Thursday, October 15, 2015
FACEOFF 2015
5C
Thursday, October 15, 2015
FACEOFF 2015
4C
All roads lead back to
Ann Arbor, Berenson
for former players
By KEVIN SANTO
Daily Sports Writer
It’s early October, but the sound
of a hockey player’s symphony still
echoes through Yost Ice Arena.
Skates scratch over the fresh ice,
sticks clack against the puck, hollers
of approval ring after finding twine.
But on this day, the symphony’s
orchestrators aren’t members of the
Michigan hockey team. Instead, the
melody is produced by members of
the coaching staff — an ensemble of
former Wolverines who have hung
up their skates in exchange for a
whistle and clipboard.
Even when the team has a day
off from skating, the coaching staff
relishes the opportunity to play on
the ice where they once molded
their own careers.
“We’re hoping to make it a
weekly event,” said undergraduate
assistant coach Mike Komisarek.
“Get a little competition going
between ourselves, and we all love
being out there.”
Added
associate
head
coach
Billy Powers: “I think Fridays,
we’re gonna try to get out and start
reliving the old days.”
The “old days” for each coach —
Powers, Komisarek, assistant coach
Brian Wiseman, goaltending coach
Steve Shields and undergraduate
director of player development L.J.
Scarpace — compose the timeline
of the program’s evolution during
head coach Red Berenson’s tenure.
And above all else, the unique
coaching staff comprised entirely
of
former
Michigan
players
symbolizes one thing: No matter the
different paths their lives may take,
all roads have led back to Berenson,
in what could be his final season as
Michigan’s head coach.
***
Powers was the first coach to take
the road back to Ann Arbor, when
he remained with the club at the
conclusion of his collegiate career
in 1988.
A member of Berenson’s first
recruiting class in 1985, prior to the
program’s dominance in the 1990s
and early 2000s, Powers signed up
to represent the Wolverines at a
time when “guys had been so used
to losing.”
Michigan compiled a 41-70-2
record in the three years leading up
to his commitment.
But the record didn’t matter to
him. His coach did. In retrospect,
the first thing he recalls about
that time was Berenson’s drive
and determination to establish a
standard of excellence.
For Berenson’s first five years,
Powers witnessed his coach set out
on a recruiting mission, traveling to
Toronto and getting back at 3 a.m.
for a practice the next day. All along,
he knew Berenson would get it
done. It was that drive that brought
Powers back to stay years later.
His passion and confidence were
infectious, and Powers came down
with every symptom.
“I was always like, ‘Man, he cares
more than half our team does.’ I was
so impressed with how he attacked
it,” Powers said. “I remember that
part, and through the good things
and mostly the bad things because
we were losing, he never wavered. It
wasn’t a big secret. Red was all into
it. He was gonna turn this program
around. There was no question in
his mind.”
As both a player and a graduate
assistant coach in 1988 and 1989,
Powers watched as the influx of
freshmen
followed
Berenson,
each year the quality of players
improving.
Powers’ prophecy that Berenson
would change things in Ann Arbor
came true, as the Wolverines
improved to 116-81-14 in the five
years after his freshman season.
Though Powers left Michigan
with former Michigan assistant
coach Larry Pedrie for a two-
year coaching stint at Illinois-
Chicago, his positive memories
drew him back to Yost for good —
an attraction he’s highlighted as
one of the main reasons so many
former players have returned.
“(For) the majority of players
that leave, this was the best
time,” Powers said. “This was
where I learned the most, where
I had the most fun. This is where
I evolved. You’re kinda drawn
back to where things have been
really good for you, where you
feel you’ve grown the most as a
person.”
For Powers, the opportunity
to come back has been special.
Once a piece of Berenson’s
earliest recruiting efforts to turn
the program around, Powers
now plays his own part, pushing
the program far past the times
of the losing seasons that he
remembered.
He
coached
players
like
Wiseman,
Shields
and
Komisarek, who catapulted the
Wolverines to an era of glory
featuring 22 straight NCAA
tournament appearances.
He watched as they all made
the pilgrimage back to Yost
to invigorate the present-day
roster. Now entering his 23rd
season as a member of the staff,
Powers coaches alongside them,
ensuring that Michigan never
returns to the dark days when
losing was the norm.
***
After
Powers
came
L.J.
Scarpace, the second to return to
coach at Michigan.
He entered Yost for the first
time when it was a mecca for
college hockey, an antithesis of
the program that existed before
Powers’ playing career.
Upon
Scarpace’s
arrival,
Berenson had already established
his vision for supremecy. The
Wolverines were coming off of
two
national
championships
in three years, and Berenson
no longer needed to foster his
players’ desire to win. The
Wolverines’ winning pedigree
did that itself.
