The Edina Hockey Association has captured more than 50 state championships, including the last two PeeWee AA titles.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 February 2015 16:33
By John Hamre
Let’s Play Hockey Guest Columnist
There’s an old adage in scouting hockey players and teams. If you really want to see a hockey player play, watch at the end of the season and in the playoffs – when the season is on the line and perhaps there is no tomorrow. You’ll see the true character, competitiveness and abilities that for some magical reasons are only shown in these games. January has now rolled into February, and at many levels of play you can smell playoff hockey about to drift through the air. Like Christmas or Thanksgiving dinners are to dining, playoff hockey is one of the best times of the year to enjoy watching hockey games!
A couple of weeks ago I was browsing the Let’s Play Hockey rankings. One thing seemed to jump out. Edina teams are ranked highly – very highly – in nearly every category ranked, both in boys’ and girls’ hockey, from the PeeWee and 12U levels all the way through high school.
In fact, in this week’s edition of the rankings of teams throughout Minnesota, within the 10 levels of boys’ hockey from PeeWees through high school, four Edina teams hold a No. 1 ranking, four hold a No. 2 ranking and two teams hold a No. 3 ranking. At the Bantam B1 level, Edina fields two evenly rostered teams, and each are rated in the state’s top 20. Within the ranked levels of girls’ hockey, Edina teams are ranked Nos. 1, 7 and 9. The Edina girls’ high school team is ranked No. 5 in Class AA.
Good things of this magnitude and consistency usually don’t “just happen.” Large programs and organizations don’t just appear in full and successful operation no matter the context in life. There has to be a starting point. It takes time to develop a program, and to cultivate the efforts and contributions of many people. Strong and positive leadership guides the process. Eventually, a culture is established that charts the course for future generations. Success can breed success, and tradition can be passed from one generation to the next.
Such is the case with the history and developed culture within hockey in Edina, and the Edina Hockey Association (EHA). So, how and why has the Edina program developed so strongly, and maintained its competitive success over nearly seven decades?
To find out, I reached out to several individuals with long histories and varied perspective within Edina and the EHA – Willard Ikola (legendary former Edina High School Coach), Dean Williamson (former Edina player, former Gopher, son of 1972 U.S. Olympic Coach Murray Williamson), Ben Hankinson (former Edina player, former Gopher and NHL player) and Ron Green (current Edina Hockey Association Co-President). Each was asked the following open-ended questions:
• Why is the Edina Hockey Association so good year after year, and generation after generation?
• Why doesn’t the community “age-out”?
• Why do so many alumni return to live in the community and give back to the program as coaches and volunteers?
• How are players recruited at the Mite and Termite levels?
Their responses suggest there are many reasons why the youth EHA is so successful now and has developed as such throughout its nearly 70 years of history.
1. Tradition, culture and the historical influence on today’s EHA
Edina’s youth hockey program history dates to its first high school team formed in 1950. An outdoor rink was built at the high school. Edina’s first youth team was a PeeWee team organized in 1951, and the EHA formally began in 1957.
EHA teams have captured three national championships and more than 50 state championships through its history. There is a long history and tradition of successful youth hockey in Edina, evidenced in the culmination of consistent youth and high school teams’ successes through seven decades of play at state tournament levels.
Historically, the Edina boys’ high school hockey program has enjoyed tremendous success on the stage of the Minnesota High School State Tournament. Since Edina-Morningside’s first high school state tournament appearance in 1955, Edina has placed 36 teams in the state tournament with amazing consistency. By decade, the number of Edina teams competing at the boys’ state tournament are:
• 1950s – 3 teams
• 1960s – 5 teams
• 1970s – 8 teams
• 1980s – 7 teams
• 1990s – 4 teams
• 2000s – 4 teams
• 2010s – 5 and counting
High School teams from Edina have captured nine state championships in five different decades, with their first being in 1969. Subsequent championships were won in 1971, 1974 (Edina East), 1978 (Edina East), 1979 (Edina East), 1982, 1984, 1988, 1997, 2010, and their most recent back-to-back state championships of 2013 and 2014.
“I got here in 1958,” Ikola said. “This was my first coaching job. At that time we didn’t have more than 50 kids in the program. Now there are approximately 900.
“Right away, I saw I was going to do everything I could to help these people. As a high school program, you’re only as strong as your feeder program. I did coaches clinics. I never dictated what they had to do, but I showed them drills. We high school coaches weren’t voting members on the Board, but we did anything we were asked to do. We’d watch the PeeWees and the Bantams, and we had a good relationship with the youth association. It’s a must for high school coaches to get involved with their youth associations.”
According to Ikola, Braemar Arena provided the real impetus for the growth of youth hockey in Edina.
“Once Braemar was built in 1967, our program really exploded,” Ikola said. “I came from the Iron Range. All my high school hockey experience was inside. At Edina, the hockey was all still on outdoor ice. Braemar was a big factor in the development of the youth program. We won our first state title in 1969. It was a tough proposition to develop hockey players with the finesse you need to get to the state tournament on only outdoor ice. It was really a battle to develop a program with only outdoor ice – fighting the temperatures and snow. With Braemar and then the pavilion, it really just exploded.
