Patrick Abegg wrote:

> This is not even close, folks. The 1966 Michigan State Spartans, 16-13-0.
>
> The situation is beyond belief. They finished the regular season 12-13, 9-11
> in the WCHA, 6th in an 8 team league.
>
> But then the fun began. The WCHA playoff system was very strange in those
> days. As part of the "Eastern" half of the conference, MSU visited #5
> Michigan, and beat their neighbors 3-2 to advance to the second round.

Michigan State's first championship may have been more remarkable for the fact
that the head coaches at Michigan and MSU had just initiated a private
gentleman's agreement to shift their recruiting away from Canadians.  At the
time, there was little in the state of Michigan to meet that demand.  City rec
programs had been the only source of local talent, of which very little was
college calibre.  Michigan's early sixties rosters were filled by the Western
Canada pipeline opened when Red Berenson discovered Michigan and told all his
friends to follow.  Ann Arbor High had just become one of the earliest Michigan
high schools to offer hockey.  If you were a member of Detroit's recently formed
Junior Red Wings, you could name your school.  The Wolverines reverted to
recruiting in Minnesota.

MSU's 1966 success may have generated a little friction.  Michigan coach Al
Renfrew wasn't fully satisfied that MSU's Amo Bassone had honored their
recruiting agreement.  The commitment to recruit Americans coincided with the
beginning of Michigan's 30-year drought.  It probably weakened the program for a
couple years until new AD Don Canham crippled it with his de-emphasis of non
revenue producing sports.  The drought continued until What's-His-Name was
tricked into returning as coach, discovered what a disaster had taken place, and
decided that wasn't Michigan hockey as he'd known it.  And, to this day, there's
a rumor that some Spartans and Wolverines actually don't like each other.

Bob Griebel