Jim Jackson
Number: 24
Position: Defense
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 165
Birthday: 4-22-80
Hometown: Marquette, Michigan
Last team: Marquette Electricians

Player Biography

Jimmy comes to the Buccaneers after playing several seasons with the Marquette Electricians in Marquette, Michigan. While playing for the Electricians, he earned the Tim Rice Award for most outstanding defenseman. Jimmy listens to Metallica before the games and "has too many superstitions to list!" He plans to play NCAA college hockey and become a dentist.

Player Interview

4/9/98

Steve: Jim, where were you born and where do you call home?

Jim: I was born in Marquette, Michigan, a little town, but I will always call that home. I think I will probably go to college somewhere else but I will probably always end up back home.

Steve: What do you like about Marquette?

Jim: I like the fact that it is right next to the water, you know, great Lake Superior. I like the sights and everything, the trees, of course, and mostly the surroundings. It is a little town and you almost know everyone. It is a nice place to be.

Steve: And they have got a couple hockey teams up there.

Jim: Yep. They have my old hockey team that I can from, the Marquette Electricians - I love watching them. I have been watching them ever since I was a little boy. And then they have the college team, Northern Michigan University. They have a pretty good hockey team right now. They just moved into the CCHA. I have been one of their great fans all these years. I have been watching them ever since I was a little boy.

Steve: Tell me a little bit about your family, your brothers, parents, sisters.

Jim: My parents are divorced. I have two brothers and one half sister and one half brother. Both my brothers are both on my side. They helped me along the way, you know, with my parents being divorced, and they taught me a lot of things about hockey. They too played hockey, of course.

Steve: Are they older brothers?

Jim: Yeah, they are older. The oldest one is 26; the other one is 24.

Steve: So they both played hockey then?

Jim: They used to play hockey for the high school team.

Steve: Has your family been able to see you play as a Buc yet this year?

Jim: Yes, they have. My mom came down a couple times. My dad and his wife came down a couple times. They enjoyed it a lot. They thought it was much better than the college hockey that is up there actually.

Steve: Now they are from Marquette. Isn’t that quite a drive?

Jim: It is a 12 hour drive.

Steve: So it is quite a trip. Why and when did you start playing hockey?

Jim: I started playing hockey actually at age two. My parents got me souped up and put me on the pond and gave me a hockey stick and a couple blades and I went at it all day, and ever since I loved it.

Steve: Two is pretty young isn’t it?, or is that pretty normal?

Jim: Actually, it is not. You usually just start skating a two. I was right on my blades. I wasn’t pushing or anything. I could actually warm up and do all that.

Steve: Do you have any advice for young hockey players?

Jim: Yeah, you have to make the game fun, you know. You can’t go out and play for someone else. You have to go out and play for yourself and pretend you are on the ice by yourself and make sure you have fun.

Steve: Okay. Tell me about the past teams that you have played for.

Jim: Marquette has a small branch of hockey teams. We only go into AA; we don’t go into AAA major or anything like that. I played AA all through the leagues. Then I finally came up to the Marquette Electricians, which is a very popular team up north.

Steve: Who does Marquette play?

Jim: They play in the Lake Superior Hockey League.

Steve: What would some of the teams be?

Jim: They play Little Caesar, Shattuck Saint Mary’s, Thunder Bay, Sioux Hawks.

Steve: So do you have good fan support for the Electricians then?

Jim: Oh yeah.

Steve: So you did not play in high school?

Jim: No. The Electricians is a step above the high school there.

Steve: How did you end up playing for the Bucs?

Jim: Actually, I talk to Adrian Fure and his parents a lot. They actually got me interested in it, even before the coaches began to talk to me. Once the coach talked to me and told me more about the program, I was pretty much hooked on it and signed with them.

Steve: Had you ever seen a Buc game before that?

Jim: I seriously did not know who they were actually.

Steve: What is the best thing about being a Buc?

Jim: It is kind of like, it is great being almost like a celebrity type to a lot of these younger kids. They really do look up to you and I think we do teach them a lot by showing them to respect your opponent and to go out and have fun, I guess.

Steve: Are you still in high school then?

Jim: Yeah.

Steve: So where do you go to high school?

Jim: I go to Valley High School.

Steve: How was that transition coming down and being the new person on the block? Do they know you are a Buc there, I suppose?

Jim: Yeah, most of them, some of them, a couple of them.

Steve: What is the best thing about playing hockey?

Jim: The best thing about playing hockey is seeing yourself come this far and seeing where you started. I am here right now playing for the Buccaneers, almost getting ready to go to college. It seems like yesterday that I was just strapping on the velcro blades and going out on the pond and back and just shooting around.

Steve: Thinking back on all your hockey moments, what is one of your greatest athletic moments in hockey?

Jim: Probably the time in squirt AA we were in a triple overtime to win the UP, which is a tournament to qualify for state. I scored the first goal but it was a slap shot and that was called off. Finally five minutes later I buried one.

Steve: What are your plans for hockey in the future?

Jim: I will probably go to a Division I hockey school. It was always my goal in life to become a college athlete and hopefully I will fulfill that goal.

Steve: What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you in hockey?

Jim: Probably breaking my nose in front of 3,000 people in a fight that I wasn’t suppose to get into against some six foot Russian.

Steve: You weren’t suppose to get into that fight? What do you mean by that?

Jim: We were not intending to go. The coach, I guess, called him off and he looked at me and started to go, and I didn’t know what to do.

Steve: It was your first fight then?

Jim: Yeah, it was my first fight; an ugly experience.

Steve: Do you have a nickname?

Jim: Yeah, but not really down here. I have a nickname up north which is Chopper. I’ve had that ever since I began teething because I used to bite a lot of things, including people.

Steve: What are your hobbies besides hockey?

Jim: I like going out camping. I like fishing, you know, visiting other lakes.

Steve: I can’t imagine living without . . .

Jim: I can’t imagine living without my camp, my cabin.

Steve: Your family has a cabin?

Jim: Yeah, it is a cabin about 40 minutes away from my house. I always go up there to get away from things. Go out there with a couple buddies. That is my get away, I guess.