“Michigan Tech Hockey: 100 Years of Memories” just released by Bill Sproule with the help of Calvin Larson, Michigan Tech’s Assistant Athletic Director, is the definitive encyclopedia of Huskies Hockey history. The book is chock full of in-depth information on every season from 1920 to 2021 and was commissioned for the 100th anniversary of collegiate hockey at the former Michigan College of Mining and Technology. Additionally, Sproule’s latest book is an ideal companion to his award-winning work “Houghton: The Birthplace of Professional Hockey” which details the early development of the professional hockey in the Upper Peninsula. Together they provide a comprehensive understanding of the birth and growth of hockey in the Keweenaw.
The primary chapters of “Michigan Tech Hockey” comprising approximately half the volume are devoted to reporting on the team’s successes and struggles. Each of the coaching eras has its own chapter to round out the experience: Early Years, MacInnes Era, Post-MacInnes era, and the New Era. The reign of John MacInnes’ 26 year coaching stretch from 1956 to 1982 is unparalleled and you can hardly have a conversation about the Huskies without invoking him at some point. Joining Tech as a freshman in 1982, I have always regretted that I never witnessed a MacInnes led team on the ice. Anyways, for each season, you get a detailed summary and highlights, a list of all the awards given to outstanding players, and a list of all the coaching staff and captains, game results of each match with date, home/away status, and final score. Many of the seasons have game photos or team photos accompanying the text. Overall, the book is profusely illustrated with at least one picture on almost every two-page spread. If it had been presented in a hardcover format, it would be an ideal coffee-table book as well
But there’s a lot more in Sproule’s “Michigan Tech Hockey” than just a bunch of names and dates. Rather he takes a holistic look at the entire nature of the enterprise including the evolution of Michigan Tech. I was fascinated to learn that when I first visited the campus in 1978, nearly all of the buildings had been constructed in the decade previous. Sproule details the expansion of the campus over the decades including photos of lost buildings such as the Hubbell building and the re-routing of US-41. I was shocked to learn that many of the Huskies early rival teams such as University of Michigan and Notre Dame had a large number of players recruited from the Copper Country area. I had also assumed that Northern Michigan University would have been the most frequent historical rival, instead the greatest number of games were between Michigan Tech and the University of Minnesota.
A special chapter on the ice arenas details the many venues that the Huskies had to endure before the state-of-the-art facility was built in the 1970s. As many readers know, the Dee Stadium was the original location and often featured post-game activities like public skating and dancing afterwards. I was surprised to learn that the Huskies did not have a rink with artificial ice making until around 1953. Instead, many early seasons were hampered by the fact that reliable ice could not be found until mid-December, and although the Copper Country has never lacked snow, periods of sub-freezing weather do take a while to arrive. As such, the Huskies had to endure a grueling 200-mile roundtrip to Marquette for early practices and their winning record suffered accordingly during this period.
I was also tickled to see a few pages on the famous Michigan Tech Pep Band. Originally accompanied by the ROTC marching band, the Pep Band evolved to become a raucous part of the hockey entertainment, at least during the 1980s when I was a spectator. There’s nothing like a crowd of a few thousand people singing “In Heaven, There is No Beer” or playing a riff to intimidate the opposing goalie. The lyrics to this and other tunes are reprinted alongside photos. I suppose having a neighbor at Douglas Houghton Hall who was in the Pep Band biases me a bit in favor of this most unusual band.
Finally, an alphabetic index of players rounds out the volume. Each player is listed along with their jersey number, hometown, and player position. There’s much more to this book than I can possibly write in this review, such as chapters on awards, details on the various athletic conferences, and a splendid history of the Great Lakes Invitational tournament and Winter Carnival with detail you’ll find nowhere else. The Foreword was written by the Huskies’ all-time scoring leader and All-American Mike Zuke.
It must be noted that no university money was spent in the production of this book. Author Bill Sproule donated his time and the costs for the editing and layout, and Michigan Tech Sports Hall of Fame inductee Paul Kerttu underwrote the cost of printing this 300+ page oversize volume. All proceeds from the publication will go to provide funds for the Huskies hockey program. The book is available to be ordered online (MichiganTechHuskies.com/HockeyBook) or in-person from the Michigan Tech bookstores as well as other stores in the Copper Country.
