Wally Akervik

2022 Inductee
Wally Akervik was born in Duluth, Minn., and was a four-sport athlete at Duluth Central High School, helping his Trojan team reach the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament.

Ann Ninnemann

2022 Inductee
Ann Ninnemann was born in St. Paul, Minn., and began playing ringette at the age of four.  By her own admission, she played ringette through the sixth game and then hesitantly transitioned to ice hockey in the seventh grade.

Pat "Duffy" Dyer

2022 Inductee
Pat “Duffy” Dyer was born in Virginia, Minn., and played youth hockey in that Iron Range community.  After high school, he graduated from UW-Superior with a bachelor’s degree in Medical Technology and would go on to a long career at St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth.

Rebecca Hamilton-Hildebrandt

2022 Inductee
Rebecca Hamilton-Hildebrandt (or “Coach Becky” as she is better known locally) was born and raised in Sauk Prairie and began playing hockey in 1982, the first year that Sauk Prairie had a hockey association.
  • LeRoy Lee - 1998
LeRoy Lee was born in Erskine, Minn. and played high school hockey at Edina High School and college hockey at Augsburg College in the Twin Cities.  A defenseman throughout his high school and college career, Lee served as the captain for the Auggie hockey team in his junior and senior years.

As a builder of Wisconsin Hockey, Lee was a co-founder of the Ashland Youth Hockey Association.  He served as the group’s first president from 1969-1972, and is commonly referred to as the “godfather” of hockey in Ashland.  He formed the first city team, the Ashland Blades, which traveled throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota competing against other teams.

Lee has coached at all levels during his career, from mini-mites to high school, and many of his teams have reached the state tournament.  Lee has also served as a referee at all levels since 1969.  Lee helped found the Bay Area Youth Hockey Association in 1983 and was instrumental in raising a half-million dollars toward construction of Ashland’s first indoor ice arena, the Bay Area Civic Center, which opened in 1986.
 
Lee served on active duty in the United States Coast Guard and in the USCG Active Reserve.  Moving to Ashland in 1967, Lee began work for the North Wisconsin Abstract Company, which he later purchased and continues to operate.  He is an active member of the Chequamegon Board of Realtors.  Over the course of his residence in Ashland, Lee coached and was president of the Ashland Little League Baseball Association, was president of the Ashland Rotary Club, a member  of the City of Ashland Park Board and served on the Boards of Directors of  Northland Bank, the City of Ashland Water Utility Commission and the Bay Area Civic Center.  He was selected Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce Person of the Year and VFW Person of the Year.