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40 years ago - As we all may know, the 1970 State Tournament at the Met Center was the greatest. There were 5 OT games in the 7 championship bracket games. Goalies Doug Long for Johnson and Brad Shelstad for Mpls. SW had unbelievable performances.

Quarterfinals
Mpls. Southwest 4, No. St. Paul 3 (ot)
Hibbing 4, White Bear Lake 0
St. Paul Johnson 4, Greenway 3 (5 ot) Doug Long 61 saves
Edina 3, Warroad 2 (2 ot) Rematch of the 1969 finalists

Semifinals
Mpls. Southwest 3, Hibbing 1
Edina 2, St. Paul Johnson 1 (3 ot) Doug Long 52 saves in the loss

The final matching undefeated neighbors SW 19-0-2 & Edina 21-0-1
Mpls. Southwest 1, Edina 0 (ot) Brad Shelstad shut out Edina.

Doug Long still holds the tournament saves record with 124 even while playing only part of the 3rd place game (11 saves) on Saturday. He had a 4 year minor league career after high school. Brad Shelstad went on to the U of M winning a NCAA title in 1974 for Herb Brooks.

The question is this - Who was Edina's goalie and what happened to him? Was it the same goalie who won a state title in 1969?

P.S. Little known fact - There were 7 regions. The runnersup from the northern regions 7 & 8 played each other to go to the tournament as region 2 champion.

stpaul wrote:40 years ago - As we all may know, the 1970 State Tournament at the Met Center was the greatest. There were 5 OT games in the 7 championship bracket games. Goalies Doug Long for Johnson and Brad Shelstad for Mpls. SW had unbelievable performances.

Quarterfinals
Mpls. Southwest 4, No. St. Paul 3 (ot)
Hibbing 4, White Bear Lake 0
St. Paul Johnson 4, Greenway 3 (5 ot) Doug Long 61 saves
Edina 3, Warroad 2 (2 ot) Rematch of the 1969 finalists

Semifinals
Mpls. Southwest 3, Hibbing 1
Edina 2, St. Paul Johnson 1 (3 ot) Doug Long 52 saves in the loss

The final matching undefeated neighbors SW 19-0-2 & Edina 21-0-1
Mpls. Southwest 1, Edina 0 (ot) Brad Shelstad shut out Edina.

Doug Long still holds the tournament saves record with 124 even while playing only part of the 3rd place game (11 saves) on Saturday. He had a 4 year minor league career after high school. Brad Shelstad went on to the U of M winning a NCAA title in 1973 for Herb Brooks.

The question is this - Who was Edina's goalie and what happened to him? Was it the same goalie who won a state title in 1969?

P.S. Little known fact - There were 7 regions. The runnersup from the northern regions 7 & 8 played each other to go to the tournament as region 2 champion.

I do remember the 'back door' region. Never thought it was fair either.

I believe the Edina goalie was Larry Thayer, who also went on to the U with Shelstad. Larry just retired from being the arena manager at Braemar.

stpaul wrote: P.S. Little known fact - There were 7 regions. The runnersup from the northern regions 7 & 8 played each other to go to the tournament as region 2 champion.

Did any 'back door' region winners ever win a state title?

DumpandChase1 wrote:I believe the Edina goalie was Larry Thayer, who also went on to the U with Shelstad. Larry just retired from being the arena manager at Braemar.

That's right, but Larry did not go to the U right away. I think he transferred in from Bemidji and was a year after Brad. Brad was in goal when the Gophs won the NCAA in '74 and Larry was in goal when they lost to MTU in '75 final. I didn't know Larry retired. I know I hadn't seen him around the rink this season.

wbmd wrote:

stpaul wrote: P.S. Little known fact - There were 7 regions. The runnersup from the northern regions 7 & 8 played each other to go to the tournament as region 2 champion.

Did any 'back door' region winners ever win a state title?

Yep. 4 times.

Duluth East 1960
Intl. Falls 1964
Greenway 1968
Hibbing 1973

From 1949-1974, when the back door existed:

Section State Titles-runners up-3rd places
7 10-2-8
8 5-6-3
6 3-1-0
4 2-3-2
5 1-1-5
1 1-4-2
2 0-1-4
The back door: 4-6-2

So they stacked up with anyone, really.
Section 7 won the backdoor berth 15 times, while section 8 got it 11 times.

I also believe--complete guesswork here--there was a back-door for the metro area as well, from 1949-1966(?). That would've been section 1 over that period.

I am too young to know any of this; it's just what I can gleam from the Minnhock archives. Please correct me if there are any errors.

