Upon his return to Wessman Arena this winter, Mike Sislo was greeted with a fond memory: Superior’s 2005 boys hockey state championship banner.

Sislo was a junior forward who helped the Spartans earn one of their record 13 state titles that year before departing to play for the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League and, eventually, four seasons at the University of New Hampshire.

After scoring 51 goals in college, Sislo spent eight full seasons in the American Hockey League. He became the first Superiorite to play in the NHL when he spent 42 games on the New Jersey Devils’ roster in a three-season span. He scored all three of his NHL goals in the 2015-16 season.