Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 18:31
By Andrew Vitalis
Let’s Play Hockey
Fifty years. It’s been five decades since International Falls and Duluth East met for the Region VII final and the stories are still being told. It was, and continues to be, a “where were you when” moment for everyone associated with the game. Still today, Mike “Lefty” Curran, then a junior goaltender for International Falls, is asked about that historic night at the Hippodrome in Eveleth.
“I talk to people in their mid-50s who tell me where they were that night or what they were doing,” Curran said. “They talk about being in the stands when they were five or six years old and they still remember that game like it was yesterday. The whole thing was pretty incredible.”
It was a perfect storm of emotion. Duluth East won the state tournament in 1960. In 1961, East had a handful, if not more, of Division I prospects. International Falls was equally as potent. Falls had lost just one game that season and was ranked No. 1. East was ranked second.
Adding to the atmosphere was the fact that the matchup was taking place in Eveleth at the historic Hippodrome. What more needs to be said? At the time, the seating capacity in the Hippodrome was believed to be approximately 3,000. Curran remembers walking out of the locker room seeing more people than that.
“I’ll bet there were 3,500 people in the building, maybe more. Coach (Larry) Ross had a tough time making it to the bench because of all of the people. We walked out of the locker room and there were all kinds of people standing around the rink; it was standing room only. We had never experienced anything like that in our lives. It was really special. It definitely was a moment none of us anticipated that’s for sure.”
“The whole building was just rocking,” Keith “Huffer” Christiansen, a sophomore forward for International Falls at the time, said. “We had one of the best pep bands in the country. Hockey was booming at the time and it seemed everywhere we went, the entire town traveled with us. East had a huge following as well so there were a lot of things that went into it.”
As expected, the game was one for the ages. As the teams went back and forth, a late goal by East put them in front for good. To that point, the energy in the stands was historic. The skill on the ice was legendary and the game itself, a 3-2 East win, was extraordinary.
With that being said, it was what happened after the final buzzer that has kept this game alive for decades. It’s what Curran still talks about like it happened yesterday. The details of the event etched in his mind, as vivid today as back then. The brawl.
Curran remembers seeing East’s Mike Hoene fall to the ground. Hoene was struck in the head by a stick belonging to Jim Amidon. As Hoene went to the ice, a small fight ensued on the ice between players. It was, and still is, the hockey code. Teammates sticking up for teammates. Curran and Christiansen had seen that before. However, what happened next was a first for both.
“Fans for both teams started jumping over the boards and fighting each other on the ice. It was chaos. I’d estimate that there were 30-40 people on the ice fighting,” Curran said. “We as players, we all just skated to the boards and watched. I think some of the East players even got hit by some of the fans. I had never seen anything like it.”
“From the players’ standpoint, it wasn’t a big deal to us; we just sat back and watched the fans duke it out,” Christiansen said. “I think looking back on it, the players didn’t know what to do or even what to think. There wasn’t much time to think about what was going on. We were just trying to stay out of it and not get hurt.”
Legendary Duluth East head coach at the time, Glenn Rolle, told a newspaper reporter after the game that they would never play International Falls again unless it was in the tournament. International Falls head coach Larry Ross marched his team into the East locker room after the game and forced every one of his players to apologize. It had turned into more than just a game.
“I thought we had the better team,” Christiansen said. “They had excellent goaltending that night. We certainly didn’t expect to lose that game. I have friends who were on that East team and we still to this day argue over which team was better. Being a sophomore at the time, it was a pretty special game to be a part of.”
“It was so unique in so many different ways,” Curran said. “A lot of what people remember from that game unfortunately is negative. To have that brawl happen, I think that’s what most people remember, but the game as a whole had it all. Two of the best teams in the state, a great environment and two teams stacked with great hockey players. For years, when I returned to Eveleth, people would want to talk about that game all the time. Nobody who was there will ever forget it.”
Curran will certainly never forget it. The International Falls native who went onto win a silver medal playing for the 1972 U.S Olympic team, ranks that historical night at the Hippodrome as one of the most memorable games he’s ever been a part of.
Curran’s teammate at International Falls and on the 1972 squad, “Huffer” Christiansen, agrees. Aside from winning the state championship as a junior on the 1962International Falls squad, Christiansen admits the game had a little bit of everything: skill, tradition, atmosphere. Oh yeah, there was also that fight thing.
“It’s hard to compete with that.”
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