Stephen Colp is a Canadian retired ice hockey

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

who was an All-American for

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

Career

Colp played junior hockey for the Richmond Hill Rams, scoring 80 points in 42 games in 1972. He came to attention of

Amo Bessone Amos "Betts" Bessone (November 22, 1916 – January 9, 2010) was a collegiate ice hockey player and head coach. Bessone was born in Sagamore, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, and raised in West Springfield, Massachusetts, where he learned to play hoc ...

and was brought in to

with the 1972 recruiting class. Colp debuted for the Spartans as a freshman and promptly led MSU in both goals and points in his first season. For his second year, Colp teamed up with fellow sophomore Tom Ross and the two formed one of the most dynamic duos in college hockey history. Colp's numbers shot up more than half again as much and he led the nation in scoring with 97 points, setting a new program record. Colp was named an All-American for the year but despite the huge offensive numbers he and Ross produced, Michigan State was stuck in the middle of the

WCHA The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is a college athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a women's ice hockey-only conference. From 1951 to 1999, it operated a ...

standings. In the conference tournament that year, MSU narrowly missed an upset of top-seeded

Michigan Tech Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ...

but ultimately fell in the second round. After his stellar season, Colp was drafted in the later round of both the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

and WHA Drafts. Colp missed a significant number of games during his junior season due to injury and ended up seeing his point total nearly cut in half. He rebounded sharply in his senior season, finishing with 94 points but finished behind Ross for the team lead (105). That season, Ross and Colp combined for 91 goals, nearly half of the MSU offense, and helped the Spartans to a second-place finish in their conference. The team made the second round of the WCHA tournament and found themselves in a battle with

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. After tying the first game 2–2 they ended regulation of the second match knotted at 6 each and it took three overtime periods to decide the winner. Despite firing 78 shots on goal, the Spartans ended up on the losing side. At the end of his college career, Colp had an astounding 300 points in 138 games. He is one of only 5 players to score 300 points at the top level of college hockey (as of 2021) but he is second for Michigan State behind his long-time teammate Tom Ross. Colp is also tied for second all-time with 53 power play goals, again with only Ross ahead of him. After graduating, Colp played one season of senior hockey before retiring.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colp, Steve 1954 births Living people Canadian ice hockey centres Ice hockey people from Toronto Michigan State Spartans men's ice hockey players AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans Chicago Blackhawks draft picks Cleveland Crusaders draft picks