Copper Country Hockey Legends last name beginning with ...

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G

Joe Galetto, born 19-- in -- a Laurium/Calumet native, played hockey with Michigan Tech 1964-67. He played with the Huskies when NHL great, Tony Esposito, was playing goalie for Michigan Tech.

Michigan Tech University 1964-65 Seated L-Rt: Rick Best, Bruce Riutta, Terry Ryan, Pete Leiman, Al Holm, Rick Yeo, Dennis Huculak, Fred Dart, Tony Esposito. Middle Row: Assistant Coach Bill Lucier, Gary Milroy, Bob Wilson, Bob Toothill, Bob Brooks, Tom Steele, Roy Heino, Wayne Weller, Head Coach John MacInnes. Back Row: Trainer Brad Taylor, Dave Confrey, Colin Patterson, Mike Gorman, Joe Galetto, Ed Caterer, Steve Yoshino, Manager W. Reid.

James Henry "Jimmy" Gardner, born 18-- in Montréal, Quebec, played three seasons in the IHL; on the 1904-06 IHL Pro teams for Calumet and on the 1907 team for Pittsburgh. He was named to the IHL second team All-Star team in 1905. In 1902 and 1903, he had played on the Stanley Cup winning team, the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association Club. He won the Stanley Cup 2 more times with the Montreal Wanderers in 1909 and 1910. He then coached the Montreal Canadiens of the NHA for two seasons and officiated for several years. He later coached the Hamilton Tigers, the Providence Reds, and the Sherbrooke and Verdun teams. Gardner was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962.

Jimmy Gardner Won the Stanley Cup 4 times, played in the IHL 3 years.

Brian Giachino, born 19-- in -- a Calumet native, played hockey for Michigan Tech 1986-87 and St. Cloud State. He also played for Dubuque (USHL), Redford (NAHL) and Sioux City (USHL). need picture etc here

Dan Giachino, born 19-- in -- a Calumet High School player, plays for the local Finlandia University Hockey Team.

John "Jack" Liddell MacDonald “Doc” Gibson (1879-1955) was  the Captain of the World's first Professional Hockey Team in Houghton, Michigan, the Portage Lake Hockey Team. Born in Berlin (Kitchener) Ontario, Gibson was a graduate of the Detroit Medical School of Dentistry. Doc is in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was a fine player of all sports in Canada before arriving in Houghton. Although he had been banned from playing hockey because he and other team members had each accepted a $10 gold piece tossed to them by a fan after they had just won an important game. At the time, hockey was an amateur sport in Canada; any form of payment would result in a lifetime suspension for a Canadian player. Doc Gibson is pictured here on the 1904 Portage Lake Team, the World's First Pro Hockey Team.

Detroit Medical College (later Wayne State) hockey team in 1897 Standing L-Rt: F.J. Boles, J.L. Gibson, E.C. Hay. Seated L-Rt: F.J. Buggins, W.F. MacDonald, P.H. Willson. Front L-Rt: F.W. MacDonald, W.R. Randolph.  Doc Gibson 1904 Portage Lake Team World's First Pro Hockey Team!

