Former University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey coach Mike Sertich will be presented with the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Museum's Spirit of Life Award Saturday after the first intermission of the men's hockey game against Michigan Tech University at AMSOIL Arena.

"We at the Hockey Hall of Fame are truly the ones who are honored to be handing this award off to Mike," said USA Hockey Hall of Fame Executive Director Doug Palazzari. 

Sertich, who most recently was bestowed the honor of "Legend of College Hockey" in 2021 by the Hobey Baker Memorial Award Foundation, spent 18 years at UMD as the men's hockey head coach from 1982-2000. The 1983-84 Spencer Penrose Award winner as the national coach of the year, Sertich led the Bulldogs to 350 wins, three WCHA regular season championships (1984, 1985, 1993), two WCHA postseason titles (1983, 1984), four NCAA tournament appearances (1983, 1984, 1985, 1993) and back-to-back NCAA Frozen Fours (1983, 1984), including the NCAA title game in 1984 that UMD lost in four overtimes to Bowling Green.

A 2005 inductee into UMD's Hall of Fame, Sertich coached 11 All-Americans at UMD and 21 future NHL players. Most notably, he had six Hobey Baker Memorial Award finalists and three winners — Tom Kurvers in 1984, Bill Watson in 1985 and Chris Marinucci in 1994. Sertich was also a four-time winner of the WCHA Coach of the Year Award (1983, 1984,1985,1993).

In the fall of 2022, Sertich was diagnosed with cancer that as of a little over a month ago, appeared undetectable, according to a CaringBridge site run by his daughter Lori Sertich.

 Due to the special nature of the award, the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Museum begins with a recommendation process followed by a careful review to identify a candidate whose serious life conditions or circumstances related to the game of hockey and connection to the hockey community warrant attention. Two primary categories represent the review process, including Category 1 – Life Threatening Health Conditions and Category 2 – Physical Injury With Permanent Disability. For more information on the Spirit of Life Award and previous four recipients, click here.