Hockey Canada announced last week that the 16 members of the 1964 Men's National Hockey Team would be awarded World Championship bronze medals by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The captain of Team Canada 1964 was the late Henry "Hank" Akervall; former Lakehead Athletics Director; former Lakehead Norwesters men's hockey coach; and member of the Lakehead University Sports Wall of Fame, the Michigan Tech Sports Hall of Fame, and the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
The IIHF has decided to award the 16 members of Team Canada the bronze medals they rightfully earned as third place finishers in the world championship portion of the tournament. In 1964, as was the practice, the World Championship was held in conjunction with the Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria. The Soviet Union won the gold medal for both the World Championship and Olympics, while Sweden took the silver for both. The problem came with the bronze medallists, which in the Olympic games was Czechoslovakia, while Canada won the bronze medal for the World Championship event. However, officials only awarded the Olympic medals to the Czechs and the Canadians went home without their medals. Now, 41 years later, the Canadians will receive their bronze medals as the long overdue oversight is being corrected by the IIHF.
The '64 Innsbruck Team Canada squad, coached by the legendary Father David Bauer, consisted of Captain Henry Akervall, Ken Broderick, Seth Martin; Barry McKenzie, Terry O'Malley, Rod Seiling, Gary Begg, Gary Dineen, George Swarbrick, Roger Bourbonnais, Terry Clancy, Brian Conacher, Ray Cadieux, Paul Conlin, Bob Forhan, and Marshall Johnston.
According to Hockey Canada, the 1964 Innsbruck bronze medals are currently being produced, and are expected to be presented in approximately a month at a ceremony at an undetermined location to the 15 surviving members of the team as well as to Akervall's family; wife Lorna, son Chris, and daughter Kelly.
Henry Akervall was known affectionately as Hank. Hank was born on May 11, 1937 in Port Arthur, Ontario (now part of Thunder Bay) and he excelled in football, baseball, track and field, and curling but hockey was his true love. He grew up to be a hard-nosed and skilled 5-foot-11 defenseman.
Hank then crossed Lake Superior to Houghton, Michigan where he played three seasons (1959-60 to 61-62) for a powerhouse Michigan Tech Huskies team and he was Assistant Captain of the 61-62 squad that won the NCAA Division I national championships. Hank was selected a WCHA All-Star in each of his three seasons, was named a First Team All-American in the 59-60 and 61-62 seasons, and was also chosen to the NCAA All Tournament Teams in 1960 and 1962.
After winning the NCAA title, Hank flew to Finland where he played the tail end of the 1962-63 season. It was there that he attracted the attention of Father Bauer, who invited the 26-year-old Akervall to try out for the Canadian national team.
Akervall received an offer from the Detroit Red Wings to play professional hockey but instead chose to don Team Canada colours. After the Innsbruck Games he played for one year with the Warroad Lakers senior team in Minneapolis and then returned to Thunder Bay where he chose to become an educator and coach.
He joined the Lakehead University faculty in 1966 as a teacher in the Forestry Department and also served as the Director of Athletics. While in these positions he was instrumental in starting the Physical Education Program. He also laid the foundation for the establishment of the Outdoor Recreation Program.
Hank, a Level 5 Hockey Instructor, coached the Lakehead Norwester men's hockey teams for seven years from 1966 to 1969 and from 1971 to 1975. He led the Norwesters to an International Collegiate Hockey Association (ICHA) title in