Nystrom: Brooks was an innovator

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, August 12, 2003

According to Albert Lea High School boys’ hockey coach Roy Nystrom, John Mariucci was always considered the Godfather of Minnesota hockey.

At least until Herb Brooks came on the scene.

&uot;After John passed on, I think Herbie more or less took over that role,&uot; said Nystrom. &uot;He definitely helped the (Minnesota State High School League) make some major decisions. The 25-game season, that was a Herb Brooks project. He was an innovator. He had goals in life, and he worked toward them.&uot;

Email newsletter signup

Brooks’ life ended in a crash on Interstate 35 north of the Twin Cities Monday, and Nystrom was among countless hockey enthusiasts shocked and saddened by the news.

While Nystrom said he was &uot;not a close personal friend&uot; of Brooks, he met him and knew him since Nystrom’s playing days at the University of Minnesota in the early 1960s. He also heard Brooks speak at an Albert Lea function in the 1980s.

&uot;He was a good guy,&uot; said Nystrom. &uot;I liked him. He was a genuine person.&uot;

Brooks’ younger brother, David, was a senior when Nystrom was a sophomore on the Gopher hockey team.

&uot;Herbie was always hanging around the team,&uot; said Nystrom. &uot;He was still pretty young and hadn’t gotten into coaching yet.&uot;

Nystrom faced Herb Brooks on the ice one time, when he was a junior and the Gophers played the 1964 U.S. Olympic team.

&uot;I played left wing and he played right wing, so basically we were in competition throughout the game,&uot; said Nystrom. &uot;He was a good player.&uot;

But it was as a coach that Brooks made his biggest mark, leading the 1980 U.S. squad to an improbable victory over the Soviet Union and the gold medal at Lake Placid.

Brooks went on to coach four teams in the NHL and returned to coach the 2002 U.S. Olympic team to the silver medal.

But, according to Nystrom, Brooks never lost touch with his Minnesota roots, and his ideas have touched virtually every high school hockey coach in the state in some way or another.

&uot;He was definitely responsible for a lot of new ideas and innovations in hockey,&uot; said Nystrom. &uot;Certainly all the coaches in Minnesota have adopted at least part of his so-called system. He learned a lot from the Russians and Europeans, and hockey has evolved that way. He was a forerunner of that.&uot;

(Contact Jim Lutgens at sports@albertleatribune.com or 379-3437.)