The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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michigan hockey Wolverines Growing Mustaches For Good Cause R ed Berenson's office is a museum of Michigan hockey, and his own personal history. Pinned on the inside wall is a picture of Berenson kayaking in Canada in the 1970s, a full, bushy beard staring back at the camera lens. The photo captures a moment in time that those who know him and have played for him find ironic because Berenson, for 30 years as head coach at U-M, has been a cleanshaven individual that likes to see the same from his players. Thus, when juniors Mike Chiasson and Alex Guptill stepped into Berenson's office earlier this fall with a proposal in hand for the Wolverines to grow mustaches as part of Movember — a month-long initiative in November where men grow facial hair above the lip to raise awareness for men's health issues, like prostate cancer — they expected hesitation from their legendary coach. "It's probably one of the scarier meetings me and Guptill have ever had to sit through," Chiasson said. "But when we brought the idea to [director of hockey operations] Josh Richelew, he said you have to bring it to Red. "Knowing Red, we said to ourselves: 'We better put something on paper and have a plan.' So we sat at home for a few nights and typed up a proposal. "It was probably a five- to 10-minute conversation, and we explained Juniors Mike Chiasson (above) and Alex Guptill came up with the idea to grow mustaches as part of Movember — a monthlong initiative in November designed to raise awareness for men's health issues. photo courtesy michigan athletic media relations it and he thought it was a great idea. I think the thing he liked was there was a start date and an end date, and he knew with so many freshmen on our team there wouldn't be too many mustaches." Michigan hockey has been tweeting pictures throughout November — the event runs from Nov. 1-30 — including updates of those that could soon pass for Tom Selleck (Chiasson and Guptill themselves, and junior