Former UMD hockey coach Mike Sertich dies at 77

Mike Sertich, who coached Minnesota Duluth’s men’s hockey program from 1982 to 2000, died Thursday at age 77 after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. He was in hospice care in Duluth.

A native of Virginia, Minn., Sertich was a defenseman for the Bulldogs in the late 1960s before becoming a teacher and coach in Grand Rapids. He was an assistant to Gus Hendrickson when Rapids won the Minnesota state high school hockey title in 1975; Hendrickson took the UMD coach job that fall, bringing Sertich along as an assistant.

Sertich took over as head coach in 1982-83 and the Bulldogs reached unprecedented heights, making three consecutive eight-team NCAA tournaments. In 1984, UMD lost to Bowling Green in four overtimes in Lake Placid, N.Y., in the national title game, a loss that stuck with Sertich for a long time. The Bulldogs would not win their first national title until 2011.

Sertich coached Hobey Baker Award winners Tom Kurvers, Bill Watson and Chris Marinucci and 11 All Americas, including Brett Hull. His early success led to a 1985 job offer from the Minnesota Gophers, which he turned down.

“I’m not a big-city guy; I’m a Range, Duluth, hunting and fishing guy,” Sertich told Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse in early 2023. “I felt like with the Gophers, too many people would want a piece of you. Those were good people, but too many of them.”

Sertich’s win-loss record at UMD was 350-328-44; he won the Spencer Penrose Award as NCAA coach of the year in 1984 and was a four-time WCHA coach of the year. After stepping down at UMD, Sertich coached Michigan Tech for three seasons, going 25-69-9.

He is survived by three children and five grandchildren.