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USAHockey.com

EAGLE RIVER, Wisc. - If the annual Labatt Blue/USA Hockey Pond Hockey Championships has a celebrity or one recognizable face, it’s that of Mark DePuydt, known better in Eagle River, Wisc., as Mugsy.

Three years ago DePuydt played in the event for the first time when a local team needed help fielding a squad. The longtime goalie said the experience moved him to keep coming back.

“I kind of boycotted the first one because they didn’t have any goalies and I was a goalie for 50 years,” he said. “From then on we played and have a great time.”

It was during the 2006 event that a USA Hockey Magazine  photographer captured the iconic pond hockey image with DePuydt smiling through his thick, long silver beard.

The photo ran in the magazine and DePuydt’s family latched on to the image, ordering some prints to pass around.

Fast forward to the 2009 event and the family and friends turned out a team in the 21 & Older bronze division called Mug’s Thugs. Each player wore a jersey with the famous photo and the phrase “I’m with Mugsy,” except of course for DePuydt, whose jersey said “I’m Mugsy.”

“It’s a kid handle that stuck with me all my life,” he said. “When I came to Eagle River no one knew me by anything else but Mugsy.”

The 2009 tournament ended on a high for the Thugs as they clinched the tournament championship on Sunday. When the final whistle sounded, the championship trophy ended up in DePuydt’s hands. He raised it into the air as local fans and family snapped pictures of the famous photo on the jersey, the inspiration for the photo and his championship trophy.

“It’s just a gas, it’s really a lot of fun,” he said. “Hockey’s been in me all my life, why would I want to stop?”

DePuydt said he won’t pull a Ray Bourque and hang the skates up after winning the title though.

“We’ll be here again,” he said. “No specific plan but all of us will be back next year because it’s just too much fun.”