8 — Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Berenson revived ‘M’ with family atmosphere

R

ed Berenson was 
Michigan hockey.

For the last 33 

seasons, he has been the 
Wolverines’ head coach. And 
before that, Berenson tallied 
43 goals in his senior season at 
Michigan in 1961-62. That total 
still stands 
today as the 
most goals 
in a season 
in Wolverine 
history. 

After his 

collegiate 
playing 
career, 
Berenson 
immediately 
moved to the NHL, competing 
in the 1962 playoffs with the 
Montreal Canadiens the same 
season.

It was the start of a long 

20-year professional hockey 
career for Berenson. And after 
that ended, he bounced around 
the NHL, coaching in St. Louis 
and as an assistant in Buffalo, 
before finding himself back in 
Ann Arbor as the head coach at 
his alma mater.

But on Tuesday, that will no 

longer be the case.

In his time at the helm of 

the Wolverines, Berenson has 
grown to legendary status in 
the hockey community. He has 
led Michigan to two NCAA 
Championships, 11 Frozen Four 
appearances and 11 CCHA 
Championships as well as a 
streak of 22-straight NCAA 
Tournament appearances from 
1991-2012.

But that’s not what Berenson 

is most proud of.

Two days after winning 

the Stanley Cup with the 
Canadiens in 1965, Berenson 
began taking classes in the 
business school at Michigan. 
He claims that was the best day 
of his life, trumping both the 
victory with the Canadiens and 
the championship parade that 

followed.

It was the first sign of the 

family atmosphere he would 
eventually try to build, as the 
University and its students felt 
like a family to him.

The effect the degree has 

had on him is evident, as he 
now preaches the importance 
of academics to all of his 
players. But it isn’t the only 
value he’s instilled in them.

“One of the biggest things 

I’ve taken away from Red 
is that you’re going to treat 
people with respect,” said 
former goaltender Shawn 
Hunwick, who played under 
Berenson from 2007-12. 
“You’re going to do things the 
right way. You’re going to do 
it day in and day out, and it’s 
going to shape who you are as 
a person.

“And for me, (the) thing 

about not being a ‘hockey 
bum’ and life after hockey — I 
only played one year after 
Michigan. I decided that 
Michigan was the pinnacle of 
my playing career and I wanted 
to move on, and I took his 
advice to heart. 
He helps mold 
great, young 
men who play 
in the NHL, but 
more so the guys 
who go off into 
the work force 
and in family 
life.”

Over the last 

year, Berenson 
was asked 
to be a guest 
speaker in Classic Civilizations 
Professor Chris Potter’s course 
at the University, where he 
discussed his entire career.

He wanted to leave a lasting 

impression on the class, 
especially since there were 
so many student athletes in 
attendance, so he gave them a 
bit of advice.

“I think the clearest thing 

he said to everybody is don’t 
count on sports,” Potter said. 
“… I think it was very powerful 
to see someone who’d been 
as successful in the athletic 
arena speaking out to athletes 
and others saying, ‘You really 
have to plan your life, and you 
have to try to excel at whatever 
it is that you’re doing. Not to 
simply say to yourself that I’m 
this great hockey player or 
whatever, but that the values I 
bring to the rink are the values 
I bring to everything else.’ ”

Berenson’s impact was seen 

Monday in his last moments as 
head coach. Along with local 
media outlets and current 
team players, multiple former 
players and various other 
Michigan coaches stood in 
the Junge Family Champions 
Center for his farewell press 
conference.

One of those in attendance 

was men’s basketball coach 
John Beilein. Beilein came 
to support his colleague, and 
his respect for Berenson was 
apparent.

“I usually go to one game a 

year,” Beilein 
said. “It’s 
unfortunate that 
our schedules 
cross over so 
much. We were 
rarely able to 
attend each 
other’s events. 
He’s come to 
my practices, 
I’ve been to his 
games. I just 
think there’s 

a great crossover in just the 
same values.

“… Here’s one thing that 

resonates that he told us: 
‘Practice like you’re in second 
place, and then play like you’re 
in first place.’ I just said it to 
my team before we went to the 
tournament, when we had all 
the success.”

The reason that Berenson 

has earned so much respect 
all around the University is 
not just because of his success 
on the ice. It’s because of how 
much he loves the University 
itself.

Berenson came back to 

the University 
looking to 
cultivate 
a family 
atmosphere in 
his program. 
Monday, as 
he reflected 
on his time 
at Michigan, 
he considers 
his attempt a 
success.

