Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette After Saturday’s Northern Lights Hockey Night at Dee Stadium, members of the Michigan Upper Peninsula Veterans Hockey Club, Minnesota Warriors Veteran Hockey Team and Equipment Loans of the Keweenaw pose for a group photo on the ice.

HOUGHTON — In front of an enthusiastic crowd and the booming sounds of the Huskies Pep Band, military veterans from the Upper Peninsula and Minnesota took to the ice at Dee Stadium Saturday for a game that raised money for a good cause and also helped the strengthen the bonds between the veterans and their community.

The Northern Lights Hockey Night pitted the Michigan Upper Peninsula Veterans Hockey Club against the Minnesota Warriors Veteran Hockey Team. The U.P. veterans went on to win 8-5. (A full game recap can be read in today’s sports section.)

Saturday’s game comes four years after the U.P. team’s inaugural home game, the “Battle of the Bridge” at the Dee in 2020. That game raised money for the D.J. Jacobetti Home for Veterans, a local veteran who was undergoing cancer treatment as well as local junior hockey.

The lobby of the Dee also housed informational booths for veterans, directing them to local resources that can help them get groceries or pay their heating bills.

“They’ve got people, they’ve got connections, they’ve got veteran service officers, they’ve got the VA, and they’ve got all of us here,” said Jon French, assistant captain of the U.P. club. “We’re from all over the U.P. The whole thing is about connecting and healing and networking.”

Proceeds from Saturday’s game went to Equipment Loans of the Keweenaw. The organization is a medical equipment loaner closet serving children in Houghton, Keweenaw and Baraga counties. It also provides adaptive sports and recreational equipment to people of any age, such as sled hockey.

The group demonstrated the sleds on ice between periods Saturday. They are equipped with blades similar to ice skates.

“It’s very energizing, it’s very lifting for us to see someone that can’t use their legs and go out there and play hockey and have fun and enjoy life,” French said. “… It’s inspiring to see those guys, and we want to help them, we want to be a part of it. We want to be a part of the community.”

French and the other players see the game as another way to serve. At another recent game, they played in Iron Mountain to raise funds for the Dickinson Amateur Hockey Association, which helped them purchase nets and other items. In previous years, they’ve also won national tournaments in Denver and Detroit.

Team manager Shawn Toutant has joined the team on their trips. Though not a veteran, it’s been meaningful to assist the team, he said.

It’s an honor to be able to help these guys for what they give,” he said. “So really, if I can help out just a little bit, that means a lot to me.”

The team has more than 47 players, coming from Marquette, Iron River or Copper Harbor. One player drives to practice and games from Skandia, French said.

Some of it’s a shared love of hockey in a community that embraces it. There’s also the brotherhood forged between players. They razz each other, carrying on their old rivalry between military branches. But they also step up to help each other when it counts.

“I could drive the biggest beater car I could find, I could drive from one end of the U.P. to the other,” French said. “If I break down 15 times, I know I’ve got 15 people on the way there I could pick up the phone and call any time. If I have a bad day or if I’m depressed or something like that, I know I can pick up the phone and call.”

It’s also providing an outlet for players, and a motivational tool. There are players laying off alcohol completely because they want to be in better shape for the game, French said. And there are players who, instead of sitting at home, are being active and enjoying the camaraderie.

“When these veteran players come out, and they see little kids rooting them on in the stands, and see the pep band get excited, it kind of rejuvenates their soul,” French said.

Andrew Herriman of Gwinn joined the U.P. team a year ago after seeing one of French’s Facebook posts.

“Being a veteran myself, and a disabled vet,” I wanted to keep continuing my playing career, but at the same time be a part of something bigger than myself,” said Herriman, an active duty member of the Michigan National Guard’s 46th MP Command out of Lansing.

“I’d have each one of these guys’ backs, and I know they’d have mine too,” he said. “To be able to go and battle out there and leave our frustrations out on the ice, we’ll help one another get over certain things, or mental health or whatever it is, it’s huge to help these guys get over it.”

The fellowship doesn’t stop at their own roster, before the game or after.

The Keweenaw Waters Resort put the Minnesota Warriors up in their cabins. French and the other Northern Lights players also led the Minnesota team on a tour of notable spots in the Keweenaw, whether the Ambassador, the Italian Hall site or the secret passageway at Luigi’s.

“We tried to kind of give them a flavor of our community, what hockey means to us, what the veterans mean to us, and the support and love within our community,” French said.

Chris Ewald, a forward with the Minnesota team, was an active-duty member of the Navy from 2007 to 2011 before spending two years in the Navy Reserves.

He worked in the prison system for six years. Knowing the struggles he’d gone through with that, a friend of his with the Duluth hockey program reached out and told him it might be a good fit.

He’s formed new friendships through the team, particularly Army vets Travis Bennett and Karsten Backlund. Bennett’s become one of Ewald’s best friends since they met a year ago, and he and Backlund built a friendship from going through similar experiences.

“If you need someone to talk to, they give me a call and we’ve got that interconnection,” he said.

Saturday’s game and the surrounding events have made the Keweenaw trip one of Ewald’s favorite moments as a Warrior.

“Just hearing the band from the locker room, it’s like going to a college game,” he said. “It’s a really top-notch experience. The adrenaline was pumping during warmups. I don’t know how you can go up from there.”