Wawro-Chambers win Milakovich

By JASON JUNO

sports@yourdailyglobe.com

Ironwood --- It’s not quite a Stanley Cup, but it’s the golf tournament championship Jack Wawro wanted.

He won the 43rd annual Milakovich Memorial Sunday as he and partner Shawn Chambers, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, carded a 67.

Wawro graduated from Luther L. Wright High School in 1996. He’s now the Director of Golf at Cragun’s Legacy Courses in Brainerd, Minnesota.

“I’m from Ironwood, so to come back here and win is pretty fun,” Wawro said. “I’m always wanted to win it. I’ve always wanted to play well in it and it’s the first time we put it together so we’re pretty excited about it.”

They finished two strokes ahead of four-time champions Cody Langdon and Zak Langdon.

Chambers, who also lives in the Brainerd area, said Wawro carried them to the championship flight with his performance on Saturday. Chambers found his game on the eighth hole on Sunday and that was the boost they needed to get the win.

“That’s what changed the game for sure,” Wawro said.

Chambers said Wawro has been talking about getting this win for a long time. Chambers has long wanted to be able to help Wawro, who he called a good player, make it happen.

“I am so happy for this guy,” Chambers said of his best friend in the Brainerd area. “He’s wanted it so bad. I haven’t helped him out and I finally helped him out.”

They’ve been partners here about five times and they’ve been playing in the tournament longer than that.

Jim Milakovich was proud of the hometown golfer.

“Jack started off here in the Pro Shop and started playing golf and he turned out to be a tremendous golfer,” he said. “So I think this is really great as far as for him to come back to his home golf course and win. It’s hard to win here. No one runs away with it.”

After getting birdies on 13 and 14, Chambers almost hit a hole-in-one on 15 Sunday. He’s done it before there and they commented on the possibility heading into that hole.

“He hits it, it hits the pin, the crowd by the green goes crazy,” Wawro said.

It was sitting by the pin. He ended up with a birdie and then they got another one on 16 to make it four in a row.

“We’re sitting 4 under, so we’re like, ‘We can win this,’” Wawro said.

He wanted to thank the Milakovich family.

“Truly seeing all the people, playing with your friends and the Milakovich family makes it fun,” he said.

The course was wet in May and June, but it’s dried up nicely now that the weather has calmed down some, Milakovich said.

“The grounds crew did a real good job because their backs were against the wall for two months,” he said, also thanking the cooking staff. “Gary Mariani does a great job; without Gary this couldn’t run. All the volunteers, sponsors, Brian Rigoni, grounds crew, helps to make this a success.”

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Wawro jokingly asked Chambers if this was a bigger deal than the Stanley Cup. That was a huge deal to the former NHL defenseman.

“The Stanley Cup was what I grew up doing,” he said. “My life was to win the Stanley Cup. Other than the kids being born, the Stanley Cup was my life.”

The 1994-95 season wasn’t an easy one for him. He got traded from Tampa Bay to New Jersey during the season and one of his kids was born. He was living in a hotel.

His new team was good —- really, really good — though.

“It was the best team I was ever on, it was that good,” he said. “I got there and it was like, ‘Holy cow.’”

The Detroit Red Wings were heavily favored to win the Stanley Cup Finals —they were the No. 1 seed and they only lost two games in the first three rounds. Chambers is from Sterling Heights, just outside of Detroit. His dad had a Devils logo in the lawn.

The Devils swept the Wings.

“They can’t beat us,” Chambers said he remembered saying. “I know they’re a favorite, but they cannot beat us.”

Chambers scored two goals in the clinching fourth game. His first goal tied the game at 2 and the second made it 5-2, which was the final score.

“Bar none, the two best goals of my life,” he said. “I was top of the circle, two over the glove. As a defenseman, it was pretty cool.”

He won a second Cup in 1999 with the Dallas Stars. This time they went into the Finals as the Presidents’ Trophy winners. They beat Buffalo in the finals. He didn’t feel as strongly they were going to win as he did in 1995.

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Results

Championship Flight

1. Jack Wawro-Shawn Chambers 67

2. Cody Langdon-Zak Langdon 69

3. Nathan Thomson-Noah Thomson 69

4. Chris Thomson-Riley Thomson 70

5. Jeff Simpson-Paul Sintkowski 70

6. Butch Barbera-Pete Barbera 71

7. Justin Borseth-John Houle 71

8. Jake Bilodeau-Tim Hartung 72

Dave Vaara-Guy Vaara 72

Pat Peskta-Joe Strong 73

Jay Milakovich-Simon Store 74

Cory Wicklund-Jeremy Wicklund 74

Andy Borseth-Todd Roehm 75

Jordan Barto-Chris Larson 75

Jim Golonka-Steve Ogden 76

Joe Brown-Jeff Haapoja 78

First Flight

1. Dan Basom-Tony Lambert, 71; 2. Jared Reid-Justin Reid, 71; 3. Dale Hongisto-John Nevala, 71.

John Pierpont-Ryan Routheaux, 71; Darren Reiter-Tyler Reiter, 72; Cody Minto-Mike Minto, 75; Brian Roehm-Ethan Roehm, 75; Mitchell Hartz-Todd Hartz, 78.

