The Falcon men’s hockey program lost an assistant coach and friend when Mickey Keating passed away Monday, Jan. 19.

The 72-year-old man was a fountain of hockey knowledge and was very important to the Falcon men’s hockey program in more ways than one.

"Mickey Keating was such a unique man and he was very important to our program as a coach, a friend and a mentor," Falcon Coach Steve Freeman said.

Entering his 10th season with the UWRF coaching staff, Keating brought a wealth of hockey experience to the Falcon program.

Keating was inducted into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame in September of 1997 recognizing his remarkable hockey career. Keating coached previously with the Falcons in the mid-1980s when George Gwozdecky was the Falcons head coach. His experience has helped the Falcons to win the 1994 NCAA title and place third in 1995 and 1996.

Keating played for 12 seasons in the Montreal Canadian organization and later served as a National Hockey League scout. He was the general manager and coach of the Flin Flon Bombers in the Western Hockey League and was a referee in the International Hockey League.

Keating was an assistant general manager and alternate governor for the NHL's New York Rangers.

He has also written several books and articles on several hockey subjects like skill rating hockey equipment and arena management. He holds his collegiate degree in arena and ski area management.

His hockey history wasn’t the only reason the Falcons valued Mickey Keating. His warmth, compassion and optimism touched everyone in the program.

"He was such an inspirational person because of his outlook on life. He was an extremely positive about everything. He was a person who always looked for solutions instead of pointing out problems. He believed that if you had the right attitude about anything, you could accomplish whatever you wanted to accomplish," said Freeman.

Many say surviving cancer several years ago spawned his optimism and strength of character.

"Everyone knew he how hard Mickey had fought against cancer," Freeman said. "The way he bounced back and continued to be positive was an inspiration to everyone."

Since then, Keating provided Freeman with his own personal mentoring.

"Every day before or after practice he would give me a handwritten sheet," Freeman said. "Sometimes it contained hockey insight and sometimes it had nothing to do with hockey at all. It was just philosophy of life."

Keating’s mentoring skills were not limited to helping Freeman coach, he also touched players in a similiar ways. Of the many student athletes Keating has inspired through the years is senior Jamie Steinert.

"Since I’ve been here, he taught me how to be a better person," Steinert said. "He’d come in and not talk too much about hockey. He would would give us speeches about life lessons. Not only did it help our hockey careers here, but it helped me become a better person."

Steinert said he valued every time he sat down and spoke with Keating one-on-one and what he will miss most about the assistant coach is the hugs he gave everybody and his great smile.