The team had so much fun playing in the tournament that, even days later, co-captain Jon French could hardly contain himself.

“It was a great tournament,” he said. “What a fantastic group of guys, man. It was awesome, absolutely spectacular.”

Multiple times throughout the weekend the MUPVHC found themselves having to claw their way back from a 3-1 deficit, and every time, they found a way to do it. That wasn’t the only adversity the team faced, however. A couple of teams dropped out of the tournament at the last minute, causing a restructuring of the tournament schedule, unbeknownst to the team, so when they arrived for their first scheduled game, they discovered that they were actually at the wrong rink and that they had to forfeit the game because it was scheduled for an hour earlier.

After a discussion with the tournament organizers, the MUPVHC was able to get back into the swing of things quickly, facing the Flyers Warriors Bravo team out of Philadelphia. The Flyers struck first, but the MUPVHC stormed back and eventually won, 11-4.

Michigan Upper Peninsula Veteran’s Hockey Club members T.J. Maleport (left) and Jon French (right) pose for a photo in the mountains outside Denver. Colorado. (Provided photo)

T.J. Maleport led the way for the MUPVHC with four goals in the game. French had a goal and two assists in the contest as well.

Just a few hours later, they had to face the Louisiana Warriors Bravo, who were the team they were supposed to face first. In the makeup game, the Warriors jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but the MUPVHC fought its way back, eventually winning 8-3. Tom Hyrkas led the offense with two goals and an assist in the win.

In their third game, the MUPVHC found themselves facing the Michigan Warriors, and again they found themselves trailing 3-1. When the smoke cleared, the MUPVHC had earned another win, this time 5-4.

Maleport had two goals in the contest including the first tally of the four-goal third period the MUPVHC had. Co-captain Lee DeForge evened the game at 4-4 with 2:24 left in regulation. The MUPVHC then was awarded a late-game power play at the same time that DeForge scored, and Trevor Ploe scored the game-winning goal with just 30 seconds left.

In their next game, the MUPVHC had to face Louisiana again. Again, their opponents had a 3-1 lead, but the MUPVHC fought back and eventually won, 5-3.

DeForge scored twice, once in the first and again in the third period, and he added an assist on Mike Hagenbuch’s second goal of the game to put the MUPVHC ahead with 9:53 left in regulation. Thirty seconds later, Michael Seratti put the game out of reach.

In the championship game, Ploe and Seratti got the MUPVHC on the board with two goals less than two minutes apart in the first period. Maleport extended the lead in the second period off a feed from DeForge. David Moyryla and DeForge both scored in the third to put the game out of reach as the MUPVHC won, 5-0.

While the wins were great, French felt that the way the MUPVHC conducted themselves throughout the weekend made the trip worth its weight.

“It was fun,” he said. “The guys were awesome. Our guys were phenomenal. Great ambassadors for the U.P. and U.P. hockey.”

French and the rest of the team received many compliments throughout the weekend. The biggest surprise was the fact that he had the same basic conversation after every game about how the team works together.

“Everybody was like, “Holy s***, are you guys fast.’ People were just blown away. I don’t know if they didn’t believe us or what. They’re like, ‘How many times do you guys skate a week together?’ We’ve had practices, but yeah, I’m like, ‘Dude, we’re from all over the U.P. We can’t come together even once a week. Even the last two weeks, we had a practice once a week, and we recruited other people that weren’t veterans (for those practices), that were good players, just because we didn’t have enough to play.’ They’re like, ‘Are you serious?'”

The MUPVHC took some new faces with them to Colorado for this year’s tournament, including goaltender Adam Kerry, who was tested early and often, and after surrendering his first goal of the tournament, he stood tall for the MUPVHC, according to French.

“He was nervous as all hell, but man, he stood on his head,” French said. “Of course, it didn’t help that the very first shot of the first game down there, a guy came down, our defenseman forced him out to the wall. The guy shot from almost to the goal line, and it was just a fluke thing. The puck was missing the net, except for it hit the top of the knob on Kerry’s goalie stick, hit that, rolled down the stick, hit Kerry and went in.

“It’s like, ‘How the hell?’ I mean, it was missing the net. It was just a fluke goal. But, after that, he was just stellar.”

Of course, once each game ended, the two teams would sit and chat in the locker rooms or in the arenas. Those moments were some of the best memories of the weekend for everyone involved.

“The camaraderie with the other teams, and guys coming in. There’s lawyers, there’s a VA. One of the guys, he’s a master gunnery sergeant, and he’s a lawyer, and he does stuff for veterans,” said French. “‘Hey, if you need anything. If you’re fighting with the VA. You need any consultation. You need help? Here’s my card.'”

The players made other great memories along the way, said French. Some players jumped into a river up in the mountains during some off-time. Others made their memories during the road trip back and forth from the Copper Country.

At the end of the weekend, the MUPVHC, which was founded to help give veterans who love the game of hockey in the Copper Country, and really across the U.P., a place to play the game they love and share experiences much like the types they remember from their days in military service.

“We were well taken care of, very well-recepted,” said French. “We always were very cognizant of making a very good impression for the U.P.”

Winning a second Warrior Classic title, that was just icing on the proverbial cake.