Mike Sertich, a Duluth hockey icon who devoted 18 years to lifting the fledgling University of Minnesota Duluth hockey program to the elite status it still enjoys, died Thursday at the Solvay Hospice House in Duluth after a two-year battle against pancreatic cancer. He was 77.

Born January 8, 1947, in Virginia, Minnesota, “Sertie” never lost track of his roots, just as he never passed up the chance to poke fun at himself. He played football, baseball, and hockey at Virginia High School and then played as a part-time defenseman from 1966-69 at UMD. Sertich earned undergraduate degrees in history and physical education at UMD in 1969. Mike obtained a Master’s of Education at Bemidji State in 1972. 

After playing three seasons at UMD, Sertich joined Grand Rapids High School coach Gus Hendrickson as an assistant and moved with Hendrickson to UMD in 1975 as assistant and top recruiter. He became head coach of UMD from 1982 until 1999 and then he coached at Michigan Tech from 2000-2003. Sertich then volunteered as an assistant at St. Scholastica and later helped the Hermantown Bantam team. 

“Fishing and friends kept me going. On the water or in the woods you do a lot of thinking, but it was for self-preservation, not fun. It was like going downtown instead of withdrawing; I didn’t want to, but I know, I should have. Pizza only lasts 15 minutes, but a conversation lasts forever.” 

Sertich moved alone into a modest, rural house just south of the Eveleth-Virginia area. Homeland. It was from there that Sertich battled pancreatic cancer, leading to home hospice care until the end of July 2024, when he moved into Solvay Hospice House in Duluth.

https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/obituaries/obits/mike-sertich-5d0135ff67a60618cb3bf3a9-66b686248235df000edd41f2