“I want this 

to be a big 
family,” Berenson said. “I want 
the players to feel like this is 
family. Even the guys I came to 
school with in the late (1950s), 
we’re still the best of friends 
and we stay in touch. I think 
it’s a big Michigan family, and 
we tried to establish that. One 
of my first problems coming 
back was to get the alumni 
back on board. … They’re back, 
and I feel good about that.”

Ironically enough, though, 

one of the most prominent 
examples of Berenson’s 
family atmosphere is a player 
he’s only coached for one 
season — freshman forward 
Will Lockwood, who was the 
second-leading scorer on the 
team with 20 points.

Lockwood came to Michigan 

32 years after his father, Joe 
Lockwood, who played on 
the first Berenson-coached 
Michigan team. For Joe, the 
opportunity for his son to play 
on a team coached by a man 
who had brought him so many 
life lessons was something he 
relished.

“I wanted Will to have a 

chance — I’m glad he got one 
year, I’ll just say that,” the 
elder Lockwood said. “Red’s 

more than just a coach. He’s all 
about the University, he’s about 
the hockey, he’s just a great 
representative of the athletic 
department. I’m glad my kid 
had a chance to play for him for 
one year anyway.”

Joe Lockwood 

isn’t alone in 
his sentiment. 
It’s one that 
is considered 
the norm for 
anyone who 
has played for 
Berenson, and 
for as important 
as he’s been 
to Michigan 
hockey, his 
legend reaches 
far beyond the 

ice. He’s taught the people 
around him life lessons that 
they’ll take with them for the 
rest of their lives.

Whether it’s coaches who 

have been alongside him 
through the years, players 
who have learned from him 
or students who have simply 
observed his teams, there is an 
indelible mark that Berenson 
has left on the University.

For him to be gone now is 

going to be hard for many to 
swallow.

“For me, it gives you an 

idea that the people that 
believe in you and that stood 
behind you, that they’re not 
always going to be there,” said 
Michigan goaltending coach 
Steve Shields. “When I think 
of what’s important to me in 
my life, Michigan hockey is 
just about number one. Not 
having Coach there and having 
the coach be somebody I don’t 
know, you think about it, and 
you want to be a part of it, but 
it’s sad that things like that 
have to happen.”

Added Hunwick: “Coach 

talked about his best day of 
his life being when he was in 
class at Michigan. … But the 

best day of my life was when 
Coach said I can come play at 
the University of Michigan. … I 
was giving up hockey because 
I was coming to be a third 
goalie. Coach told me, ‘You’re 
going to be a good teammate, 
you’re going to be a member of 
this team, you’re going to have 
to be a good student. He is a 
legend. I’m a walk-on, third-
string goalie, and he treats us 
like the Hobey Baker winner. … 
He’s the same guy to everybody 
in the room.”

Berenson was Michigan 

hockey. Tuesday, he won’t be 
anymore.

But the mark Berenson left 

is permanent. He has built 
an atmosphere where former 
players are willing to send 
their highly-touted sons to play 
for him. It’s an atmosphere 
where alumni of the program 
are willing to come back at 
the drop of a hat to support 
another former player who is 
suffering from ALS.

Berenson is one of the most 

well-respected, living figures 
in hockey. The day before 
announcing his retirement 
he joined other legends of the 
game in commemorating the 
closing of Joe Louis Arena, 
where he coached the first 
game played there with the St. 
Louis Blues.

Berenson said himself 

Monday, it’s time for the 
program to go in another 
direction, and he may have a 
point. But Berenson and his 
accomplishments won’t be 
forgotten anytime soon.

He and his teams have 

inspired fans to continue to 
pack Yost Ice Arena despite the 
up-and-down teams in recent 
years.

But the reason the fans keep 

coming back is the atmosphere 
that Berenson has worked so 
hard to cultivate in the last 33 
years, and for that, Michigan 
will always owe him gratitude. 

tallied double hat tricks as a 

forward for the St. Louis Blues, 
because we forgot to bring it up.

As he walked out, Red mentioned 

this to us. Beat writers had always 
asked him about the Nov. 7 
anniversary, and we hadn’t. 

This was Red. He could’ve 

lectured us or said nothing, even 
let ego cloud the lesson. But he 
knew we were young and he 
knew we were learning and so he 
instead decided to teach us about 
diligence and research in his own, 
gracious way. I’ll be hard pressed 
to ever cover a coach that generous 
again.

Michael Florek, 2009-11: In two 

years of covering Red Berenson’s 
hockey teams (2009-10 and 2010-
11), I, like most Daily reporters 
covering the team, spent almost 
every day in the lounge outside of 
the hockey offices talking with Red 
for 15 minutes or so.

