City hockey's future gets blast from past

The city's demographic changes, the emergence of private school programs in the suburbs and a failure to adequately promote the game among young athletes are all seen as reasons why the city has seen a dramatic drop in the number of public school kids participating in the sport.

But a group of baby boomers, many of whom who were inspired by those before them as they practiced on the city's frozen lakes, are banding together in hopes of saving what little tangible evidence remains of their past. The first Minneapolis Hockey Alumni Night took place last Wednesday at Parade Ice Garden before a game between Minneapolis East and Minneapolis West. The hope is that the creation of a benevolent alumni association will bring former players and hockey fans together to help the two boys' teams and the only girls' team (the Minneapolis Novas) prosper both on and off the ice.

"It's hard to come back and watch, to see how the skill level has fallen off," said Scott Anderson, a former Minneapolis West High School goaltender. But he does come back, and he will be among those who attempt to build on what remains.

"I think over the years the [youth] associations took their eyes off the ball in terms of [bringing young kids into the sport]," said Steve Jecha, president of the Southwest Hockey Association. "You need to hustle, and we didn't do that. But that has changed the past three or four years.

"This year we have 60 new boys playing in our Mini-Mite program. There were years where we only had 10 kids coming into the program."

John Bergford, a teammate of Johnson's at West, is among those who spearheaded the idea of creating an alumni association. He is confident better days are ahead.

"Old Minneapolis hockey was really park center hockey," Bergford said. "You played with your friends at the neighborhood park, and a road game was going to the park a few blocks over. Now you have the big hockey associations and a road game is driving 20 miles across town.

"I think one of the ways to get Minneapolis back into the scene is to go back to those parks, get kids playing again and build out from there."

Beginning with the 2006-07 season, players from the seven Minneapolis public high schools have been combined to make two teams: Edison, Roosevelt and South make up the East; Henry, North, Southwest and Washburn make up the West.

Tom Younghans is in his first season as West's coach. Younghans, who grew up in St. Paul, played for the Gophers, the North Stars and the New York Rangers. He has been involved in youth hockey in Wayzata and Eden Prairie for more than 20 years and believes the key will be to get city kids excited about playing high school hockey in the public school system.

"The good ones are going elsewhere because they want to excel," Younghans said. "So they go to Benilde-St. Margaret's or Holy Angels or, if they can afford it, Blake or Breck.

"At the lower levels [some good athletes] just aren't coming out. What they have to see is some solid ground [at the high school level]."

Younghans believes that solid ground can be created by establishing some continuity on the coaching staffs.

"That's what the kids are concerned about," he said, "and that's the first thing the booster club asked me: 'Are you sticking around?'

"The coaches I know are competitors. If you help the program, provide players, you'll have coaches sticking around."

West senior Tom Valandra said playing on last season's team, which finished 10-15-2, was so discouraging he was set to transfer to Class A Mound-Westonka/Watertown-Mayer. He reconsidered after the coaching change.

"I would have gotten a lot more exposure, I would have a lot more opportunities there," Valandra said. "But having coaches who played in the pros and at Division I colleges is huge. Their coaching has helped a lot this year. Hopefully we're making more people notice us and bringing more interest to Minneapolis hockey."

Jecha pointed out that, for the first time, the youth programs have partnered with the Minneapolis public schools in an attempt to introduce kids to the game at an early age. "That's been our biggest hangup the last several years," he said. "We haven't been able to get in and get fliers out to the kids in the public schools.

"Probably 60 percent of the kids involved in the [youth programs] are private or parochial school kids. We need to get the public school kids back out."

The increased percentage of minorities in the public schools means reaching out to kids who might not know much about the game. Also, equipment will be provided for young kids who would like to get involved but don't have the necessary financial support.

"The population has changed," Bergford said, "and that's why we have to bring the game to them."

Asked about the quality of the hockey, Younghans said he believes there are a handful of guys who would be good third- or fourth-line players on one of the metro's top teams.

Valandra believes the quality of the experience has improved -- and that's a start.