In response to Brian Morris' post concerning the RPI Invitational Hockey
Tournament in which Michigan appeared, the year was 1961 and Red Berenson
led the Wolverines to the tourney championship.  At that time, it was a
four-team round robin (each team plays each one of the remaining teams on
three successive nights; if there is not a clear-cut champion after the
third night's games, the title is awarded to the team scoring the most
goals in the tournament)  and IMO, this is the only way to crown a true
champion in ANY tournament, including the NC$$s.  I was still living in
Schenectady at the time and I had been accustomed to being at the Field
House for the tournament games ever since Brown won the first Invitational
title in 1952.
 
To this day, and maybe the intervening years have enhanced my memory
somewhat, Red Berenson remains the single most dominant college hockey
forward I have ever seen.  Now I know that's a tall statement, and granted
the two RPI tournament games were the only opportunities I had to see him
play in college, but those two performances were absolutely magnificent.
In the intervening years, rarely have I seen a college player consistently
sift through an entire team (that was typically using a defensive scheme
designed to contain him) and finish the rush by depositing the puck behind
the opposing goaler.  Red was a truly outstanding player, perhaps one of
the best ever to play the college game.
 
BTW, after a quick perusal of the current Rensselaer media guide, North
Dakota and Michigan have never appeared in an RPI Invitational field
together.  Michigan has been there twice -- in the 1961 with McGill, RPI
and Yale, and in 1966 with Colgate, New Brunswick and RPI.  In both
tournaments, Michigan and RPI met on the final night (12/30 in both cases),
with the Wolverines prevailing 8-3 in 1961 (I forget how many Berenson
scored that evening, but it was at least a hat trick) and the two teams
skating to a 6-6 draw in 1966.
 
Does anybody else have some Berenson memories that confirm my recollection?
 
 
Bill Corrigan
 
LET'S GO BRUNO!
 
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