“We were fortunate. As it developed we’d have former players come back and put time in the program. We’ve been very fortunate to have former players come back and raise their kids here. A lot of my former players have coached at the youth hockey levels. It’s just mushroomed.”
Ikola cited some of the pioneers of the EHA’s early days: Jack Wright (the first president who organized and got the program started), Bud Sorem, John Sweetland, Jack Becker, Dr. Fox, Dave Thomas and many others.
“There was a good group of seven to eight guys that started it,” Ikola stated. “We’ve always had a pretty good core of people. Now we’re getting a lot of people coming back after college, working in the metro area, and they live in Edina and coach the youth teams.”
Dean Williamson grew up in Edina, and as an adult has coached at all levels of hockey within the community. He has a daughter, Taylor, who will be the first girl from Edina to play for the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team, and a son, Hunter, who is currently in ninth grade.
When I asked Williamson why the Edina Hockey Association is so good at all levels from one year to the next, and now from one generation to the next, he said, “It’s funny, it recycles itself.”
He continued, “There are three key factors: the history, consistency and its fun. The kids, they understand about the past history of Edina hockey. The consistency. You look at the history of coaches – Willard Ikola, Bart Larson, Curt Giles – there have been only three coaches at the boys’ high school level since 1958. Last year working with the girls’ high school program, I also saw how Curt coaches. Every decision Curt makes is about what’s in the best interest for the kids.”
A former teammate of Williamson’s as a youth in Edina and at the University of Minnesota, Ben Hankinson also is now raising his own children in Edina.
“I think the biggest thing is the tradition,” Hankinson said. “Part of the reason is ‘giving back.’ People that have gone through the program want to come back and give their time coaching at the youth levels, at the youngest levels from the Mites to the PeeWees. People that have been to the highest levels usually aren’t ‘over-the-top crazy.’ They spend time in practices working on the little things in the game. People that have moved back, and people that have moved into the Edina community because of the quality of programs – community tradition attracts people.”
“Kids are always told, ‘You are representing the community. You have a target on your back. Give your best effort.’” Green added. “They all want to compete and win.”
On the impact of history and tradition, Green said, “The early success in the 1960s and 1970s are driving this thing today. And with the recent successes, there are kids coming up. We’re deep.”
2. Access to ice time
Braemar Arena is the hub of the Edina Hockey Association. It is headquartered at 7501 Ikola Way – perhaps a fitting address in tribute to both Coach Ikola’s dedication to Edina hockey in its formative years and his success coaching the Edina High School team.
Current EHA Co-President Ron Green described the importance of the city of Edina’s facilities on the success of the EHA.
“The City of Edina places a lot of emphasis on their Parks & Recreation and strongly believes in and supports the recognized youth associations in the city, and works with them to have the right facilities available and updated. This support has contributed to the success of all youth sports in Edina over the years, not just hockey. Without the city’s support and the support of the community, none of the youth sports would benefit from the funding necessary for first-class, well-maintained fields, outdoor rinks, courts, facilities, etc. This makes a difference.
“You have a community that is steeped in the history of playing the game and having success, which has contributed to ongoing successes. This all started with a bunch of dads, with kids that wanted to play hockey in the late 1940s and 50s. There were some good coaches, and then they built Braemar. Now there are three sheets of ice at Braemar, and a new outdoor sheet. Going forward, this will make another big impact on the community. To accommodate all of the teams’ ice time needs, the EHA had to buy over half of its ice elsewhere. These numbers are separate from the high school. The city recognized the need and included plans for the additional Braemar ice sheet. With the new rink at Braemar, we’ll get 60 percent of our needs covered.”
Hankinson pointed out the availability of ice time to kids growing up in Edina. “There are four ice sheets at Braemar and three at Minnesota Made, so there are seven sheets of ice in Edina resurfaced every hour – and this does not even include the 12 outdoor rinks which are flooded every morning. I know because I live on one! And they all have warming houses.”
“It’s not one thing. It’s a whole bunch of things,” Green added. “It’s a community that supports hockey. Look at the banners in the South Rink. You don’t get the banners without the outside ice for the kids.”
3. High-caliber coaching at the youngest levels
Ikola inspired many players during his coaching career and many have come back to raise families of their own and coach youth hockey in Edina.
“Hockey is that type of sport where people want to put back into it,” Ikola said. “We have been fortunate to have a lot of those people.”
Regarding this phenomenon, I remember vividly one Saturday afternoon stopping to watch a PeeWees practice at the Blake Ice Arena. That practice has always stuck with me – here was Williamson working with a small group of kids on skills in the neutral zone, Hankinson working with a group of kids in one end of the rink and Greg Dornbach working with a small group of kids in the other end. I couldn’t help but think that the kids had no idea how lucky they were to have such good coaches – all former players at very high levels of the game – working with them at such a young age.
