1965–66 Michigan State Spartans men's ice hockey season

March 2026 August 2023 color:white; background:#007A53 white white Michigan State Spartans white 1965–66 Michigan State Spartans men WCHA / 2nd Big Ten 6th 16–13–0 9–11, 4–4 8–5 5–8 3–0 Amo Bessone Mike CoppoMichigan State Spartans 2018-19 Hockey Media Guide https://s3.amazonaws.com/msuspartans.com/documents/2018/10/11/2018_19_Hockey_media_guide_for_WEB.pdf Michigan State Spartans March 18, 2019 Don Heaphy Demonstration Hall National championWCHA Tournament, co-champion 1966 NCAA Tournament champion 1964–65 1966–67 color:white; background:#007A53 background:#eeeeee; The 1965–66 Michigan State Spartans men's ice hockey team represented Michigan State University in college ice hockey. In its 15th year under head coach Amo Bessone the team compiled a 16–13–0 record and reached the NCAA tournament for the second time in its history. The Spartans defeated Clarkson 6–1 in the championship game at the Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2018, the 1965–66 Michigan State team has the worst record of any national champion for Division I (or equivalent) ice hockey. Season Coming off of their first winning season in 3 years, Michigan State began the 1965–66 season on a sour note, losing both games at Colorado College and then continued their losing streak with the first two games of a three-game series against ECAC Hockey opponents. The Spartans finally earned a win against St. Lawrence to finish their road trip 1–4. State opened their home schedule against North Dakota with a split which continued with the succeeding two series against Denver and CC. MSU met their first Big Ten opponent when Minnesota arrived in mid-January but after the Golden Gophers handed Amo Bessone's team two losses the Spartans were wallowing near the bottom of their conference with a 3–7 record. The only bright spot for MSU was that the WCHA had accepted Minnesota–Duluth into the conference and, as a result, changed the playoff format so all 8 teams would be included regardless of their records. MSU got back in the win column the following weekend against the Bulldogs, taking both games before travelling to Minneapolis to earn a split with the Gophers. MSU continued to slowly climb out of the cellar with two wins in their first home-and-home series with arch-rival Michigan and then extended their winning streak with two more wins against Wisconsin, bringing their all-time record against the Badgers to 6–0.Michigan State Spartans 2018-19 Hockey Media Guide https://s3.amazonaws.com/msuspartans.com/documents/2018/10/11/2018_19_Hockey_media_guide_for_WEB.pdf Michigan State Spartans March 18, 2019 With a home playoff game in sight Michigan State was stopped dead in their tracks by defending national champion Michigan Tech who took two contests from the Spartans. MSU ended their regular season against Michigan with another home-and-home series but could only manage a split, finishing the season in 6th-place in the WCHA standings. Part of the rearrangement of the playoff system for the WCHA came with dividing the eight teams into two regions (east and west) with MSU being joined by Minnesota–Duluth, Michigan and Michigan Tech. Because Michigan had finished ahead of the Spartans (due to winning the final regular season game 1–0 in overtime), Michigan State had to open the conference tournament on the road. Despite the hostile crowd MSU was able to win the game against the 5th-place Wolverines and, because of an odd arrangement for the second round, headed back home for a match against top-seeded Michigan Tech. With the Spartan faithful cheering them on, Michigan State upset the Huskies 4–3, winning their first WCHA Tournament (shared with Denver) and advanced to their second NCAA Tournament. Despite having a worse record than Denver, Michigan State was slated to play lower-seeded Boston University in the opening round, a team who was only in the tournament because ECAC runner-up Cornell declined the invitation.https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornellbigred.com/documents/2008/10/23/59-88.pdf Cornell Men's Hockey Media Guide Pages 59-88 (History and Records) Cornell Big Red October 16, 2018 Michigan State's showed up in full force against the Terriers, holding BU to a single goal and winning a nail-biter 2–1 to advance to the title game. They met Clarkson for the championship, but unusually for an east-vs.