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Though short-handed, BlueGreens pressed to the end, but MedCity goalkeeper Iker Gonzalez held for the playoff victory. Photo by John Gilbert.

You didn’t have to be a hockey fan to find interesting conversations among the couple hundred who attended last Thursday’s Celebration of Life for Pokey and Cathie Trachsel. The event was held at the Clyde Iron Malting Building, adjacent to Essential Heritage arena, and it was put together flawlessly by Pokey and Cathie’s three daughters – Lisa, Allie and Lindsay. They weren’t sure they’d make it through from the shock of the April 3 highway crash on a California highway that killed both their parents and left all who knew them devastated.

I was flattered when they asked if I would say a few words recalling Pokey’s hockey playing days, and I mentioned that he played on the greatest high school hockey team I’ve ever seen, at Duluth Cathedral, and as evidence they came from behind to beat Duluth East when Phantom Phil Hoene scored a hat trick in 27 seconds. An illegally huge crowd of 6,122 at the new Duluth Arena was magnified by local television broadcast, even though it was a Wednesday night, midseason game. Afterward, the focus stayed on Pokey for the hockey fans in the gathering, but it was fun mingling and reminiscing about those old days of the late 1960s.

At one point, a fellow came up and introduced himself to me. It was Keith Gilbertson, bringing to life more memories.

“I remember that game at the Arena,” he said, “because I was on the ice for East for all three of them!”

Former Duluth East coach Mike Randolph had mentioned that the 1960s were the perfect time to grow up in Duluth, because playing outdoor games in every sport was the focal point, rather than television or video games or computers. I sat with oldest brother Jim Trachsel, who had graduated before brothers Bill, Larry and Pokey came along to bolster the Hilltoppers of coach Del Genereau.

Tommy Paul, who couldn’t make it to the gathering last Thursday, recalled the youth hockey days when there were Peewee teams at every outdoor rink in the area.

“Pokey was a year behind me at Cathedral, and while my Cathedral teams won three straight State Independent School tournaments, the year after I graduated Pokey’s team won a fourth straight,” Paul said. “So Pokey never lost a tournament game in four years of high school. “He played on a team at Lower Chester with Mike Randolph, Chuck Ness, Keith Gilbertson and Butch Williams,” Paul said. “Over at Longview, I played on a Peewee team with Phil and Kevin Hoene and Jim Maertz. We played each other for the regional tournament to see which team would go to the State Peewee Tournament, and they beat us. Then they went down and won the state title. When that was over, our season was still finishing, so we had our city tournament, and we beat Lower Chester for the city championship.

“When you put Lower Chester and Longview together, that was the nucleus for the great teams we had at Cathedral.” There were representatives from all the city’s teams of that era, including Jimmy Watt, the standout goaltender at Morgan Park who went on to star at Michigan State with hit older brother, Billy.

And Benjie Wolfe, a defenseman at Duluth East and later UMD, was the emcee of the event Thursday. Many in the gathering got to know Pokey and Cathie more after sports were over, and they had moved to Arizona for the cold winter months, before coming home to a summer place on Island Lake that became a family gathering spot.

Even though I, like many others, didn’t know Cathie, we can’t escape from hockey there, either. Her brother was Dave Hughes, a tall rangy defenseman who played with Pokey on those state championship Hilltoppers teams.

BlueGreens finish distasteful

The Duluth FC BlueGreens had a fantastic soccer season, going undefeated through the 12-game National Premier Soccer League North Division and winning their first playoff game as well. But in Saturday night’s league championship game, the BlueGreens lost their discipline and their championship to the Med City FC Mayhem at the newly renamed Mark Heikkinen Field. The game came down to a feisty physical battle and the decision-making of referee Brian Wood, who littered the field with yellow and red cards, which saw three Duluth players banished for red cards in the face of a Med City rally through the second half. Duluth led 1-0 on a Felipe Santos goal in the first half. Duluth’s only mark against a perfect record all season had been a 1-1 tie at Rochester against the same Med City outfit, and Santos got the only goal in that game, too. But as they lost players and had to play short, goalkeeper Zeke Foltz couldn’t quite hold on against a determined push by the Mayhem. Finishing regulation two players short, 9 on 11, the BlueGreens rallied themselves to the finish of regulation and through the first of two 15-minute extra-time overtimes. Then it was Iker Gonzalez’s turn to come up with some big saves, though not as critical as the pressure at the other end. A third Duluth player was ejected in the second overtime, so they finished with eight players against the Mayhem’s 11, and when the final horn sounded, the BlueGreens had only the remarkable 12-1-1 season record to cherish, while it will be Med City advancing to the playoffs next round.

Air Show spectacular

As usual, the Duluth Air Show was a summer highlight last weekend, as the Blue Angels put on a stellar two days of precision flying over Duluth International Airport, and the numerous supporting airplanes and jet car also were highly entertaining. There always is some tension in watching the Blue Angels fly their F18 fighter jets in such close proximity through their routines, just as there was for watching the preliminary U.S. Navy parachute jumping team glide down to an anticipated soft landing.

Only on Saturday, it was not so soft. The first two parachutists came down tethered at their ankles until they were about 50 feet above the large crowd gathered below. Then they separated for their landing, but something was amiss and one of the two got hung up and swung up to nearly horizontal, then came down hard while hitting the ground. Emergency units responded immediately and the parachutist was whisked away and then airlifted by helicopter to Essential Hospital downtown. Information has been classified, but reports are that he suffered a fractured femur when hitting the ground.