Larry also suited up for the North Stars when there was a major snow storm and one of the North Stars goalies did not make it to town.

karl(east) wrote:

wbmd wrote:

stpaul wrote: P.S. Little known fact - There were 7 regions. The runnersup from the northern regions 7 & 8 played each other to go to the tournament as region 2 champion.

Did any 'back door' region winners ever win a state title?

Yep. 4 times.

Duluth East 1960
Intl. Falls 1964
Greenway 1968
Hibbing 1973

From 1949-1974, when the back door existed:

Section State Titles-runners up-3rd places
7 10-2-8
8 5-6-3
6 3-1-0
4 2-3-2
5 1-1-5
1 1-4-2
2 0-1-4
The back door: 4-6-2

So they stacked up with anyone, really.
Section 7 won the backdoor berth 15 times, while section 8 got it 11 times.

I also believe--complete guesswork here--there was a back-door for the metro area as well, from 1949-1966(?). That would've been section 1 over that period.

I am too young to know any of this; it's just what I can gleam from the Minnhock archives. Please correct me if there are any errors.

Yes, there was more than one backdoor region with region 1 being the backdoor for the city teams.

The backdoor region ended in 1975 when the private schools were allowed to join the MSHSL state tournament.

Gov78 wrote:Yes, there was more than one backdoor region with region 1 being the backdoor for the city teams.

The backdoor region ended in 1975 when the private schools were allowed to join the MSHSL state tournament.

Do you know when the Metro backdoor came to an end? All I'm going by are lists of section winners through the years. In the late 60s, the section 1 winners seem to stop being random teams from sections 4, 5, and 2 and become SE metro teams (except NSP one year, in 1970). Of course it might just be possible that all the good second place metro teams at this time were from one area.

karl(east) wrote:

Gov78 wrote:Yes, there was more than one backdoor region with region 1 being the backdoor for the city teams.

The backdoor region ended in 1975 when the private schools were allowed to join the MSHSL state tournament.

Do you know when the Metro backdoor came to an end? All I'm going by are lists of section winners through the years. In the late 60s, the section 1 winners seem to stop being random teams from sections 4, 5, and 2 and become SE metro teams (except NSP one year, in 1970). Of course it might just be possible that all the good second place metro teams at this time were from one area.

1967 was the final season where the Region 1 winner came out of a four-way playoff between the finalists from Regions 2, 4, 5 & 6. That was the format used from 1962-1967.

In 1960 & 1961, it was the section final losers from Regions 2, 4 & 6, along with the Champion of District 17 (Minneapolis). The other Minneapolis schools would then compete for the Region 5 title.

From 1950 to 1959, it gets a little more murky (at least from my sources), but Region 1 was generally reserved for either a St Paul or Minneapolis school which didn't win their respective Region title.

From 1945 to 1949, I can't make much sense other than Region 7 was for Duluth and the Range, Region 8 was for northwestern Minnesota.

I'm trying to fit this stuff all together in preparation for posting some kind of statewide, school-by-school history to minnhock.com sometime later this year. (On the other hand, it's one of those projects which has always been in the "when I get around to it" category...but at least now I have most of the basic data except for a ton of W/L records I'm missing).

Lee

east hockey wrote:1967 was the final season where the Region 1 winner came out of a four-way playoff between the finalists from Regions 2, 4, 5 & 6. That was the format used from 1962-1967.

In 1960 & 1961, it was the section final losers from Regions 2, 4 & 6, along with the Champion of District 17 (Minneapolis). The other Minneapolis schools would then compete for the Region 5 title.

From 1950 to 1959, it gets a little more murky (at least from my sources), but Region 1 was generally reserved for either a St Paul or Minneapolis school which didn't win their respective Region title.

From 1945 to 1949, I can't make much sense other than Region 7 was for Duluth and the Range, Region 8 was for northwestern Minnesota.

I'm trying to fit this stuff all together in preparation for posting some kind of statewide, school-by-school history to minnhock.com sometime later this year. (On the other hand, it's one of those projects which has always been in the "when I get around to it" category...but at least now I have most of the basic data except for a ton of W/L records I'm missing).

Lee

Okay, thanks.

So to me it looks like this:

Section 1
46-48 South
49-67 Metro Backdoor
68-74 SE Metro; presumably the south as well
75- South/South Metro periphery

Section 2
45-74 East Metro Suburbs
75-91 Awkward north Metro/I-35 corridor/Duluth
92-07 SE metro (roughly today's section 3)
08- SW Metro

Section 3
45-48 Random huge swath of the western part of the state
49-74 North backdoor
75-07 NE Metro (roughly today's section 4)
08- SE Metro

Section 4
45-91 St. Paul
92-07 North Metro (roughly today's section 5)
08-NE Metro

Section 5
45 Staples(?)
46-07 Minneapolis, Bloomington, adding more southern suburbs over time, to the point where it was nearly today's section 2
08- North Metro

Section 6
45-52ish St. Cloud/West Metro
53- West Metro

Section 7
Northeast; expanding south since 1992

Section 8
Northwest; also expanding south and west

I'm excited to see the school-by-school history. We really need something like that.

