Gene Ubriaco, a well known Sault native whose career in hockey has spanned eight decades, will be inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall Of Fame (NIASHF) at its 43rd Annual Gala & Induction Ceremony Dec. 10 in Chicago.
The list of past inductees is a long and impressive one, including NHL hockey greats Phil and Tony Esposito of Sault Ste. Marie, race car driver Mario Andretti, baseball legends Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio and Tommy Lasorda, football coach Vince Lombardi and heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano.
“I was just happy to be on the same planet as those guys,” Ubriaco chuckled, speaking to SooToday from his home in Chicago.
“I just wish my dad was around, and mom. That’s who it’s for.”
“I think of my dad and my mom, my family, coming over as immigrants. It’s quite an honour. I’m very fortunate. I always wanted to play in the NHL. You want to aim for the top.”
Throughout his life, Ubriaco has known many notable Saultites (many of them in the local broadcasting scene), including Frank Gardi and Russ Ramsay.
He was a contributor to radio sports when radio in the Sault was truly local.
He has of course known many NHL greats, mentioning Bobby Baun, Tim Horton and Red Kelly as friends.
Between 1967 and 1970, playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Oakland Seals and Chicago Blackhawks, he played in 177 NHL games, notching 39 goals and 35 assists for a total of 74 points.
“We worked hard at training camp. We didn’t touch a puck for the first week,” he said, again with a chuckle, recalling those days in the NHL.
Before reaching the NHL, Ubriaco played with junior teams such as the Sudbury Wolves and with American Hockey League (AHL) teams, including the Rochester Americans and Hershey Bears, recording 162 goals and 258 assists for a total of 420 points in the AHL.
In 1970, he went into coaching. He coached in the United States Hockey League and Eastern Hockey League, winning Coach of the Year awards in the United States Hockey League in 1973–74 and in the Eastern Hockey League in 1979-80.
Ubriaco eventually returned to the NHL as coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1988-89, leaving the organization in December 1989.
He coached the Italian Olympic ice hockey team during the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France.
He later moved to the Chicago Wolves as coach in 1994 (the Wolves an International Hockey League team before moving to the AHL in 2001) and has been with the organization ever since, currently the team’s Director of Hockey Operations and Senior Advisor.
He was inducted into the Sault Ste. Marie Hockey Hall of Fame in 1981.
Gene’s brother John Ubriaco (1924-2012) played for several teams in Canada and the USA, inducted into the Sault Ste. Marie Hockey Hall of Fame in 1969.
“My brother was a really good hockey player. It’s really nice to be in there with him.”
Of the Chicago Wolves, Ubriaco said “it’s a great organization.”
“We want to be more than a hockey team in Chicago. We want to be the best show in town for the money,” Ubriaco said Sunday, preparing for an afternoon home game against the Toronto Marlies.
Reflecting on his career, he said “I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad day as a player, coach or manager.”
Ubriaco said he looks back on his time in the NHL as his favourite period during his long career.
“Making it to the National Hockey League was my goal and nothing was going to stop me.”
Speaking of the modern day NHL, Ubriaco said “I have to give a lot of credit to the players. I’ve never seen it so competitive. Guys are thinking about having to make the playoffs now (at this early point in the season). Generally it was after Christmas. But I think we’re in for a great season of hockey in the NHL.”
Of the pay players receive now and comparing it to his own day, Ubriaco said “your pay was for what you did, not for what you’re going to do. God bless the NHL Players Association. I think the money (these days) takes away a lot of incentive. The reason players kept getting better and better (in the old NHL) was because they could make more money as they got better.”
“(But) the hockey today, the skills, the speed, I love it.”
Ubriaco is also an art lover who has produced images of the Sault in past years, his work clearly displaying a love of life and sentimentality.
“I started doodling in 1990,” he said, some of his work having been featured in The Chicago Tribune.
A father of two, grandfather of six and great-grandfather of one, Ubriaco, who has family members in the Sault (including daughter Francine), said he will always think of this community as home.
“We love our old town, that’s for sure...I’ve never missed a Christmas in Sault Ste. Marie.”
“The Sault is just a great place if you want to grow and be somebody. We’re a close community in a lot of ways.”
His long hockey career aside, Ubriaco said “the best thing that happened to me was meeting my wife. It’s given me direction and more focused on what’s important. I’m going to share this honour (of being inducted into the NIASHF). It’s partly hers, that’s for sure.”