UND great Mark Taylor ready to skate 'One More Shift'
· Yahoo Sports
Oct. 17—GRAND FORKS — Mark Taylor was the second-leading scorer in the British Columbia Junior Hockey League in 1975-76, but had just two Division-I offers.
One was Michigan Tech. The other was North Dakota.
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Gino Gasparini, a UND assistant coach at the time, made a recruiting visit to Taylor's Vancouver home.
"Gino came to our house for coffee in the afternoon one day," Taylor said. "My parents and I sat down with him. After he left, my dad said, 'That's where you're going.'"
Taylor didn't even know where Grand Forks was located.
"He said, 'I like that man. That's where you're going to play,'" Taylor said. "I didn't tour down there. I didn't know anything about it. I signed and hoped for the best."
Taylor went on to become one of the most impactful players in UND history.
He tallied 265 career points, the program record at the time. In the 46 years since he left, only Greg Johnson (272) has surpassed that total.
When Taylor arrived in Grand Forks, UND had posted three consecutive sub-.500 seasons. As an upperclassman, he captained UND to back-to-back NCAA national championship games. UND won it during his senior season of 1979-80.
"He could do it all," former teammate Cary Eades said. "He was a Swiss Army Knife. He could score, defend, take draws. . . he was just an extremely reliable player. Besides his playing ability, he was an outstanding leader. Anybody that played with him really admired him."
On Saturday night, Taylor will skate "One More Shift" before UND's series finale against Bentley.
He is the 11th former UND player to be honored with "One More Shift." Jim Archibald, Brandon Bochenski, Dave Christian, Ed Belfour, Matt Greene, Tony Hrkac, Ryan Duncan, Dixon Ward, Dennis Hextall and Zach Parise also have done it.
"It's a great honor," Taylor said. "I always love coming back. When you're playing, you don't think of personal awards. You always think of team success. When you look back and somebody recognizes you for something, it's very humbling."
Taylor's career peaked as a senior in 1979-80.
UND players were astonished that Taylor was not selected for the Canadian Olympic Team that season. If he had been, he wouldn't have played for UND that year.
"We were just absolutely shocked," Eades said. "He had a burr up his saddle that year, not that he needed it. He was really dominant."
Taylor tallied 92 points that season, the second-highest point total in UND history.
The Hockey News named Taylor the U.S. College Hockey Player of the Year. It was one year before the Hobey Baker Award began.
UND has long recognized its Hobey Baker winners, Hrkac and Duncan, with displays in Ralph Engelstad Arena. It plans to add Taylor alongside them.
In the 1980 NCAA national championship game, Taylor broke his left clavicle while setting up UND's first goal.
His teammates walked into the locker room at the intermission to find Taylor lying on the ground.
"He said if we didn't go out and win the championship, he was going to beat the hell out of all of us with his one good arm," teammate Marc Chorney told the Herald after the game.
Taylor's point was taken. UND beat Northern Michigan 5-2 behind four goals from Doug Smail and five points from Phil Sykes.
"When I came in, we were a mid-to-lower pack team," Taylor said. "You could see the changes slowly happening with the talent that was brought in over the next couple of years.
"Rube (Bjorkman) was a very good coach. I have a lot of respect for the man. But when Gino took over, we really saw a change at the top. The bar was set higher. Expectations were higher. Gino did a great job pushing the right buttons. Then, we took off."
It culminated in a championship. Several of Taylor's 1980 teammates are expected in Grand Forks this weekend, including Skyes, Chorney, Eades, Howard Walker, Dean Dachyshyn, Dusty Caroll, Pierre Lamoureux and Troy Magnuson.
"I look at the programs nowadays with the transfer portal and stuff and players changing teams so frequently," Taylor said. "I liked it better the way we did it. We got a group, worked together trying to build something over four years and we ended up winning it all the last year."