Kalamazoo Times

Chris Cadeau, the new voice of the Kalamazoo Wings, has deep roots in hockey and Michigan, the team said.

It stretches back to his grandfather and the Detroit Red Wings.

"My grandfather was a season ticket holder at Olympia (former home of the  Red Wings)," Cadeau said in a KWings.com release. "He watched  every game with an autographed Production Line (Gordie Howe, Sid Abel, Ted Lindsay) photo above his recliner."

There was a family story about his grandfather's reaction when the Red Wings traded Ted Linsday to the Chicago Blackhawks.

"My grandfather walked into Jack Adams' office, because back then it was right on the street and you could do that, and gave him a piece of his mind with Gordie Howe sitting right there," said Cadeau.

The team said he has been playing hockey since the age of 7.

Cadeau remembers the year the Red Wings lost in the Stanley Cup finals to the New Jersey Devils.

"That's my first hockey memory, especially the all-out fights in the prior series with Chicago," Cadeau said.

After graduating from Canton's Salem High School with a 1.9 GPA, Cadeau joined the military, choosing the Marines over the Navy — where his father had served- because he didn't want to live on a boat. He did end up on an aircraft carrier, however.

The Marine Corps led him into bodybuilding but also a back injury and an honorable discharge after seven years of service.

He ended up back in college and went on to graduate school at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

"The whole time, the goal for me was to be the voice of a team or cover a team," Cadeau said. "I was touching everything from play by play, to  writing, to broadcasting, looking for the best fit for my family."

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