The winningest coach in college hockey history is now the best paid.The MSU Board of Trustees approved a 13 percent increase and extended head hockey coach Ron Mason’s contract through 2005.
The unknowns of christening a new hockey venue are now in MSU’s rearview mirror, but the Spartans still don’t know exactly what to expect in their next series.After tying Michigan 3-3 in “The Cold War” at Spartan Stadium on Saturday, top-ranked MSU (0-0-1 overall, 0-0-1 CCHA) returns to Munn Ice Arena for a two-game set with Lake Superior State today and Friday.
MSU hockey head coach Ron Mason is scheduled to receive a roughly $20,000 raise to his annual base salary at the MSU Board of Trustees meeting Friday.The Board will vote to increase his salary from $153,215 to $173,215.
MSU junior left wing Steve Clark said Saturday was “maybe the biggest disappointment” of his career.It seems like an odd statement considering Saturday was the day the top-ranked Spartans hosted “The Cold War,” broke the world hockey attendance record and tied archrival Michigan 3-3 in Spartan Stadium.Many of Clark’s teammates actually called Saturday one of the best, most memorable days of their lives.
MSU head coach Ron Mason and Michigan head coach Red Berenson didn’t just leave the door open for the possibility of another massive outdoor hockey game occurring - they all but took it off the hinges. After “The Cold War” set the world record for hockey attendance (74,554) and basically went off without a hitch Saturday night, the long-time coaches said a follow-up was inevitable. But where will it happen next? “The world of professional hockey and the world of college hockey will both look at it,” Berenson said.
Two things were expected going into “The Cold War” on Saturday at Spartan Stadium - it would be big and the game would be a close one.After 74,554 MSU and Michigan fans spilled into the stadium’s stands and aisles, easily breaking the world record for attendance at a hockey game, that much came true.And after overtime ended with a 3-3 tie, most of those fans gathered their blankets and hats and walked down the ramps to the concourse without a second thought that a game between two top-five teams should have ended any differently.But it was unexpected factors - the crowd, the noise, the pregame hoopla, the lighting, the cold, the board and ice conditions - that made the night one the Spartan players and fans said they won’t soon forget.“As soon as we walked out and everyone in the stands saw us, they just started going nuts,” senior right wing Adam Hall said.
MSU had to have an extra skater to manage a 3-3 tie with Michigan in “The Cold War” at Spartan Stadium on Saturday.
Top-ranked MSU and archrival No. 4 Michigan helped break a world record Saturday night, but 65 minutes of hockey was not enough to break the 3-3 tie the teams skated to in “The Cold War” at Spartan Stadium.U-M center Mike Cammalleri notched two goals and an assist, and it looked like that would be enough to propel the Wolverines (0-0-1 overall, 0-0-1 CCHA) to victory on hostile turf.But MSU freshman center Jim Slater electrified the partisan Spartan crowd with a last-minute goal - his first as a collegian - that sent the game to overtime.Both teams threatened but couldn’t score in the extra frame, bringing about a somewhat anticlimactic ending to a highly hyped event.
MSU freshman center Jim Slater wasn’t about to let his first collegiate hockey game end in a loss to archrival Michigan in a season-opening CCHA battle in front of a world-record crowd in Spartan Stadium.So Slater introduced and endeared himself to the Spartan hockey faithful with a memorable game-tying goal late in “The Cold War” on Saturday night as No.
Sports fans proved Saturday that weather, time and even sporting genre don’t matter when universities put on their game faces.The only thing that does matter is rivalry.“I don’t care if they’re playing Tiddlywinks, this is MSU versus U of M,” said Tom Ludwig, a resident of Chelsea who began tailgating at 2:30 p.m.“You can watch this on TV tomorrow, but there’s no replacement for seeing this live.”Spartan and Wolverine fans alike packed campus for “The Cold War”, the record-breaking hockey game between U-M and MSU in Spartan Stadium.With temperatures hovering just a few degrees above freezing at their coldest, the number of tailgaters entering campus just as the sun began to shine were down from the average football game.But by noon, the hockey Saturday looked just like a football Saturday.Most lots normally designated for alumni donors were open to the public, giving students and hockey fans a chance to feel the thrills and chills of tailgating and rivalry for their sport of choice.And there were chills for hockey tailgaters to match the ice crystallized over Spartan Stadium’s turf.“We’re beyond freezing,” said telecommunication senior Miranda Dietrich, who had been hopping up and down for warmth at her tailgating spot, near the tennis courts on Wilson Road, since 9:30 a.m.“We’ve got layers and layers.
