Deceased player honored at club hockey game

The game was won, and the IU hockey team silently jumped the rink barrier and formed a circle in the middle of the arena, sticks in hand.

John Gerhan, an IU player, took off the No. 5 jersey he was wearing, slid it onto a hanger, and hung it on the rink’s wall. It wasn’t his jersey, it was his best friend’s. It was Goose’s.

He picked up his stick and joined the rest of the team.

The players pounded their on the ice about five times, and then raised them in the air. It was a final salute to their former teammate and friend, Michael Giesler. Everyone called him Goose.

Single file, the players left the ice as silently as they came. Gerhan kissed two fingers, brushing them on the jersey as he skated past.

One other player had worn No. 5 since Goose left the team in 2012. But after Goose died suddenly while skating on Feb. 1, they all agreed they should retire it in his memory.

“He only played really one full season, but he was all of our best friend,” Gerhan said. “I wouldn’t want to see someone else wearing his number, personally ... that was his number.”

Giesler only played on the team for the 2011-2012 season, but he was a member of a Bloomington league team after he left and was familiar to everyone in the Bloomington hockey community.

Stephan Nicklow, a close family friend, said a sense of camaraderie was what drew Giesler to hockey. Gerhan described Goose as “a total rink rat.”

Gerhan and Giesler were friends since the pair tried out for the team. Both from Minnesota, they shared a history in hockey. Gerhan’s school beat Giesler’s in the sport during high school.

“He never let me live it down,” Gerhan said.

That was the topic of conversation the last time Gerhan saw his best friend. Giesler was at one of the “hockey houses,” as the team referred to the house where many of the hockey players live and socialize, drinking a couple beers and having a good time.

“It really could not have been a better last night with him ... it gives me good peace of mind,” Gerhan said. “It was everything I could ask for, for sure.”

Giesler was the sort of person that everyone in the Bloomington hockey community knew, said Dan Emanuel, a senior member of the IU Men’s Hockey team.

“If you were to go out and ask people if they knew who The Goose was, you would find so many people who would know instantly what you were talking about,” Emanuel said.

At the time that he died, he was practicing to play in the Winter Classic, a hockey tournament in Bloomington. Giesler still came to IU hockey games whenever he could, Emanuel said, even though he was often working on Saturdays at Kilroy’s.

Giesler was finishing his degree requirements at Ivy Tech, living in Bloomington and working at the local bar, said Nicklow.

Emanuel said even though Giesler was no longer on the team and not an IU student when he died, he was still a part of the IU hockey brotherhood.

“We’re a family,” Emanuel said, adding that most of the hockey players live in the same area, practice three times a week and stay in hotels together when they go to games. Giesler, he said, was loved by everyone.

“He was one of the most genuine, loving people I knew,” Emanuel said. “He loved being the center of attention. He would bring that energy to the room. No matter what kind of mood you were in, he would put a smile on your face.”

Nicklow grew up with Giesler and said he could not imagine anyone thinking poorly of him.

“Everyone around him always felt Gies’ love,” Nicklow said. “You knew that man loved you every step of the way.”

Nicklow was especially close to Giesler’s cousin. Giesler was the best man at his cousin’s wedding, and the two were really more like brothers, Nicklow said. Giesler’s father died before he was a year old and he had no biological siblings. Since he grew up with a single parent, Giesler was particularly close to his mother.

“I’m so close with my mom,” Nicklow remembered his friend saying. “She’s my best friend.”

Nicklow added that it was rare to catch his friend in a bad mood, and Giesler was the sort of person that had been known to have a 45-minute conversation with his taxi driver in a driveway.

“We’re going to miss him, but he definitely lived every minute to the fullest,” Nicklow said.

No one saw Giesler’s death coming. The heart attack happened without warning. If there was a pre-existing condition, Nicklow said, no one was aware of it.

“It was a complete shock to me, to all of us,” Gerhan said. “It was really tragic.”

For the hockey team, hearing about the loss of their friend was very difficult.

“When we found out, I don’t think a word was said in the house for two hours,” Emanuel said. “It doesn’t feel real.”

A memorial service was held for Giesler on Wednesday morning. Emanuel said it was very well attended, with friends from work and hockey coming out to pay their last respects to Goose.

“When I saw him in the casket, I couldn’t help but smile, because I could just imagine his big smile coming across his face,” Emanuel said. “He definitely will never be forgotten.”

On Friday in Orono, Minnesota, where Giesler grew up, a separate memorial service was held. Gerhan flew out of Indianapolis in the early morning to attend the funeral and flew back late at night.

“There’s been tears, but everyone’s been as positive as possible,” Nicklow said. “We’re going to miss him, but he definitely lived every minute to the fullest.”

Nicklow said for family and friends, the past week has been a celebration of Giesler’s life.

Knowing his friend, Nicklow said that he would have wanted everyone to be happy and remember the good times they had together.

“I haven’t even cried because I know he wouldn’t want me to,” Nicklow said.

Follow reporter Mary Katherine Wildeman on Twitter @marykwild