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MHCA hands out awards

By Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association, 03/12/13, 4:45PM CDT

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Woodbury's Wes Bolin, South St. Paul's Scott Macho among the coaches honored

A look at the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association's 2013 award winners:

Bruce Johnson Award
Awarded to an active board member or an individual who has recently served on the board, this award is given for outstanding contributions in promoting the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association and the sport of hockey.
2013 winner - Scott Macho: A native of New Ulm, Macho graduated from New Ulm High School and attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, where he played hockey four years and was a two-year captain. Scott's father, Tom Macho (2009 Hall of Fame inductee) fostered Scott's passion for hockey, teaching and coaching. Tom was also a teacher and coach -- he started and ran the New Ulm hockey program for 36 years.

Scott holds a bachelor of arts degree in social studies education from St. Olaf, a masters in education from St. Mary's University as well as a work-based learning licensure from Bemidji State University. He is currently the mentor program coordinator at Rosemount High School.

Macho just completed his eighth year as a head coach. He currently serves as the head boys' coach at South St. Paul. Before coming to South St. Paul, Macho served seven years as head coach for Rosemount High School, was an assistant varsity coach at Blaine High School for two years and the assistant men's hockey coach for four years at St. Olaf College.

Macho has served as a section rep and special projects rep on the executive board for the MHCA. He has been involved with Minnesota Hockey as well as USA Hockey, participating in the ADM Education Program, High Performance 16's, 17's, Great 8 and the National 17 festival.

Last October Machore represented Minnesota and USA Hockey as a coach for a group of U.S. high school hockey players in a U.S./Russia bilateral exchange for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Macho resides in Lakeville with his wife, Christy, and daughters Clara (8), Lucy (6) and son Cooper (2).


Oscar Almquist Award
The Oscar Almquist Award is given annually to an individual (non coach) who has contributed to the
success of High School Hockey by advancing opportunities for players and coaches.
2013 winner - Doug Johnson: Johnson was born and raised in south Minneapolis, where he came up through the youth hockey system and played defense for Roosevelt High School, making an appearance in the state tournament in 1974. Doug played four years in college at the University of St. Thomas. He was a member of the Tommies' team that finished third in the NAIA National Tournament in 1978 at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum in St. Paul.

In 1978 Doug went to an open tryout at Met Center and was one of three players signed by the North Stars. He was assigned to Johnstown of the Northeastern Hockey League. The following year he was assigned to Baltimore of the Eastern Hockey League and also spent some time at Oklahoma City, the Stars' top farm team.

Johnson purchased Let's Play Hockey from Bob Utecht after a meeting on the golf course at River Falls. Johnson took over with the October 1986 issue. He said being able to publish the hockey stories that give the players, their parents and their grandparents the joy of seeing their names in print is one of the most satisfying things of owning the publication.

Based in Minneapolis, Let's Play Hockey publishes 29 issues a year including the summer months. With more than 50,000 youth hockey players in Minnesota alone and countless hockey parents, coaches and fans, Let's Play Hockey has carved out a distinctive and successful niche in the newspaper industry.

Let's Play Hockey has hundreds of readers throughout North America, including Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Let's Play Hockey is also instrumental in developing and initiating programs to help the future progression of amateur hockey in the United States.


Dave Peterson Award
The Dave Peterson Award is given annually to a high school coach who has shown great leadership in developing youth hockey either locally or statewide. Peterson was a legendary Minnesota high school coach at Minneapolis Southwest High School and a national coach at many levels. He was a leader in the development of youth hockey not only in Minnesota but across the United States.
2013 winner - Wes Bolin: Bolin is currently the head coach at Woodbury High School where he has also been a social studies teacher for the past nine years.

Bolin has been a social studies teacher and head hockey coach for 30 years overall. He began his teaching and coaching career at Hallock in 1983. The Bears won the Northwest Conference championship in the first two years of its existence in 1985 and 1986.

