Book chronicles Wausau's first hockey dynasty

WAUSAU - The Central Wisconsin Storm reached the WIAA state girls hockey tournament for the ninth straight year earlier this month and the co-op program has not won fewer than 17 games in any season during the current run.

The Storm, a program that consists of players from Wausau East, Wausau West, Mosinee and D.C. Everest, have been near the top of the state for nearly a decade. That has coincided with the establishment of the Wausau West boys hockey team as a state powerhouse. The Warriors have made 10 state tournament appearances since 2000 and won the title in 2011.

None of that, however, can come close to the level of success the Wausau High School boys team enjoyed the late 1930s to early 1940s, behind names that included Alburn Schoeneman, Edward Hochtritt and Edward Zyduck playing on outdoor rinks in Wausau.

Wausau went undefeated in 70 straight games over eight seasons before the run ended with a 3-1 loss to Waupaca on Feb. 5, 1942, despite the Comets being outshot 31-15.

Wausau never had the opportunity to win a state championship, as the WIAA didn't establish a state tournament until 1971. However, the remarkable streak is recounted in, "The Wausau Vets and the early days of Wausau hockey," a book by Mike Cowan and Scott Hovden that was published in August.

The 140-page book can be found at the Goal-Line Golf and Hockey Shop in Schofield or Janke Book Store in Wausau. There is a limited number for sale at Loppnow's Sports Bar in Wausau.

The 1930s were a time when Charlie "The Big Bomber" Conacher, a forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs was one of the biggest names during the Original Six era of the National Hockey League, when players wearing helmets was a rather novel and unpopular choice for players, including goalies. The Wausau High School team gathered outdoor rinks in the city, including the Wisconsin River rink at Rothschild Park.

Wausau's first organized games date back to the mid-1920s on a sheet of ice on the Wisconsin River that, "measured 30 yards in both directions.

"They had a coach, Bill Maxwell, who couldn't skate," Hovden, a 1972 Wausau East graduate, said of the dominant Wausau High Schoo squad. "That was one of the interesting things about that era when Wausau hockey was in its heyday."

Hovden, a former goalie, was initially more interested in football and baseball growing up and first became interested in hockey after watching the 1968 Winter Olympics matchup between the USA and Canada men's squads. He considered writing a book on Wausau's hockey history shortly after West won the WIAA state boys hockey title in 2011, and connected with Cowan in late 2014. Cowan has authored four books, including the history of the Madison Cardinals and Fond du Lac men's amateur hockey teams.

Just how dominant was Wausau in those eight years? In 74 games, Wausau outscored its opponents 312-52.

The team tried to move on quickly from the one loss in that stretch.

"The coach (Maxwell) treated his pucksters to a big meal after the defeat and they felt much better," wrote the Wausau Daily Record-Herald in a story about the loss quoted in the book.

That meal apparently worked for the pucksters as Wausau responded by winning four-straight games before a season-ending 3-1 loss to Medford.

It was the beginning of the end for the Wausau powerhouse. With gas rationing due to World War II being a main factor, the Wausau hockey schedule was trimmed down the next year with no games against programs outside of the area.

Fifteen years later, Wausau athletic director Win Brockmeyer stated that the school would no longer sponsor a boys hockey team, due in part to struggles to find other prep programs to play against. Wausau posted a 136-32-9 record between 1931-58 and the school would not field a prep boys team again until the early 1970s, when squads at Wausau East and Wausau West were established.

"(Wausau hockey) started slumping a little bit in the 1940s because of the war," Hovden said. "Then in the '50s it started going through its declination stage, and by the '60s it flatlined. ... Eventually, it worked its way up again. You look at hockey in Wausau and it's like a stock graphic. It went from being way up to way down and now it's back up again."

Hovden himself played for two high school club teams in Wausau from 1969-72, the Bears and Rangers, that preceded the varsity teams at East and West.

"It really started with a gentleman by the name of John Sebastian, a Canadien from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He is someone who is credited with introducing ice hockey to the area," Hovden said. "Wausau also was a destination point for jobs in the upper Midwest and that helped attract other hockey players and enriched the talent that was here."

By the start of the 1930s, there were 22 hockey teams in Wausau, ranging from grade-school squads to middle school and senior league It also was the first year that boys hockey was a high school sport In Wausau, and 14 players began the season in a newly-organized conference which also included Marshfield, Nekoosa and Wisconsin Rapids.

The rest, they say, is history.

Tim Johnson: 715-845-0731, or timothy.johnson@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter @timmyjo11.