Saultites organize to fight for Mike Zuke’s outdoor rink

Two city councillors will drop the gloves Monday to jointly fight to re-open the Bayview rink where Ron Francis, Marty Turco, Paul Maurice and other hockey greats once honed their skills. 

Ward 5 Coun. Matthew Scott and Ward 3's Matthew Shoemaker will introduce a resolution calling for bringing back the legendary Mike Zuke outdoor rink.

Zuke was a mail carrier and hockey coach whose Bantam AAA team won one gold medal and struck silver three times in provincial tournaments.

The rink in the backyard of his home at 724 Metzger St. was a labour of love, maintained from the 1950s until he died in 1998.

After that, volunteers dug into their own pockets to build an outdoor rink in his honour in Mike Zuke Memorial Park off Pittsburgh Avenue and Wallace Terrace.

"The legacy of one of Sault Ste. Marie’s most selfless individuals should continue to be honoured in a way that is most fitting," says the Scott/Shoemaker resolution prepared for City Council.

"Sault Ste. Marie has a long and storied history of hockey throughout the community.... In the past year the importance of outdoor activities, for both physical and mental health, has increased due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic."

The two councillors say there's considerable demand for an outdoor rink in Ward 5.

They're calling for funds for reopening and operating a community outdoor rink at Mike Zuke Memorial Park to be included in the 2022 budget for council’s consideration.

Hockey greats who used the Zuke rink included both Saultites as well as future NHLers who came to Sault Ste. Marie to play in their early years and popped over to Bayview for a skate.

There was Mike Zuke Jr., who played eight seasons with St. Louis Blues and Hartford Whalers.

Others included Joe Thornton and Steve Sullivan; and Paul DiPietro, who scored twice in the Montreal Canadiens' Stanley Cup-winning game in 1993.

Ryan Zuke, a grandson of Mike Zuke Sr. who now works as a sports reporter for MLive.com and Ann Arbor News, says that the Zuke place didn't have an outside tap, so a hole was made through the kitchen wall to allow water to be drawn from an inside faucet.

"My grandparents lived paycheck-to-paycheck, but as long as they had the rink, they were happy," Ryan wrote in a 2016 column extolling the benefits of generational ice surfaces.

"The inside of their house was old and worn, but the rink outside was a masterpiece. The kids would put their skates on in the house, chewing up the linoleum floors."

Ryan says the lights used for night skating used a lot of electricity.

"The fuse box was so small that sometimes when my grandma would use the iron or toaster inside, it would cut the lights off outside, causing my grandpa, who always would join in and play with the kids, to yell: 'Unplug the toaster' or 'stop ironing.'"

In 1984, Mike and June Zuke were awarded the Medal of Merit – Sault Ste. Marie's highest honour – for their help in introducing so many local youth to the sport.

Last week on social media, Saultite Peter Florio was trying to resurrect interest in an online Mike Zuke petition he started six years ago.

"This [rink] has been closed down for years and would be extremely beneficial to the re-growth of the West End community," Florio said Friday on Facebook. "Historically I consider Mike Zuke to be more of our community than Esposito, yet they have preserved the Esposito park in a less-populated community."

As of 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Florio's petition had 311 signatures, but all but nine were from 2015.

"Together as a community we can maintain this rink, we can work together for our youth," the petition states.

"With your signature, we can show that we together want our rink back, we together will work to make it happen, and maybe the city will recognize and help us out on this venture!"

"Mike Zuke was a very big part of Sault Ste. Marie hockey and the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. The history alone is enough to resurrect this outdoor public rink!" Florio said.

Monday's City Council meeting will be livestreamed on SooToday starting at 4:30 p.m.