Last month, the fast guys came to Kodiak.
This week, the tough guys are coming.
Five former NHL players — including two men who made their living as enforcers, in some cases famously so — are slated to participate in this week's Kodiak Cup hockey clinic and tournament.
The former pros — a group that includes former Boston Bruins toughman John Wensink and former Detroit Red Wings pest Dennis Polonich — will participate in a skills clinic and a 4-on-4 tournament Saturday and Sunday at the Baranof Park outdoor ice rink.
The event marks the second time in a month that Kodiak has lured some famous athletes to town. In September, Olympic runner Ben Blankenship and hometown star Trevor Dunbar were among those who competed in the Great Alaska Miles Series in Kodiak, where Blankenship ran the fastest mile on Alaska soil.
The Kodiak Cup was dreamed up by Russell DeGroote, an orthopedic surgeon who moved to Alaska in December. He has worked as an orthopedic consultant for a variety of professional hockey teams, which allowed him to make personal connections with the players who will be in Kodiak this week – Wensink, Polonich, Terry Yake, James Campbell and Allen Pedersen.
"These are all friends of mine that I've known 10 to 15 years," DeGroote said.
"These are great motivational guys, especially Dennis Polonich, because he's 5-foot-6 and made it to the NHL in the time of monster men – 230-pound meat sticks – and he stuck. One of the reasons I wanted to bring him here is to show kids if you want it and work at it, you can get it."
Polonich is described as Detroit's "fevered little madman" in a biography on the Hockey Hall of Fame website.
He was with the Red Wings from 1976-81, and in 1978 he suffered severe, permanent damage when Colorado's Wilf Paiement clobbered him in the face with his stick. In 1982 Polonich was awarded $830,000 in a civil suit against Paiement, a huge settlement at the time.
Wensink was part of the Big Bad Bruins of the late 1970s. He was the subject of one of ESPN's short 30-for-30 documentaries, "Our Tough Guy," which recalls the 1977 game when Wensink skated to the Minnesota North Stars bench and challenged the entire team to a fight. No one took him up on the offer.
DeGroote said he created the Kodiak Cup to raise money for a shelter for players to put on gear at the Baranof Ice Rink, which has no locker room.
He said when he first saw Kodiak's rink, it took him back to his early hockey-playing days in Canada.
"It reminded me of when I was a little kid playing outdoors, putting on hockey equipment in the rain and snow and wind," he said. "We want to raise enough funds to be able to build a shelter area for kids to put on their equipment."
DeGroote hopes to make the Kodiak Cup an annual event. If enough money is raised to build a shelter, he said, the next goal will be adding bleachers at the rink.