The 2014 Team USA has several native Minnesotans who will be seeking an Olympic gold medal next month when the men’s hockey team plays in Sochi, Russia.

A number of players from Minnesota also represented the silver medal-winning 1972 U. S. Olympic hockey team, which included three players from International Falls. One of the players from northern Minnesota has put together a book about his hockey experiences.

Henry Boucha of Warroad, who also played in the National Hockey League and was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, has written Henry Boucha, Ojibwa Native American Olympian.

“Henry Boucha, Ojibwa Native American Olympian, is my first-hand account of the triumphs and tragedies I experienced, going from humble Minnesota beginnings to centerman for the Detroit Red Wings,” said Boucha, who also noted he is one of six Native American Olympic medalists.

Boucha, who presently resides in Anchorage, Alaska, and began Boucha Films in 2011, said he got the idea to write the book while putting together documentaries about Native American Olympians.

“I thought, ‘Well I’ll start with myself, first, because I know all about me,’” he said. “I thought, ‘Well, if I’m going to do that, I’m just going to go ahead and do a book and see how that turns out.’”

Boucha, who has held a number of book signings in northern Minnesota recently, including in the Falls last month, said he wrote the book in two-and-a-half months and took another 16 months to edit it and get the book ready for sale.

“One never knows when you do a project like this whether the book is going to sell or not,” he said

The three Falls players Boucha played with on the 1972 U.S. Olympic hockey team included forwards Tim Sheehy and Keith “Huffer” Christiansen and goalie Mike “Lefty” Curran.

“It really was a pleasure playing with (them on the Olympic team),” Boucha said. “It seems like when you’re in high school, each town has their stars...

“You never think about playing with them, unless you go to a university or a college or something. The U.S. National Team and Olympic Team was unique, because it brought people together from all over the country. It was even more unique when you’re playing with three of the players from just down the road, because you have that certain bond of hockey in northern Minnesota.”

Having fallen between the U.S. teams that won gold medals on home ice in 1960 and 1980, Boucha said the 1972 team that won the silver medal in Sapporo, Japan, is the “forgotten team.”

“Nobody really even talks about that team winning a silver medal when you’re between two golds,” he said.

When asked about pro hockey players now being allowed to play in the Olympics, Boucha said, “It really takes a lot of the pizazz out of it.”

“We were college kids (and played) Junior A hockey,” he said. “We had to have jobs to support ourselves. We played hockey as a secondary career.

“Some of us were able to play full-time because we were in the service, but it’s different now to have the pros in there. The whole complexity of the game has changed to what it is today. During (the early 1970s) it was certainly a different era, and now you have the best in the world playing against each other (in the Olympics).”