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BULLDOG HOCKEY ALUM BRUCE FISHBACK SUCCUMBS TO BRAIN CANCER AT AGE 47

Monday, October 1, 2012

Bruce Fishback

Bruce Fishback, a member of two Western Collegiate Hockey Association championship clubs during a four-year playing career with the the University of Minnesota Duluth, died this past Friday (Sept. 28) of brain cancer in Bloomfield, Mich. He was 47.

A native of White Bear Lake, Minn., Fishback joined the Bulldog program in 1983-84 (following in the hockey footsteps of his older brother, Dan, who closed out his UMD playing days one year earler), and proceeded to collect 16 points in 98 lifetime games. He was part of Bulldog clubs which captured WCHA regular season and playoff championships in both 1983-84 and 1984-85 and made back-to-back NCAA Frozen Four appearances those same two seasons.

Fishback, a 1983 draft pick of the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings, had been employed with 3M the past 25 years. He is survived by his wife, Michelle, and their three sons, Justin, Tyler, and Patrick. Funeral Services will be held Tuesday (Oct. 2) in Walled Lake, Mich. and a memorial gathering is planned for Saturday in New Richmond, Wis.

"Bruce had a great sense of humor and a bellowing, infectious laugh," said Dale Jago, who was a rookie defenseman with the Bulldogs during Fishback's final collegiate season in 1986-87. "I remember him being very welcoming and helpful to the younger guys like myself when we came in. You couldn't help but like the guy."

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