GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Like all longtime coaches, Mike Petrusma had his sayings. "Bear down," he shouted during faceoffs. "High and hard," he'd often say. Three words, though, stood out from the rest: "Like a machine."
"You run your systems; you make your changes; you don't go outside of the framework of what we do, just as a machine would," said Josh Petrusma, Mike's son and coaching partner.
On Nov. 23, Mike Petrusma passed away after a surgery. The head coach of the Calvin University men's hockey team (DI) and director of the school's hockey program had been fighting cancer for around a year.
"Like a machine" guided Petrusma as Calvin's hockey program came of age. In his 28 seasons, he put together a 520-210-37 record, won an ACHA Division III National Championship in 2004 and played a role in moving the Division III team up to Division I in 2017, creating a new DIII team in the process.
For more on Mike Petrusma's coaching career, click here.
"You hear in sports all the time that it's about family. You hear every team say that. What he taught me was that was a real thing," said Josh Petrusma, who coached alongside his dad for more than a decade at Calvin as an associate coach.
Players, too, can attest to the family feel.
"I hate saying 'coach' because he didn't feel like a coach to me or to most of us, more of a father figure," said Lou Vesperini, a forward on the Division I team.
A kid from Canada, he says Petrusma became "the closest place to home" for him and other international players.
"Some coaches, they make you scared of going in the office," Vesperini said. "Mike had no door. You could just go up and chat about everything."
When the team took the ice for the first time following Petrusma's passing, a moment of silence marked the day. They then won back-to-back games in the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame Tournament, which Petrusma founded. Their first-place finish was the first in program history.
"We can still feel his presence," said Vesperini, who scored a goal that weekend.
In Calvin University's locker rooms at Eagles Ice Center — facilities built in part because of Petrusma — there's a sign that reads "Legacy." The names of those who've called Petrusma "coach" are listed below it. But "coach" simply doesn't cut it. He was like a father to many.
"For my dad, it was always bigger than the team, right? It was bigger than the sport. It was bigger than the wins, the losses," Josh Petrusma said. "The greatest gift he gave was bringing everyone together."
