University of Michigan head men's hockey coach Mel Pearson played high school hockey in Edina for iconic coach Willard Ikola, then at Michigan Tech for legendary coach John MacInnes and then began a coaching career that included being a long-time assistant for Wolverines Red Berenson. Berenson coached the Wolverines for 33 seasons and led them to two national titles. MacInnes led the Huskies to three national titles. Ikola led Edina to a record eight state titles.
So Pearson had some good coaching mentors. He talks about leaving Michigan to be the head coach at Michigan Tech, returning to Michigan to replace Berenson, his playing career, why you should not climb on the roof to shovel snow off it, picking up pucks beneath the stands at Braemar Arena and more with The Rink Live's Jess Myers and Mick Hatten.
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Jess Myers covers college hockey, as well as outdoors, general sports and travel, for The Rink Live and the Forum Communications family of publications. He came to FCC in 2018 after three decades of covering sports as a freelancer for a variety of publications, while working full time in politics and media relations. A native of Warroad, Minn. (the real Hockeytown USA), Myers has a degree in journalism/communications from the University of Minnesota Duluth. He lives in the Twin Cities. Contact Jess via email at jrmyers@forumcomm.com, or find him on Twitter via @JessRMyers. English speaker.
