USHL Dubuque Fighting Saints

Fighting Saints Honor Past with "Hall of Champions"

Published on October 5, 2011 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Dubuque Fighting Saints News Release


DUBUQUE, Iowa - While the Fighting Saints season gets underway at the Mystique Community Ice Center, fans can reflect on the hockey tradition of the Key City. The Fighting Saints Hall of Champions honors the hockey history and tradition of Dubuque while recognizing the Fighting Saints players who have gone on to play in the National Hockey League.

Larger than life photos of the Fighting Saints NHL alumni adorn the steel beams on the walkway of the Hall of Champions, each showcasing one of the players in action at the highest level, along with noting the years that each played in Dubuque and the NHL. The graphics were produced by McCullough Creative. In addition to the player tributes, each of the original Fighting Saints Championship banners from the regular season, Clark Cup Playoffs, and national tournaments hang proudly along the walls of the Hall of Champions.

In their two-decade stay in Dubuque from 1980-2001, the original Fighting Saints sent six players to play in the NHL. The most famous of these players is Gary Suter, who played for Dubuque for two seasons in the early 1980s. After starring as a Fighting Saint and at the University of Wisconsin, Suter played 18 seasons in the NHL with the Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, and San Jose Sharks, and was one of the most offensively prolific defensemen of his generation. He was a US Olympian, a Stanley Cup winner, and will be inducted to the US Hockey Hall of Fame later this year.

The Fighting Saint with the next greatest total of NHL games played is Landon Wilson, who compiled nearly 400 games in a career that spanned nearly a decade and a half and included stops with five NHL teams, most notably the Boston Bruins. Wilson is followed by Mark Mowers, who played in over 250 NHL games - spending the majority of his time with the Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings.

Once their junior hockey days in Dubuque were over, Peter and Chris Ferraro won a National Championship at Maine with current Fighting Saints Head Coach Jim Montgomery. After their college careers, the two combined to play over 150 NHL games, mostly with the Bruins (Peter) and Pittsburgh Penguins (Chris).

Andy Wozniewski rounds out the Fighting Saints players with NHL experience. Wozniewski followed up his years in Dubuque and, like Suter, in Madison, with an NHL career that included three seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs and brief stops in St. Louis and Boston.

Fighting Saints Head Coach Jim Montgomery is confident that the Fighting Saints should plan on expanding the Hall of Champions in future years - John Gaudreau, of last season's Clark Cup winning team, was selected in the fourth round by Calgary in this past summer's draft, and current Fighting Saints Zemgus Girgensons and Mike Matheson are expected to be taken in the first round of the 2012 draft in June.

"Look at the great tradition that is in Dubuque - you've got Gary Suter, the Ferraros, Landon Wilson - numerous players who have played in the NHL either for a long time or just for a cup of coffee, like I did," he said. "But with the talented young men who we had in here last year, and again this year, I think over the next five years people will be seeing many more Fighting Saints playing in the NHL."

Check out the Dubuque Fighting Saints Statistics

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United States Hockey League Stories from October 5, 2011


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