Ice hockey in Minnesota

Ice hockey in Minnesota
Flag of Minnesota
Country	United States
Governing body	USA Hockey
National team(s)	Men's national team Women's national team
First played	1883
Club competitions
List AHL (minor professional) NCAA (collegiate) EHL (junior)

Minnesota, more so than any other state, is the focal point for ice hockey in the United States. Since the late-19th century, the cold, winter weather enabled the land of 10,000 lakes to be a natural home for ice hockey and the residents of the state have invested more time, effort and energy into the game than most other regions in the world.

History

Origins

A group of boys picking teams for a game of shinny, 1908

1883 saw the first ice rink built in Saint Paul to host game of ice polo (an early derivation of shinny). The local tournaments were so popular that within a decade, an artificial indoor rink was built to support the series. In 1895, piggybacking on the popularity of ice polo, a championship ice hockey team from Winnipeg travelled south to take on a team made up of students from the University of Minnesota. This is the earliest recorded official game of ice hockey in the state. The following winter, several new teams appeared and a tournament was held in Saint Paul. Former polo player Ed Murphy was a key contributor in driving the transition from polo to hockey. Over the next several years, many amateur teams appeared all over the state as did several indoor rinks. The early adoption of ice hockey in Minnesota didn't appear to catch the attention of outsiders as most professional leagues ignored the north star state but that didn't deter the locals.

After the end of World War I, colleges around the state began to formally support ice hockey programs. The flagship school, Minnesota was the centerpiece for this expansion and the Gophers swiftly became one of the top college teams in the country. The other programs were scattered all over the state from Eveleth to Duluth to St. Cloud and helped to ensure that every region in the state had a local team they could call their own. The college programs were fed by a series of high schools that increased as additional rinks were built in the state. High school hockey had its origins dating back to 1905 but began to see rapid expansion in the 1920s.

Moose Goheen at the 1920 Summer Olympics

Coinciding with the proliferation of junior and college teams, amateur and professional hockey also took off during the interwar period. The St. Paul Saints, who played their first game before the war, became one of the top amateur clubs in the country and provided four players for the inaugural US national team at the 1920 Olympics. Cyril Weidenborner, Edward Fitzgerald, Moose Goheen and Anthony Conroy were all Minnesota natives and earned silver medals in Antwerp.

The Saints would later become a professional team and join the American Hockey Association, the nation's first minor ice hockey league. They were able to form a natural rivalry with the cross-town Minneapolis Millers but professional hockey in Minnesota experienced a few bumps in the road. The great depression forced several teams to cease operations and made many others switch back to amateur hockey, as they could not afford to pay the players. Both Saint Paul and Minneapolis, along with the Eveleth Rangers, left the AHA to found the Central Hockey League during the darkest days of the depression and kept senior hockey alive in the early 1930s. Fortunately, the economic situation improved by the middle of the decade and the CHL was absorbed back into the AHA in 1935.

Postwar years

When the United States entered World War II, many leagues and teams across Minnesota suspended operations for the duration. The University of Minnesota was one of the few programs in the country to continue playing during the war. After the end of the war, the proliferation of ice hockey resumed and the first state high school tournament was held. Since the mid-40s, Minnesota high schools have been one of the biggest producers of American ice hockey players and have become a point of pride for the state. While USA Hockey has assumed control of most junior organizations throughout the country, the state's secondary schools have remained staunchly independent and been ranked among the best junior programs in the nation. In 2023, a poll was released, ranking the more then 2,000 high school ice hockey programs in the nation. The top 13 high schools were all from Minnesota, demonstrating just how important Minnesota's high school system is to American ice hockey.

With the grassroots of ice hockey well established after the war, Minnesota was producing a great deal of local talent. Unfortunately, at this time there were only 6 NHL teams and there was a de facto ban on American players. From 1945 through 1967 the rosters of NHL teams were made up almost entirely by Canadians. Even the four American clubs, who were run by Canadian managers and coaches, followed this pattern. This effect was also felt in the minor leagues, who largely employed Canadians regardless of their location. With little chance of playing at the highest levels of the sport, Minnesota players had few options to choose from during this time. Many choose to leverage their high school exploits into college scholarships but, there too was a problem. While American colleges had used mostly American players prior to World War II, an arms race of sorts began after the war. Many western colleges began to recruit more of their players from Canada, taking advantage of lax NCAA rules that permitted overage junior players to attend college. Spearheaded by Vic Heyliger at Michigan, college rosters became increasingly Canadian throughout the 1950s with a few glaring exceptions.

