Marshall Shencopp with the kids.
Face Offil
III
STEVE STEIN
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
ooking back through the
crystal-clear vision of
hindsight, Marshall
Shencopp says he should
have been a schoolteacher.
"I love kids, and I have a
lot of respect for them,"
Shencopp says.
While Shencopp may
have missed his life's call-
ing, his newest venture
mixes kids and business.
Shencopp and eight-year
NHL veteran Mike
Hartman of the New York
Rangers are co-directors of
the new Hockey America
Inc. hockey schools which
are making their debut
this summer at three area
arenas.
Both Shencopp, 48, who
lives in Oak Park, and
Hartman, 26, who grew up
in that city, ran their own
hockey schools in the past.
Late last summer, they
decided to join forces
under the Hockey America
name.
"I first met Mike whei,
Marshall Shencopp is taking an old love
to new heights with his Hockey America.
was running hockey
schools at Oak Park
Arena. He was 6 or 7 then,
a little fella with curly
hair and big eyes," says
Shencopp, who boasts
more than 20 years of
youth hockey experience in
several area cities coach-
ing teams, organizing and
teaching at schools and
operating leagues.
Shencopp and Hart-
man's rela-
tionship was
rekindled a
few years
ago when
they saw
each other
at Beech-
woods Arena
in Southfield
while Shen-
copp was
skating with
his son and
Hartman
was working
On the ice,
Hartman is a hard-nosed
player whose role is to
check, hit, and drop the
gloves when necessary. He
racked up 316 penalty
minutes with the Buffalo
Sabres in 1988-89 and 264
with the Winnipeg Jets in
1991-92.
The former "little fella"
is now a solidly-built 6-
foot, 192-pounder who got
the better of Red Wings
enforcer Bob
Probert dur-
ing a scuffle
at Joe Louis
Arena this
past season.
At the time,
Hartman
played for
the expan-
sion Tampa
Bay Light-
* ning.
Off the
ice, like so
many NHL
"tough guys,"
Hartman is
a different person. He
enjoys working with
youngsters, and he feels he
relates to them well.
Obviously, sports has
been an important part of
Hartman's life. The same
could be said for Shencopp.
A three-sport standout
who won eight letters in
football, basketball and
baseball at Oak Park High
School before graduating
in 1963, Shencopp went on
to win three letters play-
ing defensive back and
quarterback for the Wayne
State University football
team.
He earned a bachelor of
arts degree in marketing
and management at
Wayne State, setting the
stage for a career in sales,
marketing, advertising
and business development.
He currently owns his own
advertising and • communi-
cations firm, Marshall
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