Copper Country Hockey Legends last name beginning with ...

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Lorne Campbell born 18-- in Ottawa, Ontario. He played on the IHL Portage Lake Team 1904-05.

"Babe" Colombe born 19-- in -- coached local high school teams in the 1920's; and had been the manager for the Portage Lake teams in the 19--s.

William Oliver "Bill" Coombe (1927-2004) was born in Painesdale. He was a founding member of the Springfield Youth Hockey Association, 1961, in Illinois and a supporter of the Springfield Kings Semi-Pro Team. He was inducted into the Springfield Youth Hockey Hall of Fame and the Springfield Sports Hall of Fame as a Friend of Sport. He was a USA Hockey official, a USA hockey coach, and the coordinator of off-ice officials for the Springfield Junior Blues NAHL Team.

Here is an excellent write up about Coppo furnished by Robert Erkkila of Calumet that appears on the wall of the Calumet Coloseum Ice Rink, reprinted here with Mr. Erkkila's consent:

BRUCE “CUKIE” COPPO
Bruce Coppo was born on December 13, 1944 in Calumet and grew up in the small nearby community of Centennial Heights. It was on the Heights neighborhood rink that Bruce learned to skate and play hockey. Although there was no real organized youth hockey in his early years, Bruce learned how to play the game and hone his skills by playing pick-up games against friends and youngsters from other nearby communities. In 1954, the first formal youth hockey program was established in the Calumet area and Bruce’s organized hockey career was on its way.
It became apparent at an early age that Bruce was going to be something special on a hockey rink. His coaches noticed the fiery competitive spirit, the love of playing the game and the knack he was developing for scoring goals. He was always one of the best players on his team and was annually selected to the Calumet All-Star squad which represented this area in state tournament play.
After high school, Bruce joined the Wolverine organization which at that time was one of four teams in a local senior league. It would turn out to be the beginning of the longest and most successful career in Calumet senior hockey history. He would go on to become this areas most prolific offensive player in a playing career that spanned 37 years and 5 decades (1963-2000 ) including the last 5 seasons as the Wolverine’s player-coach. After the Wolverines joined the Northern Michigan-Wisconsin Hockey League in the late 1960's, Bruce’s name could be found near the top of the scoring leaders year after year. Although he could score from almost anywhere on the ice, he is best remembered for having a wicked back-hander that stymied goaltenders throughout the league. There is no accurate record of how many goals and points Bruce scored in his career, but we can say without doubt that it was far more than any other player in the history of local senior hockey.
In 1972, senior hockey took a short hiatus when the Calumet area was awarded a franchise (Copper Country Chiefs) in the United States Hockey League (USHL). This league was a semi-professional circuit that used players who had performed at the pro, semi-pro, college, senior and Canadian Jr. A levels. The caliber of play was considerably higher than that of the senior league the Wolverines had been playing in. Bruce and a number of other local players were able to make the Chiefs roster and proved that they could elevate their skills to compete at a higher level. Although hampered by injuries from time to time in this league, Bruce still displayed his inordinate ability to score goals.
After the demise of the Chiefs during the 1975 season, it wasn’t long before senior hockey was revived once again in Calumet. Bruce continued as a player with the new version of the Wolverines and in 1995 took on the added duties of head coach. He has continued to coach the team since his retirement as a player after the 1999-2000 season. During his career as a player and coach he has won 12 Gibson Cups with the Wolverine’s while participating in the series against their southend rivals, the Portage Lake Flyers/Pioneers. One of the high points of his career came in 2002 when he coached the Wolverines to a national senior championship in Fond du Lac.
Prior to coaching the Wolverines, Bruce also coached a number of Calumet Midget travel teams over a 20 year period. In 1982, his CLK Electronics team won the state Midget A championship in Royal Oak and a year later in 1983 they won the state Midget AA championship in Marquette. The win in Marquette earned them the right to participate in the national Midget AA championship in Tinton Falls, New Jersey. Although performing very well, the Electronics finished as runners-up by losing to Chicago Budweiser in the championship game, 2-1.
Besides playing and coaching hockey, Bruce has also served the game as an on ice official in high school hockey for 35 years and prior to that for many years in the Calumet junior hockey program. He has officiated state championship tournament games at both levels during his career.
In recent years, Bruce has also played and officiated games in the Calumet Slo-Puck League. During this time he has served on the Calumet Junior Hockey Association board of directors, including a number of years as it’s president.
Along with hockey, Bruce was a very competitive distance runner for the track team at Calumet High School and for a number of years played baseball on the Wolverine entry in the Copper Country Twilight Baseball League. In more recent years he played for various slow pitch softball teams.
As of this writing in 2009, Bruce continues to play hockey at the slo-puck level, coach the Calumet Wolverines and officiate high school hockey games. Next year, he will enter his seventh decade as an active participant in the game.    Written by Robert Erkkila

Mike Coppo, born 1943? in Hancock, played with the 1955-56 Copper Country Bantams, Gundlachs, when they won the Michigan State and National Championships. He was also on the 1958-59 & 1960 Dollar Bay Pee Wee's which won the Michigan State and National Championships. He won 2 Bantam State and National Championships and as a Midget, won 3 State with 2 National Championships. He played for the Portage Lake Pioneers 1960-61 in the NMHL, then for the Green Bay Bobcats USHL 1961-62. Mike played college hockey for Michigan State University 1962-66 NCAA, including winning the NCAA Championships with MSU in 1966 (after knocking Michigan Tech out of the running with a 2-1 OT win over Tech with Tony Esposito in goal for Tech.) Mike was 1966 First Team NCAA All-Tournament Team, and 1966 MSU Co-Captain and Co-MVP in his senior year.  Mike continued playing hockey after college for the Green Bay Bobcats again for 3 seasons between 1967-73 and for the Copper Country Chiefs in the early 1970's.  (Mike and Paul Coppo are brothers.)

Mike Coppo

John Mortimore Croze, (1913-56) Mort was born in nearby Laurium, played hockey for 4 seasons with Michigan Tech 1931-35. He was named Captain of the team and was an All-Star First Team selection in the 1933-34 Mid-Western Collegiate All-Stars. He later played with and managed the Portage Lake Senior team and refereed "scores of semi-pro hockey matches in the Northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan District." Mort was instrumental in getting the Copper Country Junior Hockey League organized; he served as president of the League for many years in the late 1940's -1950's. A memorial "Mort Croze Cup" was bought by the League and presented annually to the League's PeeWee Champions. Mort is pictured here as Capt of the MTU hockey team.

Mort Croze

Tim Curtis, born 19-- in -- a Hancock High School Hockey grad, played defense for UW-Superior 1991-94; and then USHL at Sioux City. He has coached Junior teams and was the Head Hockey Coach? at Superior, Wisc High School. need picture and info here

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