Elwin Romnes, a Minnesota native and former NHL player, took over as head coach at Minnesota in 1947. He rejected the new trend of importing Canadian players and continued to rely upon home-grown talent. After his departure 5 years later, that policy was reinforced by John Mariucci, another former NHLer who was won an intercollegiate title with Minnesota in 1940. Mariucci was a vocal critic of using Canadian players and achieved more notability for his commitment when Minnesota's American roster was able to match and even surpass other schools. In 1953 and 1954, the Gophers finished as the national runners-up thanks in large part to John Mayasich, the best college player at the time. Mayasich had been a star high school player and went on to set numerous records at the college level. He was so well regarded that in 2011, Mayasich was ranked as the best high school player in the history of Minnesota hockey. Despite his exploits, Mayasich didn't receive a single offer from an NHL team. While that was not wholey unexpected, Mayasich would later express regret in a interview with Sports Illustrated.

"It wasn't a source of bitterness, since no college players were being given a chance...but there's still regret, even to this day, not knowing if I could have done it."

While Mayasich, as well as many other players, couldn't pursue a professional career at the time, they were able to continue playing in other avenues. Mayasich joined the US national team and, because the IOC only permitted amateurs at the time, the lack of professional opportunities helped the national program. With a roster made up of the best players in the country, the United States won a silver medal in ice hockey in 1956 and followed that up with their first gold medal in 1960. Of the 17 players on the roster, 7 were from Minnesota (including Mayasich).

After the AHA failed to return after the war, the teams that had survived the hibernation formed a new circuit called the United States Hockey League. That minor league lasted just 6 years and the revivals of both the Saints and Millers didn't extend beyond the league's end. After several failed attempts with pro hockey, Minnesota turned to senior amateur leagues and saw a good deal of success. The most storied senior team is probably the Warroad Lakers who won many championships in its 50-year history, including three when it was invited to participate in Canada's national senior tournament.

Professional opportunities

A statue of Herb Brooks outside RiverCentre, in Saint Paul

After 1960, the NHL began to soften its uncharitable view of US colleges but only towards Canadian players. It wasn't until the league expanded to 12 teams in 1967 that American players had a chance to play at the professional level once more. Despite one of the NHL's expansion teams being the Minnesota North Stars, not a single player from the state made the roster in the first season. However, the doubling of the NHL also required a complimentary increase in the minor leagues and many American players were finally able to get into the pro ranks in either the AHL, IHL, or CPHL. As the NHL continued to expand throughout the 60s and 70s, the addition of the World Hockey Association in 1972 raised the number of major professional teams in North American teams to 28. With nearly 5 times as many positions to fill as there had been just 5 years prior, American players could no longer be frozen out of any level of the sport.

Coinciding with the rapid professional expansion was the arrival of Herb Brooks as coach at Minnesota. While Brooks continued the established policy of native Minnesotans only, he was the first coach to lead the Gophers to a national championship. That summer, eight players were selected in the NHL Draft, a stark increase from the two who had been taken in the previous five drafts combined. Brooks kept Minnesota as one of the top teams in the nation for the rest of the decade, winning two more championships, before taking over as head coach for the US national team. He would become legendary at the 1980 Olympics, leading a team made entire out of college players to a win over the juggernaut Soviet Union team in the Miracle on Ice. It is widely regarded as the most stunning upset of the 20th century. Similar to the gold medal team in 1960, the Miracle squad had 12 of its 20 players hail from Minnesota.

1980 was a turning point in the history of Minnesota hockey. While the success at the Olympics was national news and spawned the professional careers of Brooks as well as players like Rob McClanahan, Mike Ramsey and Mark Pavelich, other events were also occurring. A second USHL had been started in 1961 and served as a senior league until 1979. That summer, the league changed to become the nation's first major junior circuit and develop American junior players for the professional level. While the league was a competitor to the CHL, the USHL structured itself so that its plaers would still be eligible to play collegiately, something that the CHL players had been barred from accomplishing since 1973. The league was initially centered in and around Minnesota, however, by 2000 not a single USHL team was left in Minnesota. direct competition from Minnesota high schools was largely responsible for the change, however, the USHL continues to be populated my many players from Minnesota seeking a larger national profile.

Over the succeeding years, ice hockey has continued its place as the most popular sport in Minnesota. In 2009, Governor Tim Pawlenty singed a bill officially making ice hockey the state sport. Despite the unquestioned support, Minnesota has seen some surprising turn of events. The most obvious counterpoint being the departure of the North Stars. In 1992, the North Stars were suffering from low attendance, having finished with a losing record in each of their previous six seasons. Even a surprise run to the 1991 Stanley Cup Finals was able to turn the team around. At the time, many pointed out that the team's poor on-ice performance wasn't the only issue, with team owner Norman Green's much-publicized fight with the Target Center being top of mind. Regardless of the reasons, the North Stars were in financial trouble and Green sought to move the team. After his first choice of Los Angeles was blocked by the impending arrival of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Green moved the team to Dallas in 1993. The NHL swiftly returned to the twin cities with the Minnesota Wild debuting in 2000. However, that did little to mollify the local fans who were forced to watch the Dallas Stars win the Stanley Cup in 1999.

External links

• Minnesota Hockey
• US Hockey Hall of Fame
• Vintage Minnesota Hockey