Every October, Michael Hapke has an important decision to make.
Do I haul the boards, plexiglass, netting and lights out of storage? Or is this the year I finally stop constructing a hockey rink in my backyard?
Inevitably, the decision is made: the rink is happening, “one more year.”
It’s a painstaking job, one that takes months of preparation, hours upon hours of care, patience and attention, all for that smooth stretch of ice — 104 feet by 44 feet, complete with nets at each end, full boards, overhead lighting and safety netting to keep most of the pucks in play.
In the end, Hapke then asks himself the most important question of all.
“Why do I do this?” he wonders, with a laugh.
The reason is always the same. The thump of the puck on the boards, the sharp ping as it strikes a goalpost, the crisp chill of winter — these are more than sounds and sensations for Hapke, CEO at the Advanced Group of Companies, which consists of Advanced Mortgage Investment Corp., Advanced Capital Corp., Advanced Alternative Lending and Ottawa’s largest mortgage brokerage, Mortgage Brokers Ottawa.
For this leading businessman, who doesn’t exactly have tons of time on his hands, the rink reminds him of his childhood. It brings him peace.
It’s the same reason why Hapke is giving back to the Ottawa community with a historic pledge: a $1-million commitment to Carleton University’s athletic department, transforming the home of the Ravens hockey team into the Advanced Capital Ice House.
“Working with Carleton University on the Ice House has been a very natural fit,” he explains.
“I didn’t play on the hockey team. I didn’t play on the football team. I actually didn’t play on any of the sports teams. I just went to school there. For me, this was an opportunity to give back to an institution that gave me the opportunity to grow and dream, which helped shape my career, and to share the joy that was brought to me by being on the ice. I want to give that to others.”
The vision came to fruition last month when Hapke attended an official signing ceremony at Carleton.
“We are thrilled that Michael Hapke has chosen to partner with Carleton University in championing life-long athletic excellence,” says Suzanne Blanchard, vice-president (students and enrolment) and university registrar at Carleton. “Through his meaningful investment in Carleton athletics, Mr. Hapke is helping to create a vibrant environment where student-athletes and the Ottawa community can thrive. Thanks to his generous support, the Advanced Capital Ice House will be the focal point of the hockey experience at Carleton whether that’s youth enrolled in hockey camps, varsity athletes or the wider community staying active.”
Hapke says he’s especially pleased that his pledge will send at least four underprivileged athletes to hockey camp each year.
Also on hand for the signing was Peter Nicholson, president and founder of the WCPD Foundation, which specializes in charity flow-through shares, a unique Canadian tax structure that helps bring down the cost to donate for major donors. Hapke worked with the team at WCPD to stretch his pledge and reach the $1-million mark by making the commitment more tax-efficient.
“Congratulations to Mike Hapke, who is giving back in a big way to his alma mater,” Nicholson says. “First, giving comes from the heart. That’s the motivation. Our goal is to simply make the most of his generosity and bring in the head, so to speak. Charity flow helps unlock so much potential and really takes donors to the next level.”
Long before his success in business and any thought of giving back, Hapke was a hockey player, pure and simple. Not a professional or even the leading scorer on a competitive team. He was just a kid from Toronto in the 1970s who loved hockey.
“There was an outdoor rink around the corner from my house, an old lacrosse box they flooded in the winter months,” he recalls. “Growing up, my mom was a first-generation Canadian and my dad was an immigrant who came to Canada in the ‘50s. They didn’t know a lot about sports. So I walked to this outdoor rink with my skates on. Back then, I thought it was pretty cool to make sparks on the sidewalk.”
Those endless hours at the outdoor rink helped shape Hapke as a person and created core memories that he carries with him to this day. He recalls an atmosphere where it didn’t matter who you were; rich or poor, young or old. People just played. Kids threw down a couple of boots and a pile of snow for the net. Everyone tossed sticks into the middle of the ice to pick the teams.
As the youngest of four with three older sisters, it was a refuge, a place of belonging, for when Hapke wasn’t hanging out with his dad.
In the 1950s, his father fled post-war Germany to settle in Toronto. Hapke still has the suitcase he brought with him to Canada.
“It was very small and, I assure you, it wasn’t filled with money,” he says.
It’s a constant reminder of what it would have taken for his father to succeed in Canada.
After years of hard work and saving, his dad bought a dump truck. And then another dump truck. Eventually, he had a fleet of four trucks and assisted with the construction of Highway 400 and parts of New City Hall in Toronto. Over the years, he also invested in real estate, eventually owning a small apartment building, and Hapke recalls his youth spent mopping floors, painting, carrying out the garbage and fixing toilets and stoves — when he wasn’t at the rink, of course.
In fact, Hapke says the principles he learned on the hockey rink and in life are one and the same. There is no “secret sauce” to success, he insists. It is determination, hard work and never losing a battle for the puck. Never quit. But if you do lose, get back up, learn from your mistakes and try again.
His father always pushed him to challenge himself, which is exactly why he ended up in Ottawa at Carleton University. His dad never had the opportunity to attend university, so having his kids go was very important to him.
“School didn’t come easily for me,” Hapke says. “It forced me to really challenge my boundaries and think differently. But I did it. It was what my dad had wanted. When I graduated, I gave my framed degree and school ring to him. It meant more to him than myself at that time.”
Carleton was one of the best experiences of Hapke’s life and, as it turned out, Ottawa fit him like a hockey glove. Hapke met his wife, Terri, and they had two sons, Anderson and Reid. Of course, they are both hockey players.
Ottawa is also where he built his business. Working at TD Canada Trust for almost 20 years, Hapke left a few years after the merger and founded his own business. He hasn’t looked back since. Hapke launched Mortgage Brokers Ottawa in 2005 and the Advanced Group of Companies in 2015, making 2025 the 20th and 10th anniversaries for the companies, respectively.
Today, Hapke’s companies directly employ around 40 people and support more than 80 mortgage brokers in the Ottawa area.
In a career filled with ups, downs and milestones, Hapke sees his $1-million commitment as a “constant reminder” of how far the Advanced Group of Companies has come, and where it is going.
“We’ve always been a giving organization. We’ve always helped with local food banks, women’s shelters, CHEO, Ronald McDonald House, local sports teams and several other organizations over the years,” he explains.
“For me and my family, this will be a lasting reminder of the hard work that has gone into getting to this point, and we’re not done yet. I just feel very fortunate to be able to make this commitment to the university and I am honoured to have our name on the Ice House. This is something that will stick with me for a very long time.”
In the meantime, hockey continues for the Hapke family. Hapke still plays twice a week with old friends and other business leaders at J.A. Dulude Arena. Like in his youth, the game’s sights, sensations and sounds — and the locker room banter — continue to ground him and bring him peace.
In the backyard this winter, the family ice rink will be back, Hapke’s ultimate sanctuary.
The boys are older now — one is 19 and playing hockey at Bishop’s University, while the other is nearly 16 and playing junior hockey for the Carleton Place Canadians. These days, the boys call their friends to help set up the rink and Hapke plays the role of “foreman.” It’s a ritual of sorts, a reminder of the past and what’s important in life.
“As they get older and their lives get busier, I might have to mothball the hockey rink until the grandkids come along,” he says.
Or maybe, they’ll do it for just one more year.
Jeff Todd is an award-winning author and vice-president of marketing and communications at the WCPD Foundation.
This article first appeared in the 2025 Giving Guide produced by the Ottawa Business Journal. That publication is available in its digital edition below.