“When I was a kid, that was Bob O’Connor, Lou Nanne and Murray Williamson working with us,” Williamson said. “One year Brian Lawton is the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the next year he’s also the Squirt B coach with me. No one in the community is bigger than the association, and everyone brings in something. It’s a very innovative hockey program. We all ‘pilfer’ off of each other. It’s very open book. The game of hockey in Edina is bigger than anyone else.”
Many people contribute in any such association to make it successful. The EHA is no different. Bob O’Connor is one such person who has impacted the grassroots development of the game through his efforts in Edina. O’Connor has also impacted hockey on the world stage through various USA Hockey roles.
O’C, as he is commonly known, coached youth hockey in Edina from 1969-78. His teams won state championships at the Squirt, PeeWee and Midget levels. He then coached JV hockey at Edina High School, and also served as a varsity assistant coach under Ikola and Larson. O’Connor served as USA Hockey’s Coach in Chief from 2004-06, and was an assistant coach on the 1984 and 1988 U.S. Olympic Teams. He has scouted for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and worked with the Buffalo Sabres in past training camps.
This winter, O’Connor was recognized by USA Hockey with the Builders Award, primarily for his work with youth hockey in the Edina Hockey Association. This winter, the EHA also hosted its 30th Annual Bob O’Connor Tournament named in honor of the living coaching legend, recognizing his impact on the Edina community over his many years of volunteer coaching service. O’C is one of the many people in the EHA who has made the program so strong, and illustrates the depth of coaching excellence and tradition within the EHA.
4. Emphasis on fun – for all
“We had so much fun playing hockey growing up here,” Williamson said. “We just had an absolute blast. I think that is why people come back. Is our community perfect? No, but we had such a blast. The time and commitment people punch in – it’s all for the kids.
“The fun thing about Edina hockey is the number of kids and the number of teams. They find a spot for everybody to play. This program has been blessed with former NHLers and Division I-ers – but also moms and dads that care about the kids and the game. Everyone’s having fun doing things for the kids. If you’re doing things for the kids for the right reasons, you can’t go wrong.”
On giving back to the community, Hankinson said, “I’d feel bad if I wasn’t giving back. The reason you coach is it is so much fun. Hockey is such a great game for life lessons. There are so many good hockey people in the state. You remember all of the off-ice memories working with the kids on the teams.”
5. Rational leadership
EHA’s core values include: Respect, Sportsmanship, Integrity, Excellence, Teamwork, Loyalty and Enjoyment. The Mission Statement of the EHA reads: “The mission of the Edina Hockey Association is to design programs aimed at creating a fun, fair and safe hockey environment which increases participation and improves skills, while developing respect for others, self confidence and teamwork in our student athletes.”
Certainly, tradition and culture can build an association. It is obvious that leadership and guiding principles have continued to build a strong and healthy program.
“A big reason is that the numbers are so strong,” Hankinson said. “There are 12-14 teams at a lot of the levels. The numbers are strong at every level and there is a deep commitment to every level,from AA to C. With that, a lot of good players are developed. The pyramid gets small at the top. A lot of players play through high school and a lot of players are able to go on a play elsewhere, too.”
Green shared this year’s registration data for the 2014-15 EHA season:
• Boys: 57 teams, 941 players
• Girls: 23 teams, 306 players
“We have more kids playing at a higher level than any other program, and we want that,” Green said. “We have more girls playing hockey than any other program in the country, and Minnesota Hockey gave the EHA the Female Honors Award. The last several years, the kids going to the high school program are better prepared than ever.”
Listed on the EHA’s website, there are 24 members of its Board of Directors. The EHA is tremendously organized, and has a strong infrastructure. This is focused energy on the work to be done within the association on behalf of the kids playing hockey.
“It’s a committee-based Board,” Green said. “The committees are: Boys Hockey, Girls Hockey, a Finance Group and an Operations Group. People might be on more than one committee. We’re a working Board. The EHA is the largest hockey association in the country. It’s not about making policy – USA Hockey and Minnesota Hockey have made policy – it’s about doing the work. They have specific tasks that they own.”
When asked about the EHA’s Mite level recruitment, Green said, “We don’t recruit. Kids and parents know it’s a fun sport. We make it a community thing. Kids are all playing with their buddies in their elementary schools. Our Termites and Mites are all organized around playing with their elementary school friends. The second- and third-year Mites are tiered, but they are still playing with their friends. Emphasis is on the cross-ice programs and small area games. We don’t recruit Mites – we don’t have a campaign. Registration opens in August and whatever comes in, we use.”
On the tryout process for EHA teams Green said, “The Board doesn’t try to screw anything up. Many Associations have closed tryouts. Our tryouts are wide open – come and watch. For drafts within an age division, we balance out our teams. The AA and A teams are tiered, but all other levels are balanced teams. All teams are travel level and competitive from Squirts on.”
The Edina Hockey Association program is perhaps a model for modern day youth hockey associations and player development today.
During a 22-year coaching career, John Hamre has coached PeeWee, Bantam, high school, NCAA Division I, Junior A and minor professional hockey. He was the video coach for the 1994 USA Men’s Olympic Team, coached within the USA Hockey NTDP, and at many USA Hockey festivals. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
