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It seems a long time ago, because it was, in the mid-1960s. I was just starting out as a sportswriter, and the University of Minnesota-Duluth was just starting to dabble in hockey at the Division I level. The Bulldogs, under coach Ralph Romano, played in the old Curling Club, and while their favorite rival was Minnesota, the big powers in college hockey were Michigan, Michigan Tech, North Dakota, and Denver.

Michigan won the NCAA hockey championship in 1964 with a collection of big, strong and talented players, and one little guy -- a darting centerman named Mel Wakabayashi. In Duluth, we knew all about talented little centers, with Keith (Huffer) Christiansen directing virtually all of the meaningful offense the Bulldogs could muster. Huffer won a WCHA scoring title and became an All-American, shortly after Wakabayashi won a league scoring title and became an All-American.

It was easy to pay attention to Huffer’s play after college, because he played on the 1972 U.S. Olympic team as a naturalized citizen from Fort Frances, Ontario, and then got a chance to play for the Minnesota Fighting Saints in the World Hockey Association. It was not as easy to keep up with Mel Wakabayashi after college.

Fast forward 40-some years. Now it is 2013 and the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team opened its season with an interesting exhibition game against the National team from Japan. Now, Japan is not a threat to win any medals in men’s hockey, and seems farther removed from the comparatively fledgling women’s international hockey.

But Japan came to Duluth and acquitted itself well. Having tied St. Cloud State, and lost to the WCHA’s top two seeds -- Minnesota (6-0) and Wisconsin (3-0), Japan jumped ahead of UMD when Rui Ukita scored on an unprotected rebound to open the game. UMD freshman Ashleigh Brykaliuk tied it 1-1 on a power play late in the opening period. Hanae Kuba scored for Japan at 13:33 of the second period, and it took another power play for Meghan Huertas, another UMD freshman, to score for a 2-2 tie.

   Japan was quick, moved the puck better than the first-game-rusty Bulldogs, but UMD prevailed in the third period as Jamie Kenyon scored a hat trick, including an empty-net goal, and Katherine McGovern, yet another unknown UMD skater, also scored. UMD outshot Japan 43-13 for the game, but Japan’s goaltender, Azusa Nakaoku, was outstanding.

After the game, I scanned the Japan lineup in the AMSOIL Arena press box, hoping to see some name that might ignite a glimmer that I could find a brief communicator. At the bottom of the roster, it said: “Team Leader -- Mel Wakabayashi.”

Could it be? I scoured the lower corridor of the arena and finally a team liaison fellow produced a short, stocky Japanese fellow, and pointed at him. I approached with some degree of caution and asked if he had ever played college hockey. “Yes,” he said. “At the University of Michigan.”

Bingo!

We had an interesting conversation, and I told him I had watched him play in the Curling Club, against UMD, and down at the old Williams Arena, against the Gophers, while writing for the college newspapers, and then for the Duluth News Tribune.

He was extremely humble, and gracious, and I had to drag his personal information out of him.

“Yes, I played against Huffer in Duluth once,” he said. “Yes, I led the league in scoring once. I played with Gordon Wilkie, Wilf Martin, and Tom Polonic at Michigan, and Bob Gray was our goaltender...”

I mentioned that Polonic, in particular, was a huge tough guy who made it to the NHL with his ruggedness. “Yes, I needed players like that,” he smiled. “We won the NCAA title in 1966. Beat Denver 6-2 in the finals.”

What about after college? The NHL didn’t give college players much of a chance. “I signed with the Red Wings after college in 1967,” he said. “They sent me to their Memphis farm team, but after a few games I got the chance to go to Japan and play in their six-team professional league.”

I insisted Walabayashi must have been the best player in Japan by a mile, and he insisted he wasn’t. But I’m pretty sure I’m right, even though he said there were a couple of good players from Northern Japan, and then his brother. Herb Wakabayashi was an All-American at Boston University.

“Herb changed to Japanese citizenship so he could play for Japan in the Sapporo Olympics,” said Mel. “I was the first foreigner to play in the Japanese league when I moved there in 1967. I played in that league until 1979, and I live in Tokyo now. I got my Japanese citizenship in 1994. You aren’t allowed to have dual citizenship in Japan, and I was a third-generation Japanese Canadian.”

After playing pro hockey in Japan for 12 years, Wakabayashi - whose name officially is Hitoshi Mel Wakabayashi -- moved into player development, and rose in prominence until he now is vice president of the Japan Ice Hockey Federation. He is guiding the women’s national team as it tours and plays in preparation for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Russia.

I asked Mel where he grew up. “British Columbia,” he said. “We lived in Slocan City.”

I’ve been to British Columbia, and watched hockey games there, and I’ve heard of almost every little town in the province, since they feed a lot of players to college and pro hockey. But I’ve never heard of Slocan City. I asked him about the town, which is deep in the Canadian Rockies, quite a distance east of Kelowna, and considerably north of Trail, and Castlegar.
Without hesitation, Wakabayashi said: “It was an interment camp, during the second world war. I was born in 1943, and we lived there.”

We in North America, both the U.S. and Canada, didn’t treat Japanese immigrants very well during World War II, securing them in separated villages that a fool could mistake for low-pressure prison camps. He shrugged. “It was wartime,” he said, as though that excused such confinement.

He looked good, like he could still skate few darting moves out there on the rink. Made me wish I had called Huffer. He probably would have come down to AMSOIL to renew acquaintances, and maybe I could have coaxed the two of them to play a little 1-on-1. Huffer Christiansen and Mel Wakabayashi. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore.


ESKO’S NEW FIELD

The big dedication game was last Friday, and Esko High School opened its slick new artificial-turf football field with a rousing 28-14 victory over previously undefeated Two Harbors. The passing of Marc Carlson was virtually unstoppable, and the fired-up Eskomos ran up a 20-0 lead almost as soon as the pregame ceremonies were over.

A skydiver dropped in, and all sorts of other festivities set the proper tone, with returning past heroes of the Eskomos and a big crowd providing a big home-field advantage. The field is impressive, with the current trend of propping up the artificial blades of grass with a few million tiny black particles form shredded discarded tires. Makes for a springier step and expanded usage.

Just for good measure, it rained pretty steadily, as if to prove the turf’s merit. And the next day, instead of a muddy mess, they played a couple of soccer games on the same surface.