Ron Mason was in familiar territory Saturday night.
MSU’s legendary head coach took his spot behind the Spartans’ bench at Munn Ice Arena and surveyed the action on the rink as he has done so many times before. To be exact, he’s coached 951 games in a little more than 22 years in East Lansing.
Munn, Mason’s home away from home, was sold out for the 271st consecutive game.
And Mason earned another victory, which he has now accomplished 900 times in his 36-year career at MSU, Lake Superior State and Bowling Green.
“I never was in it to set records - I’ve been in it to try to have good teams and keep our program as one of the elite programs,” Mason said before MSU’s 2-0 shutout of Ferris State. “And, as an outgrowth of that, obviously, I’ve won a lot of games.”
Mason, who has a 900-371-79 career record, has been college hockey’s all-time winningest coach since 1993 and there really isn’t much he hasn’t experienced in his lengthy career.
But what really shocked him Saturday night was the adoration fellow MSU coaches exhibited after he achieved the milestone.
The crowd of 6,732 saluted Mason with “900” signs as football head coach Bobby Williams, women’s basketball head coach Joanne P. McCallie, wrestling head coach Tom Minkel and others joined MSU President M. Peter McPherson and Athletics Director Clarence Underwood at center ice for a postgame ceremony.
“That’s one beautiful thing about Michigan State that not many schools this size can have,” Mason said. “I couldn’t believe it when they walked out. To see my cohorts, especially Bobby, who came off a tough day, to take the time to come here - I’ll tell you what, that’s something I’ll never forget.”
Without exception, the Spartan players had only praise for their mentor following the ceremony. After all, Mason has been coaching college hockey about twice as long as some of them have been alive.
“It’s amazing just how far ahead of any coach he is,” junior defenseman John-Michael Liles said. “I never really imagined the numbers when I first decided to come here, but now that I’m here, it’s more of a realization. It was pretty amazing tonight and I was just happy to be a part of it.”
Mason, 61, knows his career won’t last forever, but he said thoughts of retirement rarely creep into his mind.
“How many people can put on the skates, go out and shoot the pucks around and have some fun while practicing?” Mason said. “I enjoy doing that and as long as I do that and I’m successful and I’m healthy, I don’t see any reason to give it up.
“There will probably come a time where I say ‘Hey, it’s time,’ and I hope that we’re still one of the best teams in the country when it happens.”
Mason, who spends most of his summers away from East Lansing, said his beloved fishing boat will tell him when to hang up the skates.
“Every year, I pull my boat out of the water the day after Labor Day,” Mason said. “And every time, I’m thinking I can’t wait to get back here and get going.
“Now if the day comes when I’m pulling that boat out there and I’m saying, ‘Damn, I wish I could stick around and fish a couple more weeks,’ then I’ll probably know it’s time.”
But it doesn’t appear it will be very soon. Mason still skates with the team every practice and senior right wing Adam Hall says he sees no indication of Mason losing his touch.
“He hasn’t showed any signs of slowing down,” Hall said. “He can get on the players just as good as any coach ever did if we’re not on our game in between (periods). He’s as focused as he ever was, every single period, every single shift, he’s analyzing the other team and thinking of ways to make our team better.”
Which brings up the question - will Mason be around for No. 1,000?
“I plan on staying as long as I can, let’s put it that way,” he said.
James Jahnke can be reached at jahnkeja@msu.edu
