MD

2013-03-25

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Advertise with us »

March 26, 2013 - 11:55am

Reactions on the Michigan hockey streak: the best of the rest

BY ZACH HELFAND

Sunday, The Daily reached out to those close to the Michigan hockey program — from former captains to Michigan historian John U. Bacon to former hockey staffers — for reactions on the end of the team’s NCAA Tournament streak. A small sampling of those ran Monday morning, but many more comments didn’t make the cut. Here’s the best of the rest:

John U. Bacon, Michigan historian and author of several books, including Blue Ice: The Story of Michigan Hockey

On this season:
“Two months ago, you would’ve said this team has serious problems and the future of it is unclear. Now you say that man, the last 10 games, they’ve shown guts, determination, leadership ability, intensity, and maturity and goaltending. And next year looks like it usually does.”

On the difficulty of 22 years in a row:
“I’ll revert back to a quote from Steve Martin, who said in his book on his career, ‘It was not hard to be great on a given night. Any standup comic who’s any good on a given night can get on a roll. The hard thing was to be good any day no matter what. The sound system, the audience, the time you’re on, the way you feel — all that. Being good every night is harder than being great every once in a while. And if you look back at Red Berenson’s playing career, that’s what he did. For 17 years he was good very night. Occasionally great, of course — six goals in one night. But that’s what this team did, that’s what they focused on. I know that Red would like more than two national titles to show for it, but I would argue 22 straight years making the tournament is more impressive.”

On why Michigan’s streak lasted:
“BU, BC, North Dakota, and the list goes on, Notre Dame under Jackson — all those streaks, at some point or other, ended. Minnesota to Wisconsin. Why did Michigan go on? An exceptional group, and also a strong obligation, the players always felt, they always talk about this, is the guys that came before. That has to drive you on some level.”

On the importance of the NCAA Tournament snub in 1990:
“I don’t think you go 22 straight years without the initial pain being so great. That story got passed down from generation to generation. They all read the book, they all see the movie, you know? And they talk to the older guys, the whole mantra after that heartbreak was, ‘Never leave it into the hands of people you don’t know.’ And that’s what they’ve done for 22 years.”

David Harlock, Michigan defenseman 1989-93; three-time captain

On the year that started the streak:
“It was gratifying. Early in Red’s career, it was marked by sort of baby steps each year, we’d make a little bit of progress each year. And for us that was just another step in the right direction. The previous year, we knocked on the door and felt like we deserved an NCAA berth and were snubbed. So I think it was just another step in the right direction.”

On when he realized the significance of the streak:
“You don’t really truly appreciate until you’re removed from it, and I don’t think I truly have come to appreciate the streak until the last few years. And for me personally, I guess it came to light, what was it, I guess three years ago when Michigan had to win, when we had to win the CCHA playoffs to get into the tournament and to keep the streak alive. And I think for me that’s when I probably started paying a little bit more attention to the streak and what had been accomplished to that point in time.”

Alex Roberts, Michigan captain, 1989-90

On being at the game Sunday:
“I was sitting in the stands tonight, and I kind of said to myself, thinking about the fact that's kind of been the label our team has had: we were the last team not to make the tournament. So, A.J. Treais is the captain, now, of the last Michigan team to not make the Tournament. There's a 23-year gap between my senior year and his, but I think when we took off our jerseys, we still thought we were going to put them on again.”

Bill Trainor, Michigan hockey radio analyst

On the overall feeling after the game:
“It was a great source of pride for the program. … I tried not to be critical because I know what it’s like to be a player. In larger aspects, you’re not a part of what goes on in the locker room. It’s probably more frustrated, knowing that they had the potential to be a very special team as we saw over the last 10 games. They had the players, they had the pieces.”

Mike Moes, Michigan captain, 1989-90

On how he feels about the streak:
“It’s still kind of a shock a little bit to think that it’s gone on for as long as it has. I think now you kind of stop and look back and now applaud and sort of reflect on how impressive of a statistic that is.”

On Michigan’s consistency:
“I was thinking of (other) schools and thinking, ‘Well jeez, they’ve had some pretty good runs, they’ve gotta be close to it.’ But the fact that they haven’t makes me shake my head.”

On teasing Berenson:
“I talked to Red earlier in the year shortly after the new year began, and I said, ‘jeez, what’s going on, you haven’t been in this territory since I was there.’ ”

Matt Trevor, former Michigan hockey sports information director

On Michigan’s late run:
“Having seen what happened in 2009-2010, anything can happen. If they had the challenge to put some wins together, I thought, ‘Hey, why not?’ They did a couple years ago and why not do it this year, too? That’s the fun part about college hockey and college athletics: you never know what's going to happen.”

On Berenson:
“I think the one thing I thought about Red was that he always stayed even-keeled and never overreacted to one win or one loss or one goal for or against. I don’t think they’ll make drastic changes, because obviously things have worked for the most part.”


The reaction in the blogosphere has been decidedly more mixed, ranging from pride and acceptance to frustration and anger. Those on the opposite ends of that spectrum probably won’t be meeting up at Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the basketball game together Friday. I’m thinking specifically of the Children of Yost, Michigan’s student section, and Brian Cook, founder of the popular MGoBlog.com, who each traded barbs Monday.

Let’s go punch by punch.

The bout begins Tuesday night, with this tête-à- tête:

The Children of Yost referred to Cook’s January pledge to not write another word on the hockey team for the rest of the season. Cook, presumably, referred to tweets, not limited to the following, expressing gratitude to the first team to miss the NCAA Tournament since 1990:

But Twitter arguments typically end with civility and multiple stirring rounds of Kumbaya, and that’s precisely what happened here. Just kidding, it continued in the same way all Twitter arguments do:

And then we spiraled into the effectiveness/perceived whininess of each party:

Then things went quiet until MGoBlog published this this piece Monday afternoon on the season — headlined “Failure” — after which the Children of Yost suggested people get their hockey news from elsewhere:

After 23 years without one, one thing is certain: nobody knows what the heck to do after a down season.

See More: The Game | E-mail |

Advertise with us »