Michigan Upper Peninsula Veterans Hockey Club forward Chris Luoma battles for a puck in front of the Minnesota net during a game Saturday, April 12, 2025, at Dee Stadium in Houghton. (Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — Saturday night, the Michigan Upper Peninsula Veterans Hockey Club will face the Minnesota Warriors in what is quickly becoming an annual event for both teams. Dubbed the “T2T at the Dee,” the two teams will face off for the third straight year at Dee Stadium, with opening puck drop set for 7 p.m.

For co-captain Jon French, the MUPVHC means more than just a place to play hockey.

“There’s a lot of satisfaction in it, and it kind of solidifies that it’s needed, because every year we have this game, we usually add two or three more guys to our roster,” he said. “We’ve got, I think, one more jersey and bag. I think we had 47 bags and jerseys, and all of a sudden they’re all gone. They’re all taken up.

“We’ll have to get more eventually, but it’s just really cool that people keep coming both to come out and play. It’s word of mouth, ‘Hey, can I join? How do I join? When do we skate?’ Then you tell them what we’re all about, and they’re like, ‘Yeah, I’m definitely in.'”

Then, when it comes to games, French says all the guys enjoy being a part of the team.

“Everybody keeps liking it, having so much fun, and going with it,” he said.

One aspect of hosting opposing teams for games like Saturday that French really likes is showing off the community at large, and the community’s support.

“You’re proud of where you come from, and the community that with all its generous support, that’s how it happens,” French said. “When we are able to bring another team of veterans in and show them where we live and what it’s all about, our love for hockey, and how the game of hockey is just kind of interwoven in the fabric of our society up here, of our community, it’s fantastic.

“Word gets around. Other teams want to come up, but Minnesota has been the one that’s just constantly, saying, ‘Hey, we have guys fighting to come up on this trip.’ So, everyone’s signed up, and it’s just really cool.”

In fact, the Minnesota team has enjoyed coming to the Copper Country so much that they are now working to bring the MUPVHC over to their state.

“As far as networking, they got us into one of their tournaments, the Hendrickson Hockey Festival out in Blaine, Minnesota, at the National Sports Center,” said French. “There’s so many facets to these games. It’s a lot of camaraderie, a lot of it’s networking. A lot of it is getting help for each other.

“We’ve talked to many players on other teams, and they’ve said, ‘Well, I’m having a hard time with this,’ and we’ll say, ‘I know somebody that’s solved this problem this way,’ or, ‘Hey, there’s help out there. This is where you go.’ We’ve got our Warrior Facebook page. Every team’s got a Warrior Facebook page. So, we keep in constant connection, and it’s a way that we can kind of look after each other.”

That connection between veterans, whether locally, or between hockey clubs, makes a huge difference.
”The fact that, even in a small community, people know veterans that are having a hard time,” French said. “We can kind of reach out and help wherever we can, especially with their own veterans, their own players. ‘Yeah, I haven’t heard from this guy in a while,’ or, “So, hey, man, let’s everybody start texting until he starts answering.’

“It happens, and sometimes people change their number, and all of sudden somebody on the team will show up at the door like, ‘Hey, man, what’s going on?’ ‘Not much.’ ‘What’s up?’ He goes, ‘Oh, nobody’s been able to get a hold of you?’ ‘Well, I changed my number, forgot to update it.’ It’s like, ‘Oh, well, there you go.'”

Warrior hockey is very valuable to the veterans who play it.

“This veteran hockey, or Warrior hockey, they call it, is mentally and physically good for these players, good for these vets to get together to get out and get some exercise, to get out and have fun, get that esprit de corps, that camaraderie, to feel like they’re still giving back,” said French. “Because, they are raising funds for this entity or for that entity, and it makes them feel good. They join the service, because they wanted to serve, and when they’re out of service, well, what do we do now? They’re just kind off. We have this little group, and veterans tend to kind of coagulate to other veterans, and yeah, it’s good for everybody.”

This year, the game’s proceeds will go towards Tunnels to Towers.

“Tunnels to Towers is a very good organization, where I think 96, 97%, or something like that, of each dollar goes to actually where it’s supposed to be going,” French said. “They’re very well known for making those little tiny homes. A bunch of contractors will build tiny homes, and they’ll buy a chunk of property, and then they’ll put all these little tiny homes on there, and then take veterans from off the street, and put them in this veteran community in these tiny homes. It’s kind of like they’re providing a nice, warm, dry place to sleep and stuff and live.

“Also, what comes out of that community is people reach out and ask, ‘Oh, well, what branch were you in? When were you in?’ It just starts that camaraderie wherein everybody kind of looks out after each other like a neighbor.”

Tunnels to Towers also renovates older buildings, and provide other services as well.

“They also go out and buy motels and hotels, and they’ll gut them, renovate them, and they’ll make apartments,” said French. “So, a full entire apartment complex for veterans that needed a place to stay and help get them up on their feet. They help gold star families. They help first responders and veterans that may have huge medical needs, such as wheelchair access. They’ll come in, they’ll redo somebody’s house and make sure that it’s wheelchair accessible, so that they can get stuff off the counter, they can be self-sufficient, they can cook from the chair and everything.

“There’s a lot of areas, I think, in the veteran community that the ball kind of falls short. I think T2T, and a lot of these Warrior hockey programs, they fulfill that need. They fill that gap.”

The Michigan Tech Pep Band will be at the game Saturday, to play outside prior to the game, and inside during the game. The veteran service officer from Houghton Country, Joe Battisfore will be in the arena. The MUPVHC also will host Adaptive Scuba as well. They offer another way for injured veterans to continue to get exercise while taking part in a fun activity. There will be silent auctions as well.

Michigan Upper Peninsula Veterans Hockey Club forward Dominick Nettell battles for a faceoff during a game against Minnesota Saturday, April 12, 2025, at Dee Stadium in Houghton. (Daver Karnosky/Daily Mining Gazette)