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I had a chance run-in with Red Berenson, the long-time Michigan hockey coach, late in the summer of 2013 and I asked him a question that made him frown.

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“How’s Zach Hyman doing?”

At first, he just shook his head and said nothing. He really didn’t want to go into details. Then he said: “I think it was a mistake. Our mistake.

“I’m afraid he’s not of the level. I’m not sure he can help us here.”

I was curious, frankly, because I had seen Hyman play in the GTHL and after that for Hamilton of the Provincial Junior League. It wasn’t like I searching for him, or anything. He happened to play on the same team as a friend’s son. Every time I went to watch my friend’s boy play, it was hard not to notice that he and Hyman were just about the best players on the ice.