In front of the wall of relics memorializing Fairbanks hockey history on the Big Dipper Ice Arena\u2019s second floor, the latest class of Fairbanks Hockey Hall of Fame honorees was introduced Saturday.<\/p>\n
Dr. Cary Keller was inducted into the Fairbanks Hockey Hall of Fame, while longtime Hockey Club Fairbanks coach David \u201cCoach Zoom\u201d Szumigala was named Coach of the Year and former referee Clay Wallace received Hockey Week honors. The ceremony served as one of the headline events of Fairbanks Hockey Week, bringing together players, coaches, officials and community members to celebrate the city\u2019s deep hockey roots.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was surprised and overwhelmed,\u201d Keller said. \u201cFor decades, I\u2019ve walked by or jogged by or skated by the display here, and the pictures of the people on the wall, they\u2019re my heroes. That\u2019s history. That\u2019s Fairbanks history there. And I never thought that I would be included in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keller, who has been deeply involved in sports medicine and hockey in Fairbanks for decades, said the honor reflected the growth and strength of the local hockey community. \u201cIt represents the Fairbanks hockey community and the way that it\u2019s grown over more than 50 years,\u201d Keller said. \u201cTo be recognized as an important member of that community is truly an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Szumigala, who has coached thousands of young players in Fairbanks over more than a decade, described the recognition as both humbling and emotional. \u201cIt\u2019s so humbling because hockey is such a big part of the Fairbanks community,\u201d Szumigala said. \u201cI\u2019m just one guy trying to be a coach for a bunch of kids, mostly now coaching six-year-olds.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said one of the most rewarding parts of coaching has been watching young players grow into high-level athletes and community members. \u201cBeginning of the season at the Ice Dogs, I had this guy come up to me that\u2019s like 6\u20198,\u201d Szumigala said. \u201cHe said you\u2019re my six-year-old coach. Like, oh my god you\u2019re 20-some years old and I coach people when you\u2019re five. I don\u2019t recognize you anymore \u2018cause you\u2019re so huge. He\u2019s like, I remember you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people are staying in the community,\u201d Szumigala said. \u201cIt\u2019s like the guys that have been here forever, the Nanook players that come just play and then they stay. That\u2019s all the spider web of all the interconnectivity in Fairbanks. I\u2019m not just coaching hockey, I\u2019m coaching life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wallace, who officiated hockey games across Alaska for more than three decades, reflected on the significance of being recognized alongside some of Fairbanks\u2019 most influential hockey figures. \u201cTo be in that club, that\u2019s a high honor,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cThere\u2019s some hockey people up here on those walls. I\u2019m just delighted and honored that somebody would consider me worthy to be part of that group.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also highlighted the unique passion for hockey in Fairbanks, calling it unlike anything he had experienced elsewhere. \u201cThere\u2019s a passion in this town for hockey I\u2019ve not seen anywhere else,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cThe passion here is different, and I mean that in a good way.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Hockey Week concludes, the Hall of Fame ceremony served as both a celebration of past achievements and a reminder of the community that continues to sustain the sport. \u201cTo see those names, I look at the wall all the time,\u201d Szumigala said. \u201cTo be with that group, it\u2019s beyond words.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In front of the wall of relics memorializing Fairbanks hockey history on the Big Dipper Ice Arena\u2019s second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[4908,18064,5],"class_list":{"0":"post-427597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-alaska-hockey","9":"tag-fairbanks-ice-dogs","10":"tag-hockey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115956717027396965","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}