GREEN & WHITE HOCKEY

Mason's reach extended from MSU to NHL and beyond

Chris Solari
Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING – The impact Ron Mason had in hockey extended well beyond Michigan State.

The legendary coach put more than 50 players into the NHL. His coaching tree sprouted into every level of hockey. Many of those men returned to Munn Arena on Thursday to pay their final respects to their mentor, who died Monday.

“I put a lot of trust into him,” said Shawn Horcoff, who played for Mason at MSU from 1996 to 2000 and just completed his 15th NHL season. “I could just tell he cared. I could tell that he wasn’t just going to help me get to the NHL, but how to be a man and grow up. … He was such a big impact on me. I can’t express enough the gratitude I have.”

Anson Carter, who starred for Mason at MSU from 1992 to 1996, spent the past two weeks between Pittsburgh and San Jose as part of the NBC Sports broadcast crew for the Stanley Cup finals. The 12-year NHL veteran as a player said Mason made every person he talked to “feel like the most important person in the room.”

“You just watched the way he carried himself,” Carter said. “He was the ultimate pro. Yeah, it was college sports, but he was a pro. He had his game-face on and was as prepared as anyone I knew, every single day.”

Danton Cole, part of MSU’s 1986 national championship team, played for Mason from 1985 to 1989 before going on to a 10-year pro career. The former Waverly High standout won the Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 1995 before going into coaching and is currently the U.S. National Team Development Program’s under-18 team coach.

MSU remembers Ron Mason's legacy

After moving to Lansing in 1976, Cole’s family had MSU hockey season tickets and watched up close as Mason turned the Spartans into a college hockey juggernaut.

“He taught us a lot about how to be a pro,” Cole said. “I kind of mean that hockey-wise, but life-wise, too. Our guys who left here were ready to play and were ready to go out in the world.”

Mason went 635-270-69 in 23 seasons at MSU, earning seven CCHA regular-season titles and 10 league post-season tourney titles. The Spartans went to 19 NCAA tournaments in Mason’s tenure from 1979 to 2002.

In doing so, he created a pipeline of talent that flowed from East Lansing into the NHL at a time when most professional teams shied away from college players.

“It really did turn into a farm system,” said former MSU forward Mike Watt, who played 157 NHL games over five seasons and is now an assistant coach with the Bloomington Thunder of the USHL. “And how he developed everybody for college hockey but also for pro hockey was something that was kind of unique for its time. A lot of guys who were thought of as college players, teams didn’t think could play the pro game. Coach Mason was really a guy who kind of turned that fallacy around.”

Couch: Ron Mason made MSU hockey the hottest ticket in town

Many of those NHL players would pay homage to Mason over the years by returning each summer to MSU’s pro camp, which helped them prepare for their pro seasons. It remains a tradition under Tom Anastos, and it’s something Tom Izzo said he has modeled his own men’s basketball program after.

“He is Michigan State hockey. When you think of Michigan State hockey, you think of Ron Mason,” Horcoff said. “He had such a passion for competition and excellence. … You knew when you came to Michigan State, you expected to win.”

Cole is one of a number of former Mason players and assistants who went on to head coaching careers. A number of them were in attendance, including Anastos, Rick Comley, George Gwozdecky, and Steve Cady, among many others.

Some worked for Mason at Lake Superior State, some at Bowling Green, some at MSU. Some graduated into the NHL coaching ranks, some into the college game, some into junior hockey.

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They all said Mason’s intensity, preparation and attention to detail helped guide them to professional success.

Ted Sator, who was head coach of the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres during his career, was Mason’s first graduate assistant at Bowling Green. He said Mason could have become an NHL coach or general manager if he desired, but his love for educating others kept him in college hockey, guiding others on to pro success.

“Whether it be in the U.S. or in Canada, we all tried to emulate Ron,” Sator said. “He was our beacon.”