In me and my beatmates’ time 

with Red, we talked about hockey, 
but we also talked about the 
journalism industry, his playing 
days, and how to find good pucks by 
smelling them. We learned a lot of 
lessons there. Some of them we’ve 
already forgotten, but I’ll never 
forget the musk ox protective circle 
because of him.

One day, early in the season, 

we asked about Michigan’s next 
opponent, 
Alaska 
Fairbanks. 

Fairbanks was famous for not 
allowing many goals. When we 
asked 
about 
(this), 
Berenson 

initially did the usual coachspeak. 
Then, he stopped. I’m not sure if 
he sensed we didn’t understand or 
had just been watching National 
Geographic, but he asked us if we 
knew what musk ox were.

He explained they were long-

haired, bison-looking animals that 
lived in the arctic.

When they sense a threat, they 

form a circle around their young 
and forced their attacker to try to 
break through.

Alaska did that, but around their 

net.

We left the lounge that day 

both with more clarity on Alaska 
Fairbanks’ defensive system and a 
better understanding of the natural 
world.

Mark Burns, 2009-11: “Who 

wrote the Louie column?” Red 
Berenson casually asked as we 
began our usually after-practice-
interview-sessions upstairs at Yost 
Ice Arena, with Berenson carrying 
his customary coffee mug and 
plopping in the same blue chair.

I had written a column midway 

through 2009-10 season in January, 
basically asking where was then-
junior forward Louie Caporusso’s 
production on the ice. It was 

pretty scathing in hindsight. And 
yet, Caporusso made me eat my 
words six weeks later as I wrote an 
apology column to him. Berenson 
was referencing the latter column 
that March.

After a few moments of silence, I 

slowly raised my hand and without 
words he knew. “Good...good...
good,” I can remember hearing him 
saying back. “Ok, first question...”

Yes, it was one singular moment 

in two years of the covering the 
Michigan hockey team, but you 
knew how much Berenson cared 
about his players based on that, 
albeit brief, exchange. He was 
sharp as a whit despite being 
around 70 at the time — and still is, 
I’m sure of it.

I think he appreciated, more 

than anything, the Daily hockey 
beat writers’ commitment to their 
craft and covering the team at 
nearly every single game, even 
if it meant a 48-hour excursion 
to New Hampshire and back for, 
yes, one measly game against a 
non-conference foe. He knew we 
were dedicated, even giving us 
the occasional shoutout at press 
conferences at Joe Louis Arena in 
front of 20 other media members 
who only covered the team during 
big games.

So with that, enjoy retirement, 

Coach Berenson. Thanks for the 
memories and being able to sit 
with you for those interviews after 

practice. Those were pretty special.

Andy Reid, 2007-08: My first 

major beat at The Daily was the 
hockey team. The first time I met 
Red, he walked into the hockey 
office after practice in his socks, 
sipping a coffee. He sat in his cushy 
recliner and looked expectantly at 
us. I’ve never been more intimidated 
in my life.

But Red went out of his way to 

make the student writers at the 
Daily feel at home. He understood 
we were learning to be professionals, 
just like his players. He saw me 
walking home from a post-practice 
press conference once, pulled over 
and said, “Get in.” Not a question. 
Not a suggestion. And gave me a ride 
home and asked about my studies 
and life. He was stern, but he cared. 
About Michigan, not just the team.

Red, I’m sorry I wore a green hat 

into your office that one time. I’ll 
never do it again. But thank you for 
allowing me, however briefly and 
tangentially, to be involved in your 
career. There will never be another 
one like you.

Nathan Sandals, 2007-08: It’s 

hard to pinpoint any particular 
story, but I will never forget the 
weekend Bo Schembechler died, 
the hockey team was at Ferris State. 
It was all hands on deck at the Daily 
for a special Saturday edition, so 
no one from the hockey beat was 
at the game on Friday night. After 
the game on Saturday night (during 
which another Michigan team lost 
by three points in Columbus) we 
went to Red’s press conference. “I 
don’t think I saw any of you guys 
last night,” Red said to me and 
my beat mate, with a mischievous 
smile. He was busting our chops 
a little bit, but as a beat writer, we 
knew he appreciated our work and 
even when he gave us grief (which 
happened from time to time), he 
was always generous with his time 
and cared to see that student writers 
had every chance to succeed as they 
learned their trade.

One other point: Red was not 

my professor, but I spent at least 15 
minutes a day in his office hours for 
two years. I’m grateful to have had 
the opportunity to learn from one of 
the greatest teachers of hockey and 
life that the University has ever had.

