Willard ikola hockey games

MN high school boys hockey

Two Iron Range hockey legends who have died in recent months will be honored before the hockey game Tuesday night between Rock Ridge and Hibbing.

Willard Ikola, who played goalie for the silver-medal U.S. grupp in the 1956 Winter Olympics and coached Minnesota high school hockey for more than three decades, died this week at 92. As head coach of Edina and Edina East high schools, Ikola won 616 games — third-best in U.S. high school hockey history — and eight state titles. “Ike” graduated from Eveleth High School in 1950.

Mike Sertich, the longtime head coach of the University of Minnesota Duluth hockey team, died in August at 77. He was named Western Collegiate Hockey Association coach of the year kvartet times and national coach of the year once. “Sertie” graduated from Virginia High School in 1965.

For more, click hereto read this story on startribune.com.

Minnesota hockey legend Willard Ikola — who won three state high school titles as a player with Eveleth, then coached Edina to eight more — has died.

Edina High School officials announced that Ikola died Monday evening at the age of 92.

Ikola started playing hockey at a young age while growing up in Eveleth on the Iron Range. He was in goal as Eveleth High School won consecutive state titles in 1948, 1949 and 1950 — his sophomore, junior and senior seasons.

Ikola shared memories of those state tournament appearances in an MPR interview in 1993.

“We had a tremendous opportunity up there to play the game as youngsters. We had two inside arenas when I was up there, and of course, it was during the war years, when we were in the early grades there, in early junior high — and we had the opportunity to use those rinks b

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Willard Ikola

American ice hockey player and coach (1932–2025)

Ice hockey player

Willard John Ikola (July 28, 1932 – January 20, 2025) was a Finnish Americanice hockey player and high school boys' hockey coach. Born in Eveleth, Minnesota, a powerhouse in hockey (owning seven state high school championships, including the very first Minnesota state hockey tournament in 1945,^[1] and producing six members of US Olympic hockey teams^[2][3]) he began playing hockey as a young boy, eventually going on to play in the 1956 Winter Olympics and coaching high school for over 30 years.

Background

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Willard Ikola was born in Eveleth, a small town in northern Minnesota that had one of the state's most respected youth hockey programs. Ikola got his start playing hockey as a boy in Eveleth. He soon took up the position of goaltender, the latest in the line of exceptional goalies produced by Eveleth that included Frank Brimsek, Mike Karakas, and Sam LoPre