The 1986-87 BGSU Hockey Team is one of the greatest hockey teams to play at BGSU. After going on to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and National College Athletic Association playoffs, multiple players from this season went on to play professionally. BGSU alumni Helen Rose Marketti is writing a book to be released on March 1 describing the impressive season.
Skill, Size, Strength & Speed features interviews with players, coaches, officials, and more from the team that went to the CCHA Championship and the NCAA Quarterfinals.
“The book is about the team itself, how exciting that time period of our lives was,” Marketti said.
As a former student, Marketti became a big fan of BGSU hockey.
“I was a freshman when they won the 1984 national championship, so I remember that as well. But 86 to 87 I think, is when we really got hooked on hockey,” Marketti said.
After graduating in 1988 with a bachelor’s in elementary education, she became a teacher but wrote as a hobby.
“I have written for two magazines, and I still do, the North Coast Voice and Lifestyles Magazine. So the last 18 years, I’ve interviewed famous rock stars and celebrities,” Marketti said. “The first book that was released, it will be a year on February 9, was called The Long & Winding Phone. Obviously a play on The Beatles’ song, The Long and Winding Road. And that’s just a collection of Beatles related interviews.”
After focusing on music-related interviews for decades, she decided to write a book on one of her other passions.
“My BG friends, we get together a couple of times a year. We reminisce, and it always goes back to hockey,” Marketti said. “One of my girlfriends, Beth, she said ‘You’re the writer of the group, why don’t you put something together about that time in our life and how cool that team was?’”
Marketti began researching the team in July of 2023 and decided to write a book of interviews. With the help of Scott Paluch, a junior hockey player during the 1986-87 season, she was able to find and conduct 50 interviews to include in the book.
“I reached out to some of the guys who I found on Facebook, most were on board, which was very exciting. And then Scott Paluch, he was one of the masterminds, he found most of the other guys for me,” Marketti said.
The book also includes interviews with the head coach at the time, Jerry York, assistant coach, Buddy Powers, players, Todd Flichel, Iain Duncan, Nelson Emerson and Gary Kruzich and BG hockey fan, Scott Slater. The title of the book came from an interview with Buddy Powers.
“He said when they were recruiting the guys for BG, they looked for skill, size, strength and speed,” Marketti said. “And I kept looking at that sentence after I put it down, and I kept going back to it. It just seemed like an appropriate title for the book, because that’s exactly what that team was.”
The book contains pictures that Marketti found in the athletic archives.
“I went through every single file of these guys,” Marketti said. “Every player has a picture of how they looked in the 86-87 program, they have a photo up close of them wearing their BG jersey and each player also has two action shots on the ice.”
The book contains advice for current hockey players. One player, Quinn Emerson’s father, Nelson Emerson was a freshman on the 86-87 team.
“I asked all of the guys to give me advice for new hockey players, whether it’s a young kid or new hockey players coming to BG, every single one of them gave a piece of advice from what they’ve gone through,” Marketti said.
She decided to focus on the 1986-87 team for two reasons. She attended BGSU at the time and because of how talented the team was. That season the team won the CCHA regular season title.
“When that final buzzer went off, it was just electric. The team was piling on top of each other. Todd Flichel and Iain Duncan, who were the co-captains, were carrying the championship banner around,” Marketti said.
Skill, Size, Strength & Speed is set to release on March 1. There will be a book signing event at the home hockey game on the same day. Marketti and some of the players will be there signing copies.
“March 1 is the launch date, and it will be available at the BG ice arena, and that’s the last home hockey game of the season,” Marketti said.
To Marketti, this book is more than just a book about hockey, it’s a book about a community that she will forever remember.
“It’s a labor of love for me. It was such a special time for me when I was a student at BG and how big of a deal hockey was to the campus and to the community,” Marketti said. “I love the way we felt when we sat in the arena and I never thought that I’d see or talk to these guys ever again, but they were very impactful on my memories.”
Starting on March 1 the book will be available at The Slater Family Ice Arena and on Amazon. For more information, use the QR code to go to Marketti’s website which features some of her interviews and articles.
