Michigan State University Athletics
Mason's Role In Developing Programs Comes Full Circle
12/9/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Dec. 9, 1999
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Early in his career, while Ron Mason was building programs at Lake Superior State and Bowling Green, Mason had a special appreciation for the coaches at established programs who would take the risk of scheduling upstart programs like his.
Now, with Mason presiding over one of college hockey?s best programs at Michigan State, he takes care to return the favor to the next generation of new programs trying to reach the top.
This Saturday's meeting with Alabama-Huntsville, a member of the new College Hockey America conference, is a product of Mason?s belief that scheduling the rising programs is good for the sport in the long run.
?The established programs have nothing to gain in these games and everything to lose,? Mason said. ?But I still think it is good for college hockey. I?ll continue to do it for a reason, and that is to repay the favors that John MacInnes (Michigan Tech), Len Ceglarski (Clarkson) and George Menard (St. Lawrence) did for me when I was getting started.?
Mason quickly saw just how important those games were for the new programs, especially when his Lake Superior team defeated Michigan Tech, Clarkson and St. Lawrence in the same year.
?Those were all highlights that helped get our program on the map,? Mason recalls. ?It really helped our program just to be able to play in those games.?
When Mason moved from Lake Superior to Bowling Green, a Falcon visit to Michigan State was already planned for December of 1974.
?I remember that it was a really big thing for us to come up here at that point,? Mason said. ?Our program was just starting to take on its luster.?
The Falcons made the most of their opportunity, defeating Michigan State, 7-4, thanks in part to a goal and an assist from Doug Ross.
Ross, who had played for Mason at Lake Superior and then transferred to Bowling Green, will find himself on the opposite side of the ice from Mason Saturday as the head coach of Alabama-Huntsville.
?Doug had one of the best snap shots I have ever seen,? Mason remembers. ?As far as snap shots go, Mickey Redmond had the best I have ever seen and Doug Ross is number two. He could shoot like nobody?s business.?
Saturday Ross, the brother of Michigan State all-time leading scorer Tom Ross, will try to engineer an upset similar to the one he pulled off as a player in 1974.
Mason, having been on the other end of the equation, knows to be wary of these types of games.
?These are the most dangerous games, because this is their Stanley Cup,? he said. ?The chance of losing these games is as much as when you play the top teams in the nation, because your team may not be as ready to play them.?
Mason hopes pride in the Spartans? program and the leadership of the upperclassmen can help keep the team?s focus, as well as the desire to go into the holiday break on a high note.
A win would give Mason his 850th career victory, as he would reach yet another unprecedented victory milestone in a coaching career which has taken him from upstart programs at Lake Superior and Bowling Green to an established winner at Michigan State.
