Fifty Years Later, Berenson Reminisces About Six-Goal Game
11/7/2018 4:27:00 PM | Ice Hockey, Features
By Melanie Allan
Despite his early successes in the NHL, winning a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1965, and leading the St. Louis Blues in scoring with 22 goals during their inaugural season in 1967, Red Berenson had gone 15 seasons of playing high-level hockey -- from juniors, to college, to the NHL -- without ever recording a hat trick.
His first 11 games of the 1968-69 season with the St. Louis Blues did nothing to change that. In fact, Berenson had scored just three goals since the beginning of the season and began to question his scoring ability.
"I'd been playing well, but the puck just wasn't going in," Berenson said.
But that all changed 50 years ago in Philadelphia on Nov. 7, 1968.
Late in the first period, the Flyers and Blues were scoreless when Berenson swept into the Philadelphia zone, skated around defensemen Ed Van Impe, circled the net and put a shot in the top corner behind netminder Doug Favell.
"When I scored the first goal, I remember saying to myself, 'Thank God, I can still score,'" Berenson said.
As it turned out, his scoring touch was alive and well. The game remained 1-0 until midway through the second period. Then in rapid-fire succession, Berenson scored four goals in nine minutes -- at 10:26, 14:42, 15:14 and 19:35, respectively. Four goals in nine minutes was unheard of, especially for someone who had never scored more than seven times in his first six NHL seasons. After the second period the score was Red Berenson 5, Philadelphia Flyers 0.
In the dressing room after two periods, defenseman and seven-time Norris Trophy winner, Doug Harvey sauntered over to the Berenson and said, "You know, this would be a great game if you weren't playing."
In the third period, the Blues got goals from Terry Crisp and Camille Henry to make it 7-0, Blues, before Berenson made the record books. Even the crowd of 9,164 at the Spectrum knew they were witnessing history, and since the Flyers had no chance of winning, it wanted to see Berenson score some more.
"We didn't like Philadelphia, and they didn't like us, but by the end of the second period my teammates were telling me to look up and listen to the crowd," Berenson said. "And like that, I looked up and heard them cheering for me -- It was amazing, I was probably the last player on St. Louis that Philadelphia ever cheered for."
With just under six minutes left in the game, Berenson lined a slapshot up from the top of the circle that slid through the top corner of the net past Favell's right shoulder.
"Everybody said, 'great shot,'" Berenson recalled with a smile. "It was a great shot, but it wasn't where I wanted it to go. But it was one of those nights. The puck went in."
"It's funny the way things happen sometimes," Berenson said in a 1993 Associated Press story that ran in the LA Times. "Some nights you can do no wrong, and some nights nothing goes right. I had better games. But that night, every shot had something on it."
Berenson is one of three players to score six times in a game and the only one in league history to do it on the road. Despite the scoring power of modern shooters, Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs is the only player since Berenson to score six goals in a game, and that was in 1976.Â
Regardless of the rocky start, Berenson finished the season with career highs in goals (35), assists (47) and points (82) to help lead the Blues to a second Stanley Cup Final.
During his 17-year career in the NHL, Berenson ended with 261 goals, 397 assists, 658 points and a total of six hat tricks in 987 games.
Reminiscing 50 years later, Berenson said, "The great thing is that it was team effort, no empty-net goals or power-play goals, and the shutout was just as important. That's how that team was."
Staring at his St. Louis varsity jacket hanging behind his door, Berenson turned and said, "You know, Noel Picard assisted on the first and third goal, Camille Henry assisted on two of them and so did Ab McDonald. And, ironically, all of them have passed away, so you know, there's a few more memories that come with today than just what I did."
Red Berenson served 33 seasons as head coach of the Michigan Wolverines ice hockey team, and retired following the 2016-17 season. His teams made 23 NCAA national tournament appearances over 27 years, including an NCAA record 22 consecutive years from 1991-2012. Playoff success included 11 trips to the Frozen Four championship, three trips to the national title game and NCAA championships in 1996 and 1998. Overall, in 1,366 games under Berenson's guidance, Michigan went 848-426-92 (.655), ranking him fourth all-time in college hockey wins.
