Few people know about Miracle on Ice 2.

Everyone remembers Miracle on Ice number 1 in 1980 where the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviet Union 4-3 in Lake Placid, NY. Mike Eruzione scored the game-winning goal and broadcaster Al Michaels wailed one of the most iconic lines in sports history, “Do you believe in Miracles? Yes!!”

But few know about the 2007 Detroit Moose, a men’s league hockey team made up of uncommon men, who played toward a common goal. The team consisted of engineers, a surgeon, an anesthesiologist, a couple medical students, mechanics, and salesmen. It was a team made up of better than average beer league hockey players who won the most improbable international hockey championship on a hot day on June 3rd, 2007.

Since then, it’s been a team made up of different players and stars who have won games on the ice, and hearts off the ice.

This is the story of the Detroit Moose.

My friend, Moose Captain Derek Fowler, of Canton Township, an engineer at Detroit Diesel, began building the team in Detroit’s Hockey North America league in the early 2000s. It was an average team with average talent. But by 2006, Fowler wanted it to be an elite team built to win. He poured his heart and soul into the team and snatched up great player after great player: former high school hockey standouts Alec Lesko, Jeff Lazuka, Ryan Renner, and Nate Schmoekel.

Fowler brought on friends and co-workers, who happened to be great hockey players: Brian Harlow, Joel Nettleman, Joe Demarte, Chris Wrigley, Curtis Glowinski, Mark “the chin’’ Auger, Dr. Zach Lewis, Jerry Rogers, Ron Kruse, and Rudy Dauncey, who had Canadian hockey blood raging through his veins.

He needed a goalie, so Derek asked me to play. Here I was, 37 years old playing against some kids in their early 20s. But I still had the skill, strength, cat-like reflexes, and stamina to keep up. I started skating at 4 years old, and played organized youth travel hockey and on men’s leagues for about 30 of those years. By this point, I had played around 1,400 games in my amateur career.

This was the championship team built by Derek Fowler.

But it wasn’t just ice hockey where this team excelled. It excelled in many other ways off the ice.

Fowler organized a visit to a Detroit soup kitchen where the team cooked up huge batches of white chicken chili and made hundreds of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, then served the less fortunate and homeless people. He’s organized this at least 14 times with different Moose players and their families helping. My wife Sue and I helped out twice, as did our kids Justin and Liz. It was a great, humbling experience for them when they were 9 and 10 years old. Heritage Newspapers did a full page spread and Justin and Liz were featured in the article along with the team.

He organized a charity hockey game twice where we played against a wheelchair hockey team and gave wheelchair-bound athletes the chance to play a game on the ice.

In the time since I retired from the team, Fowler has organized several charity games between the Detroit Moose and the Detroit Red Wings Alumni team. They’ve played against Hall of Famer Igor Larionov, Darren McCarty, Joe Kocur, Petr Klima, and Shawn Burr, and many other former stars, and raised thousands of dollars for charities.

Through Fowler, Moose team players and their families have since participated and organized charities supporting 9/11 families, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Gleaners Food Bank, and support for the Joe Kocur Foundation for Children. We also visited the SickKids Hospital of Toronto where we read books to children at the hospital.

For me, it was an incredible honor to play for the Moose for 4 years before I left to be captain and goalie for another team in Hockey North America, the Detroit Whalers.

But that 2007 year on the Moose was surreal. We finished with a 20-7-1-1 record that season and ended up 9-1-1 in the final 11 games. I wrote articles about the team’s storybook season under the fictitious name “Tim Vance” and I recorded the events of our championship run in Toronto 16 years ago this month.

Here is the original story that appears on the Detroit Moose website from that incredible championship weekend run. I wrote the story riding on our team bus after winning our championship game from Toronto to my home in Michigan. Enjoy the read!

Detroit Moose wins HNA championship

June 3, 2007 – 10:00 PM

By Tim Vance, Detroit Moose Hockey Writer

TORONTO — Sticks, bodies, and sweat were flying everywhere Sunday on the ice in Toronto as the Detroit Moose B team wrapped up its national championship run and beat the Cleveland Icemen 6-5 to carry off the coveted Tier 3 Hockey North America League Championship trophy.

So many moments and so many feats lifted this Moose team to the championship, from Joel Nettleman’s surreal overtime Game 4 goal that sent the Moose into the finals to Rudy Dauncey’s incredible, surprising blue-line slapshot that blasted into the water bottle in the upper corner behind a stunned (defending Tier 3 Champion) Calgary Wolves goaltender.

It wasn’t easy for Moose players, who had to endure playing 5 games in a 40-hour span to grab the League Championship title over the weekend at Westwood Arenas. The Moose were 4-0-1 over the weekend, racking up an impressive 39 goals. The Moose finished with a 20-7-1-1 record this season and ended up 9-1-1 in its final 11 games.

Moose Captain Derek Fowler, tears glistening in his eyes with the Moose team standing behind, accepted the trophy from Hockey North America League President Elliott Root amid cheering fans in the crowd.

