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.

Karyn Bye

2023 Inductee
Karyn Bye was born and raised in River Falls where she played youth hockey in a generation where she needed to hide her gender to play, and, in fact, used her initials K.L. Bye as an identity, rather then her first name.

Sis Paulsen

2023 Inductee
Sis Paulsen was born and raised in Eau Claire. She played youth hockey for the Eau Claire Youth Hockey Association, and high school hockey for Eau Claire North High School.

Terry Watkins

2023 Inductee
Terry Watkins was born and raised in St. Paul, Minn., where he played youth hockey followed by high school hockey at Cretin High School.

Paul Doud

2024 Inductee
Paul Doud was born in Houghton, Mich., and played youth hockey in the Copper Country Youth Hockey program in Houghton.

Molly Engstrom

2024 Inductee
Molly Engstrom was born and raised in the small northwestern town of Siren, Wis., and played youth hockey from the ages of six to twelve in nearby Webster.

Sue Pope

2024 Inductee
Sue Pope from Madison has been an “influencer” when it comes to girls’ and women’s hockey long before that term became popular on social media.

John Riley graduated from Madison West high school in 1936. He enrolled in the University of Wisconsin just after his favorite sport hockey, had been dropped by the University.  So he proceeded to letter in tennis.
 
He continued to play hockey for the Madison Cardinals, a men’s team comprised mainly of university students. Before and after World War II, Riley starred for this team.
 
By the late 1940s and early 1950s, Riley became involved with developing another generation of Madison hockey players. He instructed and coached numerous youth teams and in 1962, his Madison Hawks won the national juvenile title.
 
In 1963, he was hired part time by the University of Wisconsin to coach the revived University of Wisconsin hockey team. In three years, the team compiled a 34-23-3 record. The stage was set for the University to hire a full time hockey coach.
 
On February 22, 1966, the University of Wisconsin defeated the University of Minnesota 5-4 in overtime. It was Riley’s most significant win. The story that is remembered has Riley predicting a Wisconsin victory that afternoon at the Blue Line Club luncheon.