George Cuculick was an American ice hockey

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

who was an All-American for

Michigan Tech Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ...

Career

Cuculick played for his home-town junior team, the

Barrie Flyers The Barrie Flyers were a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey Association from 1945 to 1960, from Barrie, Ontario. The Flyers played home games at the Barrie Arena from 1945 to 1960. History The Barrie Flyers junior team was founded in 1 ...

. In

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

he helped the Flyers win the

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League, a consortium of three major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tournament played between t ...

along with future NHLers

Don McKenney Donald Hamilton McKenney (April 30, 1934 – December 19, 2022) was a Canadian ice hockey forward and coach. He played in the National Hockey League between 1954 and 1968 with five teams, mostly with the Boston Bruins. After retiring he worked a ...

Doug Mohns Douglas Allen "Diesel" Mohns (December 13, 1933 – February 7, 2014) was a professional ice hockey player who played 22 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1953–54 until 1974–75. Mohns twice won the most coveted prize in junior hocke ...

and

Orval Tessier Orval Roy Tessier (June 30, 1933 – August 25, 2022) was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and coach who played parts of three seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins between 1954 and 1960, appe ...

. In 1956 Cuculick was a member of the first recruiting class for John MacInnes at Michigan Tech. After a year with the freshman squad, he became a three-year starter for the Huskies and helped lead them back to the NCAA Tournament in his senior season. He was named as an All-American that season and made the inaugural All-WCHA Second Team. In the 1960 Tournament Cuculick led the Huskies past

St. Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roma ...

with a dominant 13–3 victory. In the championship game, MTC was the equal of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

for much of the game but the Pioneers pulled ahead late and denied Michigan Tech their first championship. After graduating, Cuculick played briefly with the

Minneapolis Millers The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in ...

before retiring as a player. He was inducted into the Michigan Tech Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998.

Statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cuculick, George 1935 births 1999 deaths Canadian ice hockey goaltenders Ice hockey people from Simcoe County Sportspeople from Barrie Barrie Flyers players Michigan Tech Huskies men's ice hockey players Minneapolis Millers (IHL) players AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans