Pat O'Donnell Civic Center hosts alumni games

By MEGAN HUGHES

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Ironwood — A crowd gathered at the Pat O’Donnell Civic Center on Saturday to enjoy an alumni hockey game, bringing together hockey players across generations to play a series of games.

“We allowed the high school kids to participate, and our oldest player today was 67. It was open for everyone and we tried to divide the teams as fairly as we could,” said Civic Center manager Jay Kivisto. “This year we tried to keep family members together, so if a father and son played, we tried to keep them on the same team.”

Kivisto said that planning for the event began in November, after the hockey team had set their schedule for the season.

“It took a lot of volunteers,” he said, “We had four employees involved, an additional four working the ticket sales, the refs, who volunteered their time, as well as multiple sponsors.”

He explained that there were three teams rotating time on the ice, each having their own sponsor.

“Coming into the week we were at two teams, but within the week we started picking up people who were registering late. It wasn’t enough for four teams, so we split it into three teams,” he said. “Registration ended one hour before the first game.”

The teams determined their own positions on the ice, according to Kivisto.

The money raised from a 50/50 raffle will be used for helping with the next alumni game.

“The entire weekend was all on donations. We don’t charge, and don’t ask for any amount from any player, if they want to donate and give money back to the program, that’s great,” he said.

The games were entirely for fun, but Kivisto joked about how he was sure that the teams would have an unofficial winner in their minds.

He explained that the game brought in a good mix of players — 47 people signed up, about a third of which were high school students.

One player came from Miami for the game. Nate Kehoe of Miami grew up in the area, graduating from Ironwood in 2000.

“I’ve been down there about eight and a half years. Any time there is an alumni game, I’m making it,” said Kehoe. “It’s the camaraderie with the guys. This year we were missing a lot of the guys from my era, but you get to know some of the younger guys and the older guys.”

He was surprised about the pace of play. “That first game was really fast paced,” said Kehoe.

Kehoe said that while there are rinks around in Miami, it is a bit different. “When you step outside and it’s 80 degrees, you really notice the difference.”

Kehoe was involved with the Polar Bear Hockey Club since he was a little kid, later joining the Ironwood high school team. “We would play Houghton, Hancock, Calumet. The state champ was always out of our conference each year,” he said. “There are a lot of good players that have come out of this area over the years.”

When asked about how it feels playing alongside the younger players, he said they are “young and fast,” but that he could keep up pretty well.

Kehoe wore the No. 7 at the game, a tradition he started years ago, wearing it in the honor of a friend of his who would wear that number at games, Chris Cozzi.