Jerry Sullivan (ice hockey) explained

Jerry Sullivan
Birth Date:19 February 1937
Birth Place:Noranda, Quebec, Canada
Height Ft:5
Height In:7
Weight Lb:165
Position:Center
Played For:Michigan Tech
Green Bay Bobcats
HIFK
Marquette Iron Rangers
Career Start:1959
Career End:1966

Gerald B. "Jerry" Sullivan is a Canadian retired ice hockey Center and coach who was an All-American and helped Michigan Tech win its first National Championship in 1962.

Career

Sullivan played four years of junior hockey for the Hamilton Tiger Cubs, finishing in the top three for team scoring in each season. After helping the club reach its best finish in 1958, Sullivan was recruited by John MacInnes and arrived in Houghton in the fall. After a year with the freshman team, Sullivan provided depth scoring for Michigan Tech as the team progressed all the way to the 1960 national championship but were stymied by Denver. While the team as a whole had a down year in 1961, Sullivan increased his scoring production, leading the team and setting up the Huskies for a huge year.

The 1961–62 season began poorly for MTU with the Huskies dropping their first two games. After that, however, the team bore down and nearly ran the table, winning 29 of their succeeding 30 games. Team captain Sullivan led the squad in both goals (30) and points (59), and was named to both the All-WCHA First Team and West All-American team. After helping Michigan Tech win the first singular WCHA tournament championship, Sullivan led the huskies to dominating wins over St. Lawrence and Clarkson to capture the program's first national championship. Sullivan scored four points in the title game and was named to the All-Tournament Second Team.[1]

After graduating, Sullivan continued his playing career, playing a year with the Green Bay Bobcats before travelling to Finland and playing with HIFK for two years. He returned to the Bobcats in 1965 and returned to the Iron Range two years later as a player for the Marquette Iron Rangers. Sullivan stayed with Marquette for six seasons before retiring in 1973. In 1975 he made his head coaching debut with Marquette Senior High School and led the team for the next 19 years. In his time with the Redmen, Sullivan won two state championships (1977 and 1988) and finished as runner-up twice. He finished his career with a record of 312–158–13 [2] and was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.[3] He had previously been enshrined in the Michigan Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1986.[4]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

  Regular Season Playoffs
SeasonTeamLeagueGPGAPtsPIMGPGAPtsPIM
1954–55Hamilton Tiger CubsOHA491628440
1955–56Hamilton Tiger CubsOHA481936550
1956–57Hamilton Tiger CubsOHA522121420
1957–58Hamilton Tiger CubsOHA523334670
1959–60Michigan TechWCHA321323362
1960–61Michigan TechWCHA292225470
1961–62Michigan TechWCHA323029596
1962–63Green Bay BobcatsUSHL27295616
1963–64HIFKQualification63472
1964–65HIFKSM-sarja18205258
1965–66Green Bay BobcatsUSHL281727440
1966–67Green Bay BobcatsUSHL16915248
1967–68Marquette Iron RangersUSHL3233656
1968–69Marquette Iron RangersUSHL
1969–70Marquette Iron RangersUSHL2128496
1970–71Marquette Iron RangersUSHL36397512
1971–72Marquette Iron RangersUSHL27255212
1972–73Marquette Iron RangersUSHL413126578
OHA Totals201 89 119 208
NCAA Totals93 65 77 142 8

Awards and honors

AwardYear
All-WCHA Second Team1960–61[5]
All-WCHA First Team1961–62
AHCA West All-American1961–62[6]
NCAA All-Tournament Second Team1962[7]

Notes and References

  1. News: NCAA Frozen Four Records . NCAA.org . 2013-06-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120817163005/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/frozen_4/2009/f4recs.pdf . 2012-08-17 . live .
  2. News: Coaching Records . Michigan High School Athletic Association . January 6, 2021.
  3. News: Inductee Class of 1998 . Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame . January 6, 2021.
  4. News: Gerald Sullivan . Michigan Tech Huskies . January 6, 2021.
  5. News: WCHA All-Teams. College Hockey Historical Archives. May 19, 2013.
  6. News: 1961-1962 All-American Team . The American Hockey Coaches Association . 2017-06-21.
  7. News: NCAA Frozen Four Records. NCAA.org. 2013-06-19.