Walter Frank Gacek (June 26, 1926 – May 27, 2020) was a Canadian

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

player who was a member of the Michigan Wolverines team that won the first NCAA ice hockey championship in 1948. He played four years of hockey at Michigan from 1946 to 1949.

Junior Hockey

Gacek grew up in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, and played for the

St. James Canadians The St. James Canadians were a Canadian junior hockey team in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League until 2003, folding officially in 2004. The Canadians played out of the St. James Civic Centre, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As the Winnipeg Braves, the ...

, a Winnipeg team that played in the 1944 western Canada junior hockey championship.

University of Michigan

Gacek later enrolled at the University of Michigan. As a freshman in 1946, Gacek helped Michigan win the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

hockey championship by scoring the tying goal against the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

in the season's final game. In 1948, he played for the Michigan team that won the first ever NCAA

Frozen Four The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...

ice hockey championship. Four teams were selected to play in the first Frozen Four tournament, held at The

Broadmoor World Arena The Broadmoor World Arena was a skating rink and hockey arena located at The Broadmoor Resort & Spa in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Originally an outdoor equestrian center and riding academy, the building was enclosed and converted into an ice a ...

in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The four teams were Michigan, Boston College,

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

, and

Colorado College Colorado College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approxi ...

. The semifinal game went into overtime, and Gacek scored 18 seconds into the overtime period, and then scored again with a half minute left in overtime, as Michigan beat Boston College 6–4. In the championship game against Dartmouth, Gacek scored two goals in the first period and another in the third period to complete a hat trick, as Michigan won 8–4. Gacek starred as the center on Michigan's famous "G" line, which included Wally Grant and Ted Greer. Each of the three linemates scored a third-period goal in Michigan's championship game against Dartmouth. Gacek led all scorers in the first Frozen Four with five goals and three assists for eight points. His six points in the championship game (3 goals, 3 assists) remains the record for an NCAA championship game. Gacek and Gordon McMillan scored goals five seconds apart in the third period against Dartmouth, which also remains a record for the fastest consecutive goals by a team in the championship round.http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/m_ice_hockey_champs_records/2006/2006_d1_m_ice_hockey_champ_records.pdf The hockey title capped off a year in which Michigan had also won the Rose Bowl and the conference basketball championship.

Awards and honors

In 1949, he was selected as Michigan's Most Valuable Player. In 2007, Gacek was inducted into the

University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor The University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor, founded in 1978, recognizes University of Michigan athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made significant contributions to the university's athletic programs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gacek, Wally Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey players 2020 deaths University of Michigan alumni 1926 births NCAA men's ice hockey national champions AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans

Junior Hockey

University of Michigan

Awards and honors

See also

References