-west matchup the two teams were familiar with one another with Clarkson having won a game early in the season. However, past was not prologue in this case and team captain Mike Coppo opened the scoring in the fifteenth minute of the opening frame. Clarkson tied the score just over three minutes later but that was the only goal they could get past Gaye Cooley and MSU began a string of five uninterrupted goals late in the second to win their first National championship. Brian McAndrew, Mike Coppo, Don Heaphy and Gaye Cooley were all named to the All-Tournament first team while Bob Brawley and Tom Mikkola made the second team. Cooley was named Tournament Most Outstanding Player and, because of his job shepherding the Spartans through early-season injury and ice trouble, Amo Bessone shared the Spencer Penrose Award for national coach of the year with Clakrson's Len Ceglarski, the only time in history the award was split (as of 2018). The team's leading scorer, Doug Volmar was the only Spartan to be named to the AHCA All-American West Team or the All-WCHA First Team while none made it onto the WCHA Second Team.WCHA All-Teams https://www.augenblick.org/chha/wcha_all.html College Hockey Historical Archives May 19, 2013 Standings MSU MSU Schedule |- !colspan=12 style="color:white; background:#007A53" | Regular Season November 19 l yes 1965–66 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Broadmoor World Arena Colorado Springs, Colorado 0–4 0–1 0–1 November 20 l yes 1965–66 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Broadmoor World Arena Colorado Springs, Colorado 3–4 OT 0–2 0–2 November 25 l yes yes 1965–66 men St. Lawrence Saints St. Lawrence Appleton Arena Canton, New York 3–5 0–3 0–2 November 26 l yes yes 1965–66 men Clarkson Golden Knights Clarkson Walker Arena Potsdam, New York 3–6 0–4 0–2 November 27 w yes yes 1965–66 men St. Lawrence Saints St. Lawrence Appleton Arena Canton, New York 6–4 1–4 0–2 December 3 w no 1965–66 men North Dakota Fighting Sioux North Dakota Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 11–5 2–4 1–2 December 4 l no 1965–66 men North Dakota Fighting Sioux North Dakota Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 3–5 2–5 1–3 December 10 l no 1965–66 men Denver Pioneers Denver Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 6–8 2–6 1–4 December 11 w no 1965–66 men Denver Pioneers Denver Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 4–1 3–6 2–4 January 7 l no 1965–66 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 4–5 OT 3–7 2–5 January 8 w no 1965–66 men Colorado College Tigers Colorado College Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 6–2 4–7 3–5 January 14 l no 1965–66 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 5–7 4–8 3–6, 0–1 January 15 l no 1965–66 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 1–5 4–9 3–7, 0–2 January 21 w no 1965–66 men Minnesota–Duluth Bulldogs Minnesota–Duluth Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 6–5 OT 5–9 4–7, 0–2 January 22 w no 1965–66 men Minnesota–Duluth Bulldogs Minnesota–Duluth Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 5–2 6–9 5–7, 0–2 January 28 l no 1965–66 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota 5–6 OT 6–10 5–8, 0–3 January 29 w no 1965–66 men Minnesota Golden Gophers Minnesota Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota 4–3 7–10 6–8, 1–3 February 4 w no 1965–66 men Michigan Wolverines Michigan Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 8–7 8–10 7–8, 2–3 February 5 w yes 1965–66 men Michigan Wolverines Michigan Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 4–2 9–10 8–8, 3–3 February 11 w yes yes 1965–66 men Wisconsin Badgers Wisconsin Milwaukee Arena Milwaukee, Wisconsin 3–1 10–10 8–8, 3–3 February 12 w yes yes 1965–66 men Wisconsin Badgers Wisconsin Hartmeyer Ice Arena Madison, Wisconsin 5–3 11–10 8–8, 3–3 February 18 l yes 1965–66 men Michigan Tech Huskies Michigan Tech Dee Stadium Houghton, Michigan 4–8 11–11 8–9, 3–3 February 19 l yes 1965–66 men Michigan Tech Huskies Michigan Tech Dee Stadium Houghton, Michigan 2–4 11–12 8–10, 3–3 February 25 w no 1965–66 men Michigan Wolverines Michigan Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan 7–1 12–12 9–10, 4–3 February 26 l yes 1965–66 men Michigan Wolverines Michigan Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan 0–1 OT 12–13 9–11, 4–4 |- !colspan=12 style="color:white; background:#007A53" | #FFFFFF WCHA Tournament March 3 w yes yes 1965–66 men Michigan Wolverines Michigan Weinberg Coliseum Ann Arbor, Michigan WCHA First Round 3–2 13–13 9–11, 4–4 March 5 w yes no 1965–66 men Michigan Tech Huskies Michigan Tech Demonstration Hall East Lansing, Michigan WCHA Second Round 6–4 14–13 9–11, 4–4 |- !colspan=12 style="color:white; background:#007A53" | #FFFFFF NCAA Tournament March 18 w yes yes 1965–66 men Boston University Terriers Boston University Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota National Semifinal 2–1 15–13 9–11, 4–4 March 19 w yes yes 1965–66 men Clarkson Golden Knights Clarkson Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota National championship 6–1 16–13 9–11, 4–4 Source: Roster and scoring statistics No.Name Year Position Hometown S/P/C Games Goals Assists Pts #FFFFFF PIM 9 Doug Volmar Junior F Cleveland Heights, OH Ohio 29 26 28 54 57 7 Mike Coppo Senior F Hancock, MI Michigan 29 21 21 42 32 12 Brian McAndrew Junior F Copper Cliff, ON Ontario 29 14 23 37 20 20 Tom Mikkola Tom Mikkola (ice hockey) Junior F Copper Cliff, ON Ontario 29 10 23 33 18 8 Bill Faunt Junior F Sault Ste. Marie, ON Ontario 29 8 23 31 6 10 Mike Jacobson Junior F Copper Cliff, ON Ontario 24 13 9 22 22 16 Bob Fallat Sophomore F Espanola, ON Ontario 29 11 5 16 36 4 Don Heaphy Senior D Copper Cliff, ON Ontario 29 3 10 13 44 15 Wayne Duffett Sophomore F Kirkland Lake, ON Ontario 29 5 7 12 14 14 Nino Cristofoli Sophomore F Trail, BC British Columbia 29 5 7 12 12 5 Tom Purdo Junior D Detroit, MI Michigan 28 1 7 8 57 3 Dick Bois Sophomore D Espanola, ON Ontario 27 2 3 5 50 11 Matt Mulcahy Senior F Dearborn, MI Michigan 29 2 3 5 4 2 Bob Brawley Junior D Sault Ste. Marie, ON Ontario 22 1 4 5 46 6 Doug French Sophomore D Espanola, ON Ontario 22 1 4 5 20 21 John Schuster John Schuster (ice hockey) Junior F Wyandotte, MI Michigan 23 0 1 1 0 18 Ron Roth Ron Roth (ice hockey) Junior D Saint Paul, MN Minnesota 7 0 1 1 4 22 Larry Roche Sophomore G Houghton, MI Michigan 2 0 0 0 0 1 Jerry Fisher Jerry Fisher (ice hockey) Junior G Detroit, MI Michigan 12 0 0 0 2 23 Gaye Cooley Sophomore G North Bay, ON Ontario 18 0 0 0 0 19 Dainis Vedejs Senior D Grand Rapids, MI Michigan 0 - - - - Total 123 179 302 454 Goaltending statistics No.Name GamesMinutesWinsLosses Ties Goals Against Saves Shut Outs #FFFFFF SV % #FFFFFF GAA 22 Larry Roche 2 – – – – – – 0 .889 2.5 23 Gaye Cooley 18 – – – – – – 0 .903 3.1 1 Jerry Fisher Jerry Fisher (ice hockey) 12 – – – – – – 0 .868 4.0 Total 29 – 16 13 0 111 – 0 – – 1966 championship game (E2) Clarkson vs. (W2) Michigan State Clarkson Michigan State Williams Arena yes March 19Michigan State 2013-14 Hockey History http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/msu/sports/m-hockey/auto_pdf/2013-14/misc_non_event/section-6-mg.pdf Michigan State Spartans 2017-02-11 2016-03-22 https://web.archive.org/web/20160322232331/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/msu/sports/m-hockey/auto_pdf/2013-14/misc_non_event/section-6-mg.pdf dead 1 – 6 1 Scoring summary Period Team Goal Assist(s) Time Score 1st MSUMike CoppoHeaphy 14:31 1–0 MSU CLKAndrew HamiltonMcLennan and Hurley 17:54 1–1 2nd MSUBob Brawley – GWMcAndrew and Heaphy 34:31 2–1 MSU 3rd MSUMike CoppoFaunt 40:17 3–1 MSU MSUBob FallatMcAndrew 43:38 4–1 MSU MSUDoug VolmarFaunt 52:12 5–1 MSU MSUBill Fauntunassisted 59:32 6–1 MSU Shots by period Team 1 2 3 T Clarkson 24 Michigan State 20 50 Goaltenders Team Name Saves Goals against Time on ice CLK Terry Yurkiewicz 44 6 MSU Gaye Cooley 23 1 References 50em Category:Michigan State Spartans men's ice hockey seasons Michigan State Michigan State Michigan State Michigan State Michigan State Michigan State