He was there on business, and his business was ice.And despite the warm weather and the inch of water that topped the rink’s frozen base Wednesday, Al Osterloh donned a full-fledged smile.Osterloh wheels and deals in keeping things frozen.
When archrivals MSU and Michigan face-off in “The Cold War” - the largest hockey spectacle ever - at 7:05 p.m.
Most of the top-ranked Spartans’ outdoor playing experience hasn’t extended beyond friendly shinny games on cold winter afternoons.That will change at 7:05 p.m.
The first time Dave McAuliffe talked to Ron Mason about staging an outdoor hockey game in Spartan Stadium, the longtime MSU head coach just laughed.That was about five years ago, and McAuliffe, an MSU assistant coach, said he chuckled along with Mason.
A persistent drizzle Friday night forced Michigan to cancel its only scheduled outdoor practice before “The Cold War” and take shelter inside Munn Ice Arena.But the host Spartans braved the elements and skated on the portable rink inside Spartan Stadium for about 30 minutes Friday.
Perhaps nobody is looking forward to the expected drop in Lansing area temperatures more than Al Osterloh. Osterloh owns Los Tres Papagayos, the company contracted to ready Spartan Stadium for “The Cold War” hockey game Saturday night - and Wednesday’s sunny, warm weather was giving him cold feet. The rink had some solid ice Wednesday afternoon, but it was submerged in a fair amount of standing water.
The spectacle surrounding “The Cold War” worries MSU head coach Ron Mason more than anything the Michigan Wolverines are going to throw at his team Saturday. Mason has to make his players look past the daylong tailgate that could take over campus, ignore the scheduled laser light shows and mini-country concerts accompanying the game and somehow forget about the world-record crowd of more than 72,000 expected to jam Spartan Stadium for the 7:05 p.m.
Crews have been working through the night transforming Spartan Stadium from a gridiron showroom to a hockey shrine for “The Cold War,” and Associate Athletics Director Mark Hollis said the conversion is ahead of schedule. “Everything is going very smooth, just as planned,” Hollis said.
Let the countdown to “The Cold War” officially begin.The Spartans breezed through two exhibition games this weekend - a 1-0 Green and White intrasquad scrimmage Friday and a 14-1 rout of Queen’s University (Ontario) on Saturday - in their only tune-ups leading up to the season-opening contest against Michigan at 7:05 p.m.
MSU’s exhibition game against Queen’s University (Ontario) was a dominating display of offense as the Spartans skated circles around the Golden Gaels in a 14-1 win Saturday in front of 6,462 fans at Munn Ice Arena.The Spartans led 7-1 after the first period and never looked back in their final tune-up before “The Cold War” outdoor game against Michigan next Saturday in Spartan Stadium.MSU is 12-0-1 against Canadian universities since 1983.Senior left wing Joe Goodenow led the way for MSU with two goals and three assists and freshman center Lee Falardeau added a pair of goals and an assist for the Spartans.Senior defenseman Jon Insana, junior left wing Brian Maloney, freshman center Ash Goldie, senior right wing Adam Hall, junior right wing Kris Koski, junior defenseman Brad Fast, freshman defenseman Duncan Keith, junior center Troy Ferguson, freshman right wing Brock Radunske and freshman right wing Mike Lalonde also scored for MSU.Junior defenseman John-Michael Liles, sophomore defenseman Joe Markusen and Insana each added three assists.The only Spartan skater held pointless was freshman left wing Kevin Estrada.“We executed and played as a team,” Insana said.