NEW RICHMOND, Wis. — Roger Keopple still has his custom-made state championship jacket from winning the title back in 1985.
"My mom just dug it out of the basement today," he said.
Roger tried to get his son Jackson to wear it in the town's 2022 St. Patrick's Day Parade. After all, the jacket fits him perfectly. Jackson also wears number 37, the same number his dad wore 37 years ago, in 1985.
"That's a really cool coincidence that we'll have forever," Roger said, standing on the ice at New Richmond's ice arena, where Jackson plays PeeWee hockey now.
"My dad tried to get me to wear the jacket," Jackson said. "I didn't want to." Jackson's teammates laugh with him as he jokes, as good a sign as any that this team's chemistry, along with Jackson's hat trick in the semifinal, is what helped take them all the way.
"We pass a lot, we score a lot," Jackson said. "And we're all friends."
Even Jackson's grandmother, Gene, who watched Roger win it all in 1985, got to watch from home as Jackson helped secure another championship for the family.
"We and another grandma, we got a glass of wine and sat down and watched it together," she said. "[When they won] we were cheering, the dogs were barking, it was just awesome."
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