Wisconsin Muskies Bring Hockey Back to Spooner

Junior League Team Playing Inaugural Season in Front of Thousands of Fans

SPOONER, Wis. – A new junior hockey team is playing their first season on the ice in Spooner, and the Wisconsin Muskies have proven that hockey means a lot to Northern Wisconsin.

After four long years without a team or an arena, hockey is back in Spooner, Wisconsin.

It was once a hockey town with a youth program and a junior league team.

“Hockey was huge when I grew up here,” said Gretchen Hazel, owner of Alley Cats Coffee in Spooner.

But after the Wilderness left for Cloquet in 2013, the Spooner Civic Center went dark.

“We found that the community needed it and we had a need to find a great home to play hockey and the two just kind of matched well together,” said Dennis Canfield, President and Head Coach of the Wisconsin Muskies.

Canfield has spent his life around hockey and he couldn’t pass up the chance to bring the sport back to a town in need.

“I think it’s so much more than hockey,” said Canfield. “Hockey’s just the catalyst to getting this thing started.”

Since March, he and his business partner have worked to renovate the arena and build a winning junior hockey program.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” said Canfield. “We’re getting better every day and we have expectations, we expect to win and as I said this town deserves one.”

From the first time the puck dropped this season, Dennis thought he might be on to something.

“When we scored our first goal against the River Kings, you could peel the roof off. I mean, the people really got loud and you got little kids running through the stands dancing,” said Canfield.

On game nights, an average of 1,200 Muskies fans are filling these stands and filling the streets of Downtown Spooner.

“Everywhere you go, you can see a Muskies poster or something laying around and that’s because they’re asking for it,” said Mitch El-Wailli, a defenseman for the Muskies. “They want to help us, they want to support.”

Players and coaches have been overwhelmed by the community support.

“People stop us in the streets and say thank you,” said Canfield. “It’s humbling. It’s not something you see everyday.”

From local business partners to fanatics in the stands, there’s no doubt Spooner is ecstatic to have hockey back. And if the Muskies have their way, they’ll stay in town for a long time.

“We’re committed to seeing this thing to the end and doing what we need to do to be successful,” said Canfield.