James Dowd, 2005-07: Having 

followed Michigan hockey from a 
young age, it was an intimidating 
experience to come face to face 
with Coach Berenson for the first 
time at the GLI during the 2004-

05 season while filling in on the 
hockey beat. Over the next two 
seasons with The Daily and the 
following years with Inside College 
Hockey, the nervousness subsided 
and I was lucky enough to learn 
a vast amount about the game, 
both on and off the record, from 
Red. Chatting in his office after 
practice, press conferences or phone 
conversations, Red always required 
you to be prepared and be your best 
and made all of us who covered 
Michigan hockey better journalists 
by coaching us to be students of 
the game. I’ve always admired 
the deep relationships he built 
and maintained with his players, 
be them Stanley Cup champions, 
members of the Armed Forces, 
neurosurgeons or businessmen. I’ll 
always be grateful for the standard 
he held myself and my colleagues to 
and for the legacy he leaves for the 
University of Michigan.

Scott Bell, 2003-04: During 

my time at the Michigan Daily, I 
had the opportunity to interview a 
lot of big names — from Lloyd Carr 
all the way to Bo Schembechler. 
But nothing had me worried and 
downright terrified like the time 
I was given the assignment to 
interview Red Berenson after the 
hockey team’s year-end banquet. 
None of the normal beat writers 
were available, and I was a very 
eager — albeit very green (that’s 
another word for terrible) — 
freshman reporter that was very 
familiar with the Berenson stare. 
But Red put up with my stumbling 
and stuttering because he knew I 
was prepared and he knew I was 
familiar with his team. And no 
matter how gruff he may have been 
on the exterior, all he really wanted 
was people who respected his team 
and his sport, and he’d return that 
respect tenfold. 

Brady McCollough, 2001-02: 

As a 19-year-old sophomore, you 
could only learn so much from the 
Daily’s senior sports editors. Red 
Berenson took it upon himself to 
teach a very valuable lesson to each 
writer who was lucky enough to 
cover his hockey team: The more 
you put in, the more you get out. 
Red expected us to be there every 
practice, and he definitely took note 
which of us took advantage of the 
access he offered. I actually decided 
I wanted to be a journalist within 
a few months of joining the beat, 
which was no coincidence. It was a 
special feeling being taken seriously 

by such a legend.

Joe 
Smith, 
2000-01: 
Red 

Berenson played a role in me having 
my dream job now. It was the time I 
spent covering Michigan hockey as 
a sophomore in 2000 that sparked 
my interest in wanting to become 
a sportswriter. I learned a lot from 
Red in his daily talks with us. He 
was so gracious with his time, 
especially if you showed up for 
practice. Which I almost always did. 
He was a little intimidating at the 
time, but I learned how to be a pro. 
And grew a passion for the sport I 
still have today. Thank you Red.

Jeff 
Weinstein, 
Michigan 

hockey 
sports 
information 

director,w 2013-16: There was 
nothing quite like listening to 
Red Berenson talk hockey. If ever 
there was a man to connect hockey 
and Michigan’s past, present, and 
future, it was Red, a man who 
fondly recalled driving a tractor 
back in Saskatchewan as a boy as 
easily as a goal scored by Dylan 
Larkin in a Red Wings game the 
night before. For any reporter with 
the opportunity to interview Red in 
recent years, it was a treat, a chance 
to hear a story from a man who 
embodies well over a half century 
of hockey history. I know because I 
tried to sit in on every interview he 
gave, not because I needed to, but 
because I didn’t want to miss any 
one of those great hockey stories or 
nuggets of hockey wisdom. I think 
the biggest reason Red connected so 
well with players a quarter his age 
towards the end of his career was 
a shared passion for the University 
and the program he embodied. 
After a weekend sweep, that passion 
was never so evident than in the 
locker room and look of absolute joy 
on Red’s face in the huddle with the 
guys, singing The Victors. This is 
the source of one of my favorite Red 
Berenson moments. Michigan won 
the 2015 GLI, and the team had just 
completed “singing the song,” when 
a rap song was put on by one of the 
players in the room (I believe it was 
Up on a Tuesday). Red with a big 
smile on his face, turned to Michael 
Downing and asked him – “What 
does that mean?” Downing tried to 
explain but couldn’t come up with 
the words - he might has well have 
been speaking a different language 
to Red.

A hockey legend, and the ultimate 

Michigan Man, I’ll never forget the 
three years I had the opportunity to 
spend around his program.

RED
From Page 7

MIKE
PERSAK

“I want the 
players to feel 

like this is 

family”

“I’m glad 

my kid had a 
chance to play 

for him”

