Perhaps in an effort to change his team's fortunes, Mike Babcock, head coach of the Detroit Red Wings, reached into his bag of tricks and donned a necktie from McGill University to see if his alma mater really does matter.

The Red Wings, who lost the opening game of their National Hockey League Western Conference semifinal series 2-0 to San Jose on Thursday, will try to even the series Saturday afternoon in a game to be televised on both NBC and TSN.

Babcock requested the old school tie from a McGill official via a text message sent earlier in the week and confirmed he would be wearing the red, silk tie in Game 2 of the series, Saturday.

Babcock, the third McGill player to coach an NHL team (Lester Patrick guided the N.Y. Rangers; George Burnett served in Edmonton), was a two-time all-star rearguard at McGill from 1983-84 to 1986-87, where he also served as team captain and won the Bobby Bell trophy as team MVP.

He graduated from McGill with a bachelor's degree in physical education and also did some post-graduate work in sports psychology. In 146 career games with the Redmen, he tallied 22 goals and 85 assists for a total of 107 points and 301 penalty minutes, graduating as the second-highest scoring rearguard in school history.

He then went on to England as a player-coach before returning to Canada in 1988 to coach at Red Deer College in Alberta, followed by coaching stints with the Moose Jaw Warriors, the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns (CIS), Spokane Chiefs (WHL), Cincinnati Mighty Ducks (AHL) and Anaheim (NHL) before being appointed head coach of the Red Wings in 2005.