“I
remember
feeling
so
fortunate to be part of the
program, and the feeling of
expectation, whether it was the
fans’ or whether it was coach
and his expectations for you as a
student-athlete,” Scarpace said.
“We had a feeling those years
that I was here that we gotta
keep this thing going. These are
big expectations, and nobody
wanted to let the fans and the
program down.”
Scarpace was a goaltender on
teams that earned CCHA titles
and Frozen Four berths in 2000
and 2001, respectively. He spent
a year playing professionally in
the East Coast Hockey League
but, like Powers, answered the
call back to Michigan in 2004
to become the team’s video
coordinator.
Though he knew that Berenson
advocated for his former players
to find their own paths outside
of hockey, he couldn’t shake the
recollections of what his coach
did for him during his college
years.
Scarpace never forgot the role
Berenson played in developing
him, not just on the ice, but
as a young adult. This ignited
a passion to pass those same
lessons on to current players.
After being appointed director
of player development in 2014,
Scarpace now leaves the same
lasting impact on players that
Berenson left with him.
While he does influence the
players’ success on the ice, he
more
directly
cherishes
the
chance to help develop players in
the classroom, preparing them for a
life after they let go of the game they
love.
As Scarpace mentors young men,
not just hockey players, he never
forgets the lessons he learned from
his former coach.
“Coach used to joke with me
when I first started back here, and
I was video coordinator for many
years. He would tease me and say,
‘Well maybe you should be paying
us, you’re getting a master’s degree
in coaching,’ ” Scarpace said. “I’d
laugh, but that’s how I feel. … It’s
helped me now (with) what I’m
doing, I know I’m more prepared
to do it now than I’ve ever been,
because of being around Coach.”
***
The legacy Scarpace stepped
into during his collegiate career
was partly built by Wiseman and
Shields.
The two lifelong friends were
roommates
as
Wolverines.
As
members of the program’s golden
age, their times at Michigan were
the fruits of Berenson and Powers’
labor.
They both made appearances
in the 1992 and 1993 Frozen
Fours,
laying
the
groundwork
before the Wolverines’ national
championships in 1996 and 1998
that Scarpace narrowly missed
being a part of.
Those
are
the
teams
that
Wiseman envisions for this program
going forward.
Berenson
and
Powers’
expectations
for
success
and
Wiseman’s
own
collegiate
experience
have
become
like
gasoline thrown on the fire, fueling
a belief that the program should be
nothing short of the greatness that
was celebrated in the ’90s.
“To look back now, we were part
of a pretty good era. … After our
class left in 1994, they took another
step forward with the two national
championships,”
Wiseman
said.
“We’re trying to build and get that
back. Tight teams, close teams,
worked very hard, respected one
another on and off the ice. But
pushed one another as well. I think
our team has the makings of that
type of mindset and team frame.”
Wiseman, a Hobey Baker finalist
in 1993, led Michigan in scoring
with 19 goals and 50 assists, while
Shields was the first goalie in NCAA
history to reach 100 wins.
Both spent time in the National
Hockey League, but they had
very different paths back to the
Wolverines’ coaching staff.
Wiseman’s professional career
was derailed by concussions, and
when that struggle presented itself,
the first person he turned to was
Berenson.
He returned to Michigan to coach
while rehabbing the injury in hopes
of being able to play professionally
again, but in two years, he was
never cleared by doctors.
Two years later, with a young
daughter and a wife back in Texas,
Wiseman gave up coaching to be
with his family and entered the oil
and gas business back in Houston
for roughly eight years.
Then came the itch — the same
itch that Powers and Scarpace felt
after leaving Berenson behind in
Ann Arbor.
He spent the next year as an
assistant coach under Mike Yeo in
the NHL minor leagues.
Then Berenson answered the call
again.
Former
Michigan
associate
head coach Mel Pearson had just
accepted a head coaching position at
Michigan Tech, and, in Berenson’s
eyes, Wiseman was the man to fill
the open position.
His wife and family gave their
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Associate head coach Billy Powers was the first member of Michigan’s staff to return as an assistant after his playing career.
Back for
Berenson
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Goaltending coach Steve Shields (left) has reconnected with fellow coaches, including Wiseman (right), his former teammate with whom he eats dinner almost every night.
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Undergraduate assistant coach Mike Komisarek returned to Michigan for his degree and then stayed on Red Berenson’s staff.
See HOCKEY, Page 6C
“I was always
like, ‘Man, he
cares more than
half our team.’ ”