffs, the second and With the local referees favor-
II F third place teams, and the first ing the quieter American style of
II I~ and fourth place teams square off hockey, the Wolverines were callei
L F i w gm1Fie.Adbohfrtwlepnate[o w o
games are played on the home ice Minnesota, and the Gophers took
NORTHUNIVESITYof the first and second place fin- the first game 4-2. The Saturday
ishers. So this matched Michigan morning papers carried quotes
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from the referees as saying that
the Michigan hockey players were
the "dirtiest and most vicious"
they had ever seen.
An angry Michigan team took
the ice in the second game and
roared on to win, by a 4-2 score.
Berenson was the big gun in the
win as he managed a hat trick.
His final goal, coming with two
seconds left in the game into an
empty net, caused a near riot.
As soon as the final buzzer
sounded the Minnesota bench
hopped onto the ice and headed
for Berenson. The Wolverines
counter-attacked and things real-
ly got hot. Then as the Michigan
team attempted to get back to the
dressing room the 8,000-plus
crowd got into the act and a police
escort was required.
The first game showed no new
script as the Wolverines, hamp-
ered by penalties bowed 3-1. It was
the big one to win since the win-
ner of the playoff was determined
on a total-goals-scored basis.
Manage Tie
Needing to win by a two goal
death, Michigan could only man-
age a 3-3 tie and Minnesota won
by a 6-4 goal count, and gain the
right to meet Denver for the first
time.
Denver had scored an almost
incredible 224 goals, an - average
of eight goals a game, in compil-
ing a 26-1 record.
To make a long story short,
Denver easily defeated Minnesota
and St. Lawrence to take the
NCAA crown and prove that Ren-
frew was right when he called
Denver the "best college hockey
team I have ever seen."
What about next season? The
top teams once again will be Den-
ver, Michigan Tech, Minnesota
and Michigan.
Minnesota loses only four play-
ers from last year's team, and one
of those was a substitute goalie.
The biggest thing going for the
Gophers will once again be the
schedule. Not only do they not
play Denver this year, but now
they will not .play Michigan. The
series was discontinued by the ath-
letic directors of the two schools
due to the fireworks of last year's
games.
Michigan should have an even
better team than last year. The
always dependable Coyle is gone,
but in Butts the Wolverines have
a seasoned goaltender.
Lose Captain
The biggest loss is Captain Dale
MacDonald, who signed a pro
contract with the Chicago Black
Hawks at the end of the semester.
The only other losses are defense-
men Tom Wilson and the oft-in-
jured Pat Cushing.
Returning are Michigan's three
top goal scorers from last year,
Berenson, who was named to the
All-American squad, Larry Bab-
cock and Al Hinnegan. Babcock
was a very promising sophomore
star last year. Back from the de-
fense are captain-elect Palenstein,
Rogers and Lunghamer.
jThere is one black cloud in
the future, however. Due to an
NCAA age limit, Michigan may
lose the services of Palenstein and
Lunghamer. As of August 1 their
status was still in doubt.
COVER-UP JOB--Sophomore goalie Dave Butts covers up £alt
loose puck in front of the Michigan nets in a game wit* the
Michigan Tech Huskies. Butts wvill have the nets to himself this
year, after sharing them last season° with senior Jim Coyle.
HIGH STICKS--Standout forward Larry Babcock raises sticks with a South Dakota player in
front of the Michigan crease as goalie Jim Coyle falls to the ice for a save.
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