Second Flight

1. Dan Pierpont-John Pierpont, 68; 2. Blaine Sprague-Tom Talaska, 70; 3. Greg Basom-John Wilson, 74.

Blake Zadra-Craig Zadra, 74; Andy Pierpont-John Pierpont III, 75; Dominic Croci-Jack Croci, 75; Jim Carey-Garett Greenwald, 78; Cody Kurta-Matt Kurta, 79.

Third Flight

1. Ross Corullo-Tim Steiger, 76; 2. Tony Gheller-Nick Sunstrom, 76; 3. Drew Bennetts-Daulton Levra, 77.

Jaden Borseth-Eli Talsma, 77; Chris Colasacco-Gary Colasacco, 78; Willie Dupont-Matt Hagen, 78; Kip Damgard-Troy Damgard, 81; Robert Miskovich-Robert Miskovich, 83.

Fourth Flight

1. Roman Tauer-Travis Tauer, 73; 2. Casey Barto-Bryan Nelson, 75; 3. Chris Everson-Keith Everson, 76.

Jacob Abramson-Larry Abramson, 76; Colin DiGiorigo-Scott Erickson, 78; Ryan Densmore-Mike Nichols, 79; Brian Rigoni-Shad Swetkovich, 79; Chris Pavlovich-Tyler Krings, 79.

Fifth Flight

1. Jake Kavinsky-Ben Zielinski, 75; 2. Max France-Eric Mahler, 77; 3. George Zorich-Tim Zorich, 79.

Matt Bessen-Rob Robinson, 80; Pat Bulinski-Scott Wessenberg, 85; Austin Trier-Guy Trier, 86; Drew Benson-John Koehler, 87; Deke Routheaux-Tim Routheaux, 91.

Sixth Flight

1. Dennis Hewitt-Ed Kuula, 76; 2. Corey Osterman-Ozzie Osterman, 77; 3. Jim Pawlak-Mike Pawlak, 77.

Sam Davey-Scott DeRosso, 77; Trevor Dahl-David Fuchs, 80; Mike Becker-Phil Symons, 80; Keith Stern-Scott Sturgeon, 82; Eric Haupt-Dave Nielsen, 86.

Seventh Flight

1. Levi Aho-Eli Harma, 71; 2. Gabe Anderson-Mike Kirby, 78; 3. Tony Matrella-Mike Weigand, 79.

Terry Edyvean-Matt Korpela, 80; Garrett Beger-Mike Gering, 81; Rick Alonen-Jim Usitalo, 82; Adam Mackey-Dennis Mackey, 83; Paul Bernardin-Joe Metcalf, 90.

Eighth Flight

1. Tony Pavlovich-Jeff Pavlovich, 77; 2. Mark Movrich-Dan Pitrone, 79; 3. Gerard Randall-Garard M. Randall, 79.

Dave Kurta-Frank Kurta, 84; John Huber-Scott Huber, 85; Dave Hjalmquist-Jeff Hjalmquist, 86; Gus Ahonen-Steve Hartmann, 87; Don Basom-Todd Brauer, 91.

Ninth Flight

1. Colin Ahlskog-Rod Kemppainen, 81; 2. Neil Beckman-Isaac Boehnlein, 81; 3. Jeff Justinak-Vince Justinak, 81.

Jim Kahila-Jim Linn, 83; Corey Fiamoncini-Jack Fiamoncini, 83; Adam Pavlovich-Mike Pavlovich, 84; Steve Lombardo-Jim Trcka, 86; Dempsey Colasacco-Natt Zuleger, 88.

10th Flight

1. Ryan Milsap-Allen Sturgeon, 71; 2. Dave Sabol-Mark Sabol, 81; 3. Ken Larson-Scott Larson, 84.

Jock Hautala-Ron Longley, 86; Tom Pavlovich-Bill Prigge, 87; Caden Cole-Chase Pavlovich, 87; Jim Sain-Chad Webster, 88; Rick Minkin-John Petranek, 94.

11th Flight

1. Irv Mattson-Quentin Mattson, 85; 2. Jack Greener-Jack Rigoni, 87; 3. Tim Hicks-Al Lundquist, 88.

Brian Pavlovich-Pete Yon, 88; Jim Kuker-Brandon Makela, 90; Dave Corcoran-Will Corcoran, 91; Pat Gallinagh-Andy Hill, 96; Jonah Carrol-Travis Viergutz, 96.