The University of Michigan has officially named its home rink at the Fielding H. Host Field House in honor of longtime coach Red Berenson. The Red Berenson Rink was officially dedicated on Friday night before the Wolverines faced Notre Dame.
Berenson coached the Wolverines for 33 years before retiring following the close of the 2017 season with a record of 848-429-92. His teams won national championships in 1996 and ’98, reached the national championship game in 2011, and qualified for the Frozen Four on eight other occasions.
Before going into coaching Berenson played in the NHL for all or part of 17 seasons. and scored 261 goals while adding 397 assists for 658 points in 987 games in an era where there wasn’t as much scoring as there is today
Readers of this blog will likely most remember him as a member of the expansion-era St. Louis Blues and a tormenter of the Philadelphia Flyers in their infancy. He helped lead the Blues to the Stanley Cup finals in the first three years of their existance.
He also played in the Canada-Soviet Union series in the fall of 1972.
And perhaps just as importantly, he played in the first NHL game I ever saw.
What is often forgotten is that Berenson was not only an All-American at Michigan but earned his degree as well.
In light of Berenson’s considerable success as a coach it’s easy to overlook his contributions got the game of hockey in other areas. But those contributions should never be forgotten,
We feel it’s important for today’s athletes to be aware of the history of their sport, and learn about the contributions of those that came before them.
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