Former Michigan Tech hockey coach Mike Sertich watches a game during his tenure as the head coach of the Huskies at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton. Sertich passed away last week at the age of 77. (Photo courtesy of Michigan Tech University)

Michigan Technological University’s former head hockey coach, Mike Sertich, had died at 77.

Sertich was a Virginia Native, who served as a hockey coach for multiple teams, in both high school and collegiate hockey. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December of 2022, and had been undergoing treatment for the past two years.

Sertich took a position at the University of Minnesota-Duluth 12982. He coached the team to three WCHA regular season-titles, two league postseason championships, four NCAA tournament berths, two Frozen Fours and an NCAA championship game.

Sertich won the title of WCHA Coach of the Year four times, and was inducted into the UMD Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005. 24 of his players moved on to the NHL.

After he was replaced at UMD, Sertich began to coach at Michigan Tech, from 2000-2003. After his time at MTU, he assisted at the St. Scholastica’s men’s hockey program.

In 2017, Sertich also worked with the USA Hockey’s sled men’s national team, which he called the “most inspiring and most humbling experience I’ve ever had in the game.”

“It’s been very, very rewarding to me,” Sertich said in 2017. “A lot of them are vets. They’ve been blown up. Some of them were born disabled. You see them and their thirst for the game, the knowledge of what they want to do, it’s so overwhelming. You never hear any complaining about ‘We have to practice this’, and do this, and blah, blah, blah.”

“They’re like sponges,” Sertich added. “They soak up as much as you can give them. That to me and to see how they handle their personal lives, it’s amazing. It really is something. It’s inspiring.”

Along with hockey, Sertich loved his family and the great outdoors.