McLeod honoured by U.S Hockey Hall of Fame

As a child, Bruce McLeod’s father taught him the importance of giving rather than receiving.
McLeod has followed that lesson to the letter and back in August, the meaning of the message became clearer than ever.
The Fort Frances native, and currently commissioner of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), was the first recipient of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame’s President’s Award for his three decades of work with the hall since it opened in 1973 in Eveleth, Mn.
“It sure was a surprise,” McLeod said from the WCHA’s head office in Denver, Colo. “I don’t think of those things all that much. But it’s been a pleasure, and a real labour of love.”
McLeod’s list of accomplishments include his help in creating the Face-Off Classic back in 1974, which signals the official start of the NCAA hockey season and is one of the key fundraising events for the hall during the year.
“It’s progressed a long way,” McLeod said about the game, which was first played in the 3,000-seat Eveleth Hippodrome, but has reached the point where it even has been used as the official opening event for new hockey facilities in recent years, such as the University of Minnesota’s Mariucci Arena and the University of Wisconsin’s Kohl Center.
“Now we’re playing in nice, big buildings,” he added about the contest, which this year will be played between the North Dakota Fighting Sioux and the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs on Oct. 4 at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
“People are lining up to host it.”
A bonus for McLeod was getting presented with the award by fellow Fort Frances native Bob Peters, commissioner of the College Hockey America conference.
“When Bob was introducing me, it felt like they were talking about someone else,” recalled McLeod. “It was nice to have Bob as the presenter. We have a good long-term relationship.
“He actually recruited me back in 1965 when he was the coach at North Dakota, although I ended up going to Minnesota-Duluth.
“[Fort Frances] is very well-known in U.S. collegiate circles,” added McLeod, citing other high-profile hockey administrators from here such as USA Hockey international director Art Berglund and United States Hockey League commissioner Gino Gasparini.
McLeod said the hall’s place in the American hockey culture is pivotal to the sport’s success there.
“It’s an important entity for us,” he stressed. “It preserves the history of all aspects of hockey. The U.S. has a rich, rich history in both collegiate and international hockey.
“We take our responsibility very seriously in this area, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
The hall never has been a role model of financial stability.
“It’s been a tough go since day one,” admitted McLeod—and therefore, forces those who maintain it to continue coming up with different ways to promote the hall to hockey lovers across the country.
“We need to keep updating it and keep it relevant,” he remarked. “We’re going to try and bring exhibits and show [them] to different parts of the country.
“We’ve also looked at setting up some satellite branches of the hall in places like the Mall of America and Lake Placid, N.Y. But that takes money, too.
“We had a number of discussions about moving the hall into a larger metropolitan area [such as the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto] to help our cause,” added McLeod.
“But if you look at the history of hockey in the U.S., there’s no place more fitting than Eveleth to represent where the game came from.”