Pete Krueger was born and played his youth hockey in Milwaukee.  After his move north, Pete served as a manager for the Eagle river Northernaires from the late 1950s into the early 1960s.  He coached the Eagle River Falcons to a State Championship in 1992, and followed that with the Badger State League championship in 1993.

 

Locally, Krueger served several terms as a board member for both the Eagle River Recreation Association and for the Rhinelander Ice Association, and was instrumental in the construction of the Rhinelander Ice Arena.  At the state level, he served for a dozen years as a board member for WAHA, and was a Vice President at different times during his tenure.

 

Krueger’s greatest impact in ice hockey has been as the Commissioner of the Great Lakes Hockey League.  The GLHL is the only full-check hockey league still remaining in the United States, and is composed of 11 teams in Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois.  The league provides a vehicle for adults who wish to pursue traditional hockey post high school, college or junior competition.

 

Since he became Commissioner in the mid-1990’s, Krueger has worked at all facets of not only maintaining and improving the league, but also at expanding it, in order to provide a broader geographical area for players, resulting in greater exposure for adult hockey across the three states.  Krueger has been responsible for growing the league from six to 11 teams, and is still working at increasing the number of teams.  He has also been responsible for insuring that there is exposure for the league on the World Wide Web, and that viewers have access to player statistics on-line, while officials are able to schedule game assignments also on-line.  Krueger is also responsible for discipline within the league, and is not afraid to stand up for what is right not only for individual players and teams, but also for the sport itself.

 

Krueger has been a resident of the Rhinelander area for more than sixty years and owns the Krueger Company.  He is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps, and is also a long-time member of the Hodag Lions Club.  Krueger and his wife Linda have a son, Alex.