South's one-eyed goalie makes comeback

By BOB SCHRANCKMinneapolis Star Staff Writer As a Hill-Murray player skated in toward him Wednesday, South High School goalie Tony Julin slid smoothly to one side and blocked a shot. It was just a hockey scrimmage with no score kept. But regardless of whether he stopped all the Hill-Murray shots, Julin was a hero to his teammates – just for being in the nets.

Tony Julin, January 1972 Julin has only one eye. He lost the other one in November when he had his mask off and a flying puck shattered it, necessitating its removal. It was replaced by a glass eye. It was almost seven weeks before he put on skates again. It appeared to South fans Tony was through with hockey. The South High School newspaper had him out the remainder of the year at least. But they didn't reckon with this 16-year-old, with his determination to return to hockey – and to return as a goaltender. "I always figured on coming back, and as goalie," Tony said. "I'll give it till next fall, and if I can't hack it, then I'll try to skate wing." He finds his greatest difficulty – as a one-eyed goaltender – is on the high shots. "I still can't get the angles right. And I don't always know where the net is," he said. So far, he hasn't felt there has been any problem judging distances, although vision experts felt this would be a major handicap. He did ask that it not be revealed which eye is glass, "so they won't all try to skate in on my blind side. "I still keep my body the same way," Tony continued. "but just turn my head a little more." The slight turning of the head isn't evident under the "cage" he wears – a barred catcher's-type mask he wears on the ice to make sure nothing can get at his good eye. His coach, Jim Salwasser, isn't surprised that Tony is back. "He always had a lot of courage, and his attitude was always good," said Salwasser. "He doesn't want any special breaks. He told us that right away. He just wants to play. And I'll give him a fair chance. "He is a quiet kid, in fact so quiet you almost think he's lethargic – until it comes to stopping the puck. "And he stopped them today. They (the Hill-Murray players) didn't know which eye it was." Tony had been involved in South hockey for less than a year before the injury, after attending De La Salle for ninth grade. Tony transferred to South and thus wasn't eligible in his sophomore year until last January. This year, as a junior, he was battling senior Rick Rogers for the South goaltending job. "They were pretty even at the time of the accident," Salwasser said. Tony had slipped off his mask before a skating drill, he said. Then he went back into the nets as some teammates finished some one-on-one drills. Down on one knee, Tony said he batted one puck away, then the second caught him. "A lot of 16-year-olds lie down and never try anything again," Salwasser said. "But Tony has never complained. And his teammates are behind him 100 percent."