Doug Long played for Herbie Brooks with the Minnesota Junior Stars in the early 70s. The other goalie was Pat Huttner from a very strong Minnetonka team.

I don't know how many years they played there, or if Herbie was there one or two years before going to the U.

I think Pat Phippen may have been on that Jr. Stars team, and maybe another player who ended up winning the National Championship with Herbie in '74?

There are some great stories from that Junior Stars team. I am told they got arrested once in Canada by the Royal Canadian Mounties for stealing pillows from motel rooms there on road trips. They pulled the team bus over, took them to court and the whole thing. Herbie was furious.

They used to have insane bench clearing brawls with the Thunder Bay team. I guess the Jr. Stars were good enough to challenge the Thunder Bay team (Vulcans?) for 1st place in the league. I think they finished second in the league. They beat Thunder Bay in some of those games, and back then it was pretty unheard of for an American team to beat any Canadian hockey team. It really P-O’d the Canadians.

Ross Bernstein has a good description of a brawl at Minnetonka Ice Arena in his book "America's Coach." There is also a picture of the Minnesota Jr. Stars on page 40 with goalies Long and Huttner on either end.

I don't know how much is true, but I am told that parts of the movie "Slap Shot" were taken from events that happened in the Canadian Jr. A league that the Jr. Stars were a part of. I saw some of those games and brawls as a kid, and I can tell you it was brutal.

Does anyone know who else was on that Jr. Stars team?

Correction: I see Pat Phippen played for the St. Paul Vulcans.

http://www.vintageminnesotahockey.com/S ... lcans.html


I do not see a roster for the Jr. Stars from those years Doug Long was on the team. (1971-'73 era)

http://www.vintageminnesotahockey.com/B ... Stars.html

or

http://www.hockeydb.com/stte/minnesota- ... -6873.html

Snap Shot wrote:I think Pat Phippen may have been on that Jr. Stars team, and maybe another player who ended up winning the National Championship with Herbie in '74?

...

I don't know how much is true, but I am told that parts of the movie "Slap Shot" were taken from events that happened in the Canadian Jr. A league that the Jr. Stars were a part of. I saw some of those games and brawls as a kid, and I can tell you it was brutal.

Right. Phippen played for Wooger's St. Paul Vulcans. Along with Dave Hanson, who, of course, filled in for Jack Carlson to become the third "Hanson brother" in Slapshot.

The Bloomington Jr. Stars / Vulcans rivalry was crazier than the movie ever was

pat phippen and doug long played for herb brooks when it was called the junior stars. the next year they were called the st paul vulcans and only phippen played along with a great hockey player named john sheridan, the coach was doug woog .you are right the games against the thunder bay vulcans were worse than brutal, they had a guy named goldie goldthorpe(scary). phippen and sheridan ended up at the U of M and won a national championship.bikes were stoled not pillows from the motel-- believe me i know

Snap Shot wrote:Doug Long played for Herbie Brooks with the Minnesota Junior Stars in the early 70s. The other goalie was Pat Huttner from a very strong Minnetonka team.

I don't know how many years they played there, or if Herbie was there one or two years before going to the U.

I think Pat Phippen may have been on that Jr. Stars team, and maybe another player who ended up winning the National Championship with Herbie in '74?

There are some great stories from that Junior Stars team. I am told they got arrested once in Canada by the Royal Canadian Mounties for stealing pillows from motel rooms there on road trips. They pulled the team bus over, took them to court and the whole thing. Herbie was furious.

They used to have insane bench clearing brawls with the Thunder Bay team. I guess the Jr. Stars were good enough to challenge the Thunder Bay team (Vulcans?) for 1st place in the league. I think they finished second in the league. They beat Thunder Bay in some of those games, and back then it was pretty unheard of for an American team to beat any Canadian hockey team. It really P-O’d the Canadians.

Ross Bernstein has a good description of a brawl at Minnetonka Ice Arena in his book "America's Coach." There is also a picture of the Minnesota Jr. Stars on page 40 with goalies Long and Huttner on either end.

I don't know how much is true, but I am told that parts of the movie "Slap Shot" were taken from events that happened in the Canadian Jr. A league that the Jr. Stars were a part of. I saw some of those games and brawls as a kid, and I can tell you it was brutal.

Does anyone know who else was on that Jr. Stars team?

I always thought Les Auge and Doug Long skated together after HS. At least I remember the grads of Johnson 71 all saying that was the plan.