=09I found this story on the Knight-Ridder news wire. It was written=20
by a sportswriter from Detroit, I believe.
 
Michigan's Upper Peninsula worships Lake Superior State hockey
By Steve Crowe=20
Knight-Ridder Newspapers=20
   SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. =CF When Bob Arfstrom moved from=20
Traverse City to the Soo 25 years ago, he brought along a serious=20
spelling problem.=20
   ``It's the old story about how I couldn't even spell hockey when=20
I came up here,'' said Arfstrom, 48. ``And now I guess I is one.''=20
   It's tough to find many townfolk who isn't these days.=20
   Sault Ste. Marie is a town of about 14,000, a few thousand more=20
in summer months, encircling 3,400-student Lake Superior State=20
University. With good reason, they have grown to worship their=20
Lakers nearly as much as their Locks.=20
   Forget pound-for-pound or any other qualifier. The Lakers =CF=20
whose season opens at home Friday night against Northern=20
Michigan =CF have simply the best program in college hockey today,=20
the best and most accomplished of the last decade, at least.=20
NCAA champion last April, absolutely humiliating Boston University=20
in a 9-1 final at St. Paul, Minn. NCAA finalist in 1993.=20
NCAA champion in '92. NCAA champ in '88. All with most of a town=20
in tow.=20
   Arfstrom became a hockey booster 22 years ago by joining the=20
100 Club.=20
   ``It sounds elite,'' said Arfstrom, whose Arfstrom Pharmacy=20
is a downtown fixture. ``But all it was, was if you had a hundred=20
bucks you could join.=20
   ``You got a little jacket. People thought that was real exclusive=20
until they found out what it meant.''=20
   It is said with the same contagious chuckle with which he recalls=20
a project Arfstrom was wooed into last year by Lakers coach and=20
second-year athletic director Jeff Jackson.=20
   Gem of the North is the planned $5 million expansion of Norris Arena,=20
Lake Superior's hockey home since 1976.=20
``It was one of the things you kind of fall into,'' said Arfstrom,=20
a former member of Lake Superior's board of control. ``I said, `Yeah,=20
I'd help,' and the next thing I knew I'm heading the thing up.''=20
   Fund-raising began with a donation of nearly $2.5 million from the=20
Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians, who operate Kewadin Casinos in the=20
Soo and St. Ignace. The project, in its final stage of raising $800,000,=20
should make the town an even bigger dot on the Upper Peninsula map upon=20
opening in October 1995.=20
   A total of 16 six- and eight-seat Laker Lofts, or suites, will=20
put Lake Superior with Maine and Minnesota as the only college hockey=20
arenas offering similarly upscale seating. Up to five full,=20
shower-ready dressing rooms will be added, with arena seating expanded=20
from just better than 3,000 to 4,000.=20
   The addition of removable hockey boards and glass, and improved=20
acoustics, are expected to permit the use for concerts, conventions,=20
shows and so on. As payback for the Chippewa millions and in honor of=20
a late, great Soo native and hockey player, the expanded building will=20
be renamed Taffy Abel Arena.=20
   ``You know,'' Arfstrom said, ``the Soo is such a small community,=20
the university is in a unique position. I went to school in Big Rapids,=20
pharmacy school at Ferris State, and it was the college and the townies.=20
   ``They didn't cross that barrier. But Sault Ste. Marie's not like=20
that. The university is the town, and the town is the university.=20
And I've never seen anything like it. I go out there on campus and feel=20
at home, and most people do.''=20
   The school's astounding string of hockey success, Arfstrom said,=20
``kind of revitalizes the American spirit, if you will. I know that=20
sounds really ridiculous, but it's really true.''=20
   For Conrad Ganzhorn, owner of the stately downtown Ojibway hotel and=20
another major member of the Gem's steering committee, ``It's always kind=20
of odd when Michigan comes up here to play =CF very, very difficult,''=20
he said.=20
   Ganzhorn, brother of Lakers team physician Richard Ganzhorn, left=20
Ann Arbor for the Soo 12 years ago. Before long, his hockey heart bled=20
for a different blue.=20
   ``And as you become a champion,'' Ganzhorn said, ``more and more=20
people climb on board.=20
   ``I can remember we used to go down to Joe Louis Arena'' for the=20
Central Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs, ``there might be a=20
few hundred of our people there. Now it's the major event.=20
   ``The whole town exoduses to Detroit. It's a strong, extremely=20
loyal following.''=20
   Anthony Palumbo, a Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, native, starred as=20
a junior on the Lakers' 1988 national title team. When he deemed the=20
New York Rangers' offer unworthy, he pursued a master's degree in=20
business at Lake Superior.=20
   Today, Palumbo, 26, is a commercial loan officer specializing=20
in area land development with the Soo's First of America branch.=20
Local hockey fame, Palumbo conceded, ``got my foot in the door to=20
prove to people here that I can do the job. I'm not going to lie=20
and say it didn't help, sure.=20
   ``But for years in this community, people have said, `Well, you=20
guys give us a lot for our community to be proud of.' But this=20
community gives a lot back to Laker hockey. The guys all know that=20
and say that, but I don't think it ever gets mentioned or noted=20
enough elsewhere.=20
   ``This community gives a ton back to Laker hockey, and every=20
single guy really appreciates it.''=20
   The Lakers' community involvement has gone from little under fiery,=20
and eventually fired, coach Frank Anzalone (1983-90), to lots under=20
successor Jackson.=20
   ``Jeff's basically freed the Lakers to get involved,'' Ganzhorn=20
said of such events as Skate With the Lakers nights and players reading=20
to children several times a year at the library. ``They're communicating=20
and touching this community, and never had that happened before.=20
   ``The Lakers were always kind of kept on the hill; they never got=20
involved here at the social or civic level. Now they're very much=20
involved, and the community has responded.''=20
   In his nine years in the Soo, Jackson, 38, seems to have found not big=
=20
to be better.=20
``That's one of the big reasons we do well here, sort of that personal=20
touch where our people are so loyal,'' said Jackson, who grew up in the=20
Detroit area. ``I mean, every Thursday or Friday that we leave on a road=20
trip, there's like 12 boxes of cookies left in the locker room =CF from=20
little elderly ladies and other supporters. What's happened here is=20
wonderful.''=20
   The flip side is that ``people have learned to expect success here=20
now; they're a little spoiled,'' Jackson said. ``I think we're all a=20
little spoiled with what's happened. Yet it's a good spoiled, I think.=20
   ``I think we've given this town, this area and our students a big=20
thing it never had before =CF an identity. And I don't think they're=20
going to give it back.''=20
 
 
 
 
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|                   Lynn Burke    Newport News, Va.                     |
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