Gremlins hockey honors past, present, with alumni games

HOUGHTON -- The Houghton Gremlins hockey team, looking to build off the momentum of their second state championship in school history in 2026, held a set of alumni hockey games Saturday at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena. Several goals were scored, but the louder noise through the afternoon was the sound of laughter and reminiscing as players got to either meet other alumni, or catch up with old friends and teammates.

Gremlins coach Micah Stipech was hoping that bringing alumni together would help them connect and share their own stories, which is exactly what happened.

"We’re so fortunate to have the history and tradition that we have here," said Stipech. "For all the alumni from different generations to be able to connect, what they share in common has been wonderful. It’s what we were hoping would happen, that everybody would just enjoy themselves and be able to share in what we’ve got."

Between 50 and 60 players returned for games, with another several watching from the stands. Getting to hear some of the stories was just part of the fun.

"I think, regardless of how well your team ends up doing on any given year, you’ve all got something in common that you went through with brothers," Stipech said. "There’s something about that team experience in a sport like hockey that everybody shares, regardless if you played with them or not. We’re really fortunate to have it, and there’s a place where it’s 123 years of history that we’re connecting here, and trying to move that on to the next generation.

"If you don’t purposefully try to do that, you can lose it, and you don’t want to lose something that special."

For Stipech, there were other bonuses. He played in the "Legends" game, which featured players from the Class of 1975 through players from the Class of 1998. Given that he graduated from Houghton in 1992, he felt like he was among the youngest players on the ice for that game.

"It was a lot of fun now that I’m old guys' freshman class, so that was fun, just the laughs," he said. "When you get together with old friends, it comes right back. That’s the best part for everybody, getting to play with guys that were older than me that I looked up to. I think that’s a really neat thing as well. It’s fun."

Another special moment for Stipech was the fact that his brother, Nick, played on the opposite team from him.

"It was just nice to see him playing again," said Stipech. "I think It’d been like 25 years since he played, so that was neat. He was playing with his friends and guys that Joe Burcar coached, and lots of connections."

Burcar, who graduated from Houghton in 1983 and now coaches the Hancock Bulldogs, also played in the game.

Houghton is not the only school with a lengthy history with the game. Stipech hopes that by hosting an event like this, it will help keep the younger generations interested in the history of Gremlins hockey as they get older.

"That shared experience, that shared history, keeping that strong, there’s nothing like it," Stipech said. "Other teams and schools in the Copper Country have similar history. Where we live in a special place.

"To be able to continue that, a lot of the history I think that our alumni aren’t aware of, like in our program going all the way back to 1903, we’re going to try to do a little bit more with that in upcoming (years.)"

With Houghton earning its first state title since 1982, this seemed like the perfect moment to hold an event like this, said Stipech.

"We thought it was a good time to do that with momentum," he said. "Now that you have a reach with social media, the last time we did it was 2003. I remember how excited I was to come back for it. Don Miller put that together, sending letters through the mail, which seems archaic now, but I remember how much fun that was.

"This just seemed like a great year to do that because we had a big reach and to take advantage of that. If we do it in the future, we’d like to do it with an all-school reunion in conjunction. It takes a lot of people coming together to pull something off like this. So, hopefully now we’ve an alumni group that we can stay in touch with, (we can) continue it."

The other two games featured a "Pre-Legends" pair of teams and a "Young Guns" pair of teams. All four rosters featured players still currently on the Portage Lake Pioneers, and other younger Gremlins stars such as former Michigan Tech captain Raymond Brice, former Finlandia captain Connor Hannon, and current Michigan Tech goaltender Bryant Lee.

Editor’s note: For more photos, check out B6.