Ron Mason,  along with former AD Bud Cooper,  built the hockey program at
LSSU (then C) from the GROUND.  There was no program with collegiate
standing or affiliation.  In his first season,  Mason went 15-5-0.
Granted,  there were some poundings of the now famous VFW Chippewas and
the Wawa Travellers,  but it was a first-year program.
 
In just its second year,  Mason had the program in the NAIA.  In fact,
he had it in the NAIA Championship Game.  Ron's teams lost three
consecutive years in that game to Bemidji State,  now a formidable D II
(or III) program.  They finally got over the hump in 1971-72.
 
OK:  "The NAIA was/is garbage"  "That's not competition" Blah-blah-blah.
It's all relative.  And,  in fact,  at that time the NAIA had some
formidable teams. The Lakers defeated MTU in 1970; St. Lawrence and
Clarkson in the same year and competed well with the likes of Boston
University at that time.  Mason led the Lakers to the top of the NAIA
on a regular basis and laid the foundation for LSSC to move to the NCAA.
 
The success of his program was also a factor in building the Norris
Center Arena (now the Taffy Abel Arena).  Yes,  there were some down
years after Mason left,  but they occurred due in part to LSSC's move to
NCAA Division I.  Rick Yeo took over the program from Rick Comley (who,
by the way, built a pretty good program at NMU as well and started his
career under Mason) and had to work with an NAIA budget against the likes
of UM and MSU.
 
Fran Anzalone resurrected (or as he was wont to say "dusted off") the program
in the early 80s.  He built it into an NCAA power.  Jackson took over and
took it to the next level.  He refurbished the arena (anyone who has seen it
agrees that it is now a state-of-the art facility), won TWO NCAAs and has
watched the season-ticket base grow from about 1800 (when he took over in
1990) to over 3200.
 
But the fact is that Mason took nothing; made something and laid a foundation
that has grown into one of the most formidable programs in the country (don't
underestimate Cooper's role in this either, Ron has stated that Bud was a big
influence).  Ron then went and built ANOTHER program at BGSU.  AND he, to use
Frank's words, dusted off the program at MSU, winning a national title.
 
Hey, Steve's right.  That's the end of the history lesson.  Gotta go
shovel snow.
 
Scott Monaghan
Assistant Athletic Director
Lake Superior State University
[log in to unmask]
906-635-2601
 
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