  A young reporter, Merv Youngs, saw news clippings in Doc Gibson's Houghton office about Doc's hockey experience in Canada; he wrote articles in the local paper about Doc's hockey playing in Canada. Merv, who later became editor of this newspaper, the Houghton Mining Gazette, along with other community members, prevailed upon Doc to join and organize the Portage Lake hockey organization.  The new hockey team, with support from local businessman, James R. Dee, was built around Gibson as captain.  It was called the Portage Lakes.  Their fame reached into Canada and soon they had gained recognition for the roughest, toughest hockey in the world. In 1903 a four-team league flourished in the Upper Peninsula (Houghton, Hancock, Laurium, and American Soo).  Then, in 1903-04, Canadian players began drifting into the Cooper Country to play for the Portage Lakes, including such greats as goalie William "Riley" Hern (4 time Stanley Cup winner), Hod and Bruce Stuart (3 time Stanley Cup winner) and Fred "Cyclone" Taylor.  Gibson was instrumental in forming these players into the first professional league in the world, the International Hockey League, of which Portage Lake was a member.  Gibson was the team’s leading scorer, although there is no record of his exact number of goals. "The 1903-04 the Portage Lake team was perhaps one of the greatest hockey teams of all times."  In 26 games they scored 273 goals and allowed only 48.  Only twice were they defeated - by American Soo, 7-6, in the regular season, and by Pittsburg, 5-2, in U.S. playoffs.  Then the Lakes beat Pittsburg, 5-1 and 7-0, for the American Championship.  Later, in Houghton with over 5,000 fans packed into the Old Amphidrome, Portage Lake defeated the Montreal Wanderers, 8-4 and 9-2, to lay claim to the World Championship.  Other teams which bowed to the Portage Lakes were St. Paul, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, St. Louis and the Canadian Soo.  In the spring of 1905 Portage Lake sent word to the Stanley Cup committee Board of Governors challenging the Ottawa Silver Seven to a championship series, and in 1906 they did the same to Montreal.  Both refused.  It was then that the Canadian clubs signed away the great Portage Lake Players. Gibson also returned to Canada to play hockey and opened his Dentist practice in Calgary, Alberta where he resided until his death in 1955. A news article in the local Calumet News date 26 Feb 1916 reports that ""Doc" John L. McD Gibson, the founder of the Portage Lake hockey team, will leave Canada next week or early in March  for the battlefields in Europe. Dr. Gibson is a Captain in the Eighty-Second Overseas battalion in Calgary, Alverta, and has been training with his company for the past two months. Their course of training ... gave him an opportunity to indulge in bomb-throwing contests... he was awarded the Duke of Connaught Gold Medal for the best throw in the Dominion". Gibson is then quoted in the article citing from a long letter he had written to a friend here in Houghton: Gibson writes "all his friends are in khaki [uniform] ... the battalions are lawyers, doctors, crooks, bums etc.... conscription will never be needed in Canada..." Gibson was elected as a Builder to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1976 and inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973 and the UP Sports Hall of Fame in 1972.

Robert Gitzen, (19--to 50) a Houghton native, played hockey for Michigan Tech 1949-50. He and team manager Dick Loutit, were killed in a bus accident while the team was traveling home from a game series at Michigan State on January 14, 1950. An annual award since the 1957-58 season, the Gitzen-Loutit Memorial Hockey Award, is presented each year to Michigan Tech's most outstanding hockey defenseman in their honor.

Robert Gitzen

Mike Gorman, born 19-- in -- a Houghton native, played hockey for Michigan Tech 1964-67. need more info and picture here. He played with the Huskies when NHL great, Tony Esposito, was playing goalie for Michigan Tech.

Michigan Tech University 1964-65 Seated L-Rt: Rick Best, Bruce Riutta, Terry Ryan, Pete Leiman, Al Holm, Rick Yeo, Dennis Huculak, Fred Dart, Tony Esposito. Middle Row: Assistant Coach Bill Lucier, Gary Milroy, Bob Wilson, Bob Toothill, Bob Brooks, Tom Steele, Roy Heino, Wayne Weller, Head Coach John MacInnes. Back Row: Trainer Brad Taylor, Dave Confrey, Colin Patterson, Mike Gorman, Joe Galetto, Ed Caterer, Steve Yoshino, Manager W. Reid.

Frank Gresnick "Pappy" (1914-2002) was born in Raymbaultown (near Calumet), is quoted to have been "perhaps the best local defenseman ever to play the game" by his friends, and foes, on the ice. "The Babe Ruth Company in Chicago had started up their own hockey team." Gresnick recalled. "Along with a couple of other players from around here, I went down there and played with them. We won the championship that year."  At 6'1", 155 pounds, Gresnick, played defense in minor pro hockey 2 years with the Washington Lions AHL (1941-42) he played one year with the Baltimore Rovers of the Eastern Amateur League and later Washington U-Lines of the American League, when working in Detroit, he played with the Windsor Eagles.  After the war, he played for the Marquette Millionaires; where he played with “Ching” Johnson who went on to play with the New York Rangers.  Johnson got him signed on with the Washington team. A local team mate of his said in an interview: "Gresnick was sometimes a showboat when playing before large crowds in Marquette. “At least once a night in Marquette, he’d make a solo dash down the ice, and if he scored, he’d flip his stick up into the lights and catch it,” Owen O’Brien said. “The people would like that.” Gresnick ended his playing career with the 1950-1951 season, after helping the Calumet Radars win the Gibson and MacNaughton Cup that year. 

Nate Grisolono, born 19-- in --, a player from the Calumet Jr hockey league, plays for Finlandia University...

Ben Gullstand, born 1979 in Shakopee, MN; played hockey for Houghton High School then played 2 seasons 1998-00 for St. Louis in the NAHL. He then played hockey with MTU 2001-02 . need more info and picture here

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