The championship run started out as a bus trip of uncertainties for the Moose at Detroit Diesel in Detroit. Together, the team rumbled on a 5-hour trek toward Toronto thinking about the upcoming games, memorizing opponents’ team statistics, talking strategy, and not quite sure what competition level they would be facing. On paper, behind HNA Detroit point leader Alec Lesko, the Moose had outscored and outshot every opponent that they would be facing in the beginning rounds.

And the Moose wasted no time showing its firepower in the opening round, beating the Boston Firecats 10-8 in an intense shootout. The game saw assistant captain Jerry Rogers net 5 goals – three of which came in the first period. Just 12 hours later the Moose blasted 38 shots at the New Jersey Bombers and came away with a 4-4 tie. Later that day, the Moose defeated the Washington D.C. Vipers 14-0 to send the Moose to the semi-final round. Moose goaltender Tom Varcie got his first shutout of the season.

In one of the most memorable games of the year, the Moose faced a high-powered, hungry Calgary Wolves team Sunday morning in the semi-finals. The game also had a scare early in the second period when Moose forward Mark Auger was hit by a slapshot on the chin under his half-shield. Team player/doctor Zach Lewis threaded 12 stitches into Auger and he was out playing three shifts later.

“That kind of determination is what this team is all about and what it’s been about all season,’’ said Lewis.

Facing a 4-1 deficit with just 7 minutes to go in the third period, Moose defenseman Alec Lesko sunk one in the net behind the Calgary goaltender. Two minutes later the Moose added another to make it 4-3 and with only 1:30 remaining in the game, Lesko blasted in one that compares to goals scored among the NHL elite. As Lesko burned down the ice, he stickhandled around three Wolves players. Just as a fourth Calgary player was falling to the ice, Lesko shuffled the puck underneath the man, hurdled him, caught his own pass 4 feet away and took the next 10 strides to deke the goaltender to tie the game at 4-4 and send it into overtime.

Five minutes into overtime, Moose center Joel Nettleman scored the winning goal on an intense scramble in front of the net. Nettleman jumped over toward the right corner and the 15-member Moose team piled on him, fists raised high in the air.

“This is one of those games that you will always remember. It was that kind of game,’’ said Moose defenseman Brian Big Daddy Harlow. Harlow’s intensity was seen and heard on the bench as he helped motivate the team when it was down 4-1 late in the game. “We worked hard together as a team and we did it.’’

The Moose was able to shut down the Calgary offense behind outstanding play from defensemen Nate Schmoekel, Ron Kruse, Lesko and Harlow. A key third-period breakaway stop by Varcie also kept the game within reach when it was still 4-1.

But there was no time for rest and little time for celebrating. Moose players barely had time to dry out their equipment back at the hotel and they had to be on the ice for the 2 p.m. finals matchup against a tough Cleveland Icemen team.

Cleveland skated hard in the first period, taking a 3-0 lead on three surprise breakaways. But the Moose regrouped after the first and skated with the most intensity and determination all year, slamming in 6 straight goals to take a 6-3 lead late in the third. Cleveland closed the gap, scoring two late third-period goals, but the Moose offense and defense were too much for the Icemen and they held on to capture the championship title.

Offensive stars of the game for the Moose were forwards Ryan Renner, who snagged several goals and assists in the series, Joe Demarte, Curtis Glowinski, Mark “the chin’’ Auger, amateur Canadian legend Rudy Dauncey, Chris Wrigley, Derek Fowler, Joel Nettleman, and Zach Lewis. Excellent fan support was given by Jean Auger and Sue Derderian, who snapped dozens of game action photos and rallied the team with their cheering. The Moose also got outstanding bench assistance from Andrew Sczczepanski who helped keep everyone focused and the lines moving smoothly.

After a brief award ceremony, each player grabbed the trophy and skated on the ice with it as other Moose players and the crowd cheered.

Afterwards in the locker room, Fowler said, “I am so honored to have you all believe in this team. You were hand-picked to be here on this first class team. I’m so proud to call every one of you my teammate and brother.’’

Fowler said he wanted to thank the team sponsor for its dedication and support this season. The team sponsor, which supports the victims of 9/11, has been an important part of the team this year. Each Moose player wears a patch on their jersey which honors the victims of September 11th.

“ We played this year in honor of never forgetting those who gave their lives on 9/11 and for the victims that perished that very day. Personally, I wear on my jersey names of Dennis Buckley and Glen Wall from school, ’’ Fowler said. “We all play with that patch on our jersey and 6 years later, fallen heroes and families of the victims are not forgotten.”

The Moose team also gave Fowler a standing ovation in the locker room after the game to thank him for his dedication this season, support for the teammates and their families, organizing team charity events, setting up the bus trip to Toronto, and for his own personal financial contributions to the team during the season and in Toronto.

“The guy just has a heart of gold. He’s the most dedicated and best captain a team could ask for,” Harlow added. “After his family, Derek’s life is hockey and this team.”

For all the amateur hockey players with NHL championship dreams since childhood, THIS was our Stanley Cup.