MSU athletic director Ron Mason struggled with the outcome of Game 7 of the 2006 Stanley Cup finals, which came to a close Monday night.
With two former Spartans on the winning Carolina Hurricanes team and three on the losing Edmonton Oilers team, MSU has more ties to the Stanley Cup finals than Canadian beer companies have to the National Hockey League.
"We knew a Spartan was gonna win the cup," Mason said. "We just didn't know which one."
For all the new Spartans out there, Mason isn't just MSU's current athletic director — he is also a former 23-year Spartan hockey
head coach. Mason guided MSU to 17 CCHA titles, and in an all-time record, took 23 teams to the NCAA tournament.
The legendary coach also managed a National Championship in 1986, coached 34 All-Americans and finished his coaching career as MSU's winningest U.S. college hockey coach of all time.
Mason also coached 46 former Spartans who played in the NHL. Five of them competed on the two teams for this year's Stanley Cup.
Sharing Coach Mason's sentiment is current Spartan assistant coach, Tom Newton who has been with the program for 15 years.
Newton and Mason spoke about the MSU players involved in the final match.
Mason said recent graduate Shawn Horcoff has impressed him with his NHL play.
Horcoff, the youngest Spartan on the ice in the Stanley Cup finals, received a number of accolades at MSU. Besides being the team captain, an All-American and a Hobey Baker Award finalist in the 2000 season, Horcoff received honors as the first player in CCHA history to win five regular-season conference awards including Player of the Year.
Since being picked by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, Horcoff has helped the team get to a Stanley Cup final and won his second consecutive gold medal with Team Canada at the IIHF World Championships.
MSU journalism Professor Darcy Greene said her son Matt Greene is close friends with his teammate, Horcoff.
"I was disappointed about the loss," she said. "But I'm glad the Oilers were able to take it to Game 7."
Oiler Rem Murray was also once a Spartan standout.
"You have Rem Murray coming back and playing after a neck injury, which is truly an unbelievable story. He was great," Mason said.
At MSU, Murray led the team as captain in his senior year and received a multitude of honors as an all-star. After being drafted in the mid-'90s and playing several seasons, the former Spartan recently made an exciting comeback to the NHL after suffering from a rare nerve disorder called cervical dystonia.
"Rem Murray's story — his comeback — was probably one of the biggest stories in the entire playoffs," Newton said. "We couldn't be more thrilled for a guy to have the kind of playoff run he had. He's such a great person and a great competitor."
Physicians predicted the 33-year-old center would never lace up his skates again, but Murray showed perseverance as he battled alongside his Oiler teammates for seven games in the finals.
"And then you have one of my very first recruits, Craig Simpson, who was behind the bench for Carolina," Mason said.
Simpson played for Mason in the early '80s and was selected second overall in the 1985 draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins. As an Oiler, Simpson won two Stanley Cup championships before retiring at the ripe age of 28. Simpson now enjoys a position as the Oilers' assistant head coach.
On the winning side of the cup, there is Carolina reserve Andrew Hutchinson. Hutchinson's crowning achievement as a Spartan came during the 2000-01 season when he was named Best Defensive Defenseman. Hutchinson was also a second team All-American and a two-time member of the CCHA's All-Tournament Team.
After years in the AHL and CHL, Hutchinson was recently acquired by the Carolina Hurricanes where he has already obtained a championship ring after this year's finals.
And then there's Rod Brind'Amour. Before being drafted to the pros, Brind'Amour only needed one year to post impressive numbers in East Lansing.
"Roddey Brind'Amour was my pick for the Conn Smythe (playoff MVP) award," said Newton. "I thought he lead that team in so many different ways."
Brind'Amour then transitioned from only one season in the CCHA to avid NHL rookie in 1988. The all-star was named team captain of the Hurricanes in 2005, and led the team to this year's Stanley Cup.
"With his leadership in Carolina, I thought he should have been the MVP for the playoffs for what he did in every series," said Mason.
MSU has supplied the NHL with some of its finest talent, Newton said, and he is hopeful this trend will continue.
"I think there has been a legacy of Spartans going to the NHL for quite a while now," Newton said. "I think a lot of our current players have a great opportunity to play at that level."