Bolin and his family moved to Fond du Lac, Wis., in 1986, and he taught and coached there for 18 years. His teams finished second at the state tournament twice and won eight section championships and seven Badgerland Conference titles. His teams were also awarded the Badgerland Conference sportsmanship award five times. He twice served as president of the Wisconsin Hockey Coaches Association, and in 1995 he was named Wisconsin's high school Coach of the Year.

Bolin became the head coach at Woodbury High School in 2004. Since Bolin's arrival Woodbury has won the school's first ever section championships (2007 and 2008). The Royals won the state tournament consolation title in 2008. They won or shared three consecutive Suburban East Conference titles from 2008-2010. In 2007 he was named Minnesota's Class AA Coach of the Year.

Bolin has consistently been involved with in-season youth hockey programs, preseason youth hockey camps and specialty clinics and offseason hockey camps throughout his career, working with players from mites to professionals.

He helped begin a girls' youth and high school hockey program in Fond du Lac, Wis., in the late 1990's and continues to be involved in USA Hockey development camps and coaching clinics in both Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Bolin is currently part of Minnesota Hockey's ADM coaching team. Bolin has also been a leader in C.H.E.C.K. (Coaches Helping Eliminate Cancer in Kids), helping to raise over $25,000 over the past six years.

Bolin has been married to his wife, Patty, for more than 30 years. They have two daughters, Heidi, 28, and Lindsay, 24.

Bolin grew up in the Bryan Mawr Park neighborhood in Minneapolis and played high school hockey at Minneapolis West under MHCA Hall of Fame coach Jim Baxter, graduating in 1978.

Bolin played college hockey at UW-Eau Claire, graduating in 1983. He earned a master's degree in teacher development from Marian College (Fond du Lac, Wis.) in 1994.

 

Cliff Thompson Award
Given for long-term outstanding contributions to the sport of hockey in Minnesota, this award is given in memory of Cliff Thompson. As the coach at Eveleth, Thompson was the only man ever to coach teams to four consecutive state championships (1948-51) and the list of his former players reads like a "Who's who" in Minnesota hockey. Winners of this award are listed in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
2013 winner - Jake McCoy: McCoy grew up in south Minneapolis, and his winters were spent skating and playing hockey on the pond behind the 5-8 Club and at Pearl Park.

McCoy played hockey at De La Salle High School. He played one year of college hockey at St. John's University and then finished his college hockey career playing for John Mariucci with the Minnesota Gophers.

McCoy was also a member of the 1964 United States Olympic hockey team. He went on and to play many years of senior amateur hockey and semi-pro hockey throughout the United States and Canada. 

McCoy started coaching youth hockey teams in 1960 with the help of one of his hockey mentors, Dick Erdall. He landed a teaching job in the Richfield Public School system after his playing career. He has coached hockey in Richfield at all levels from Mites through head hockey coach from 1966-2013.

McCoy has also coached youth hockey in Minneapolis, and he was the head hockey coach at Minneapolis Washburn from 1986-1990. He continues to be involved in youth hockey, helping coach at both Richfield High School and in Eden Prairie for his grandson Bennett's Squirt team. McCoy is in his 54th consecutive year of coaching hockey in Minnesota.

McCoy said he has learned over the years that the game of hockey is very important to kids' development at all levels.

He said he believes if you give kids a chance to play in crucial situations, they will surprise you with how well they will succeed both on and off the rink. McCoy has coached a lot of teams that have had a competitive disadvantage, but he believes that if you show them you care, and have faith in them, they will constantly surprise you -- "Never give up on kids."

McCoy lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Cathy. They have three children, Jeanne, Patrick, and Maggie, and four grandchildren, Bennett (11), Bailee (7), Jack (7), Cate (4) and one more on the way.

 

2013 Coaches Hall of Fame inductees
John Barger: Barger started his 28-year coaching career at Northfield High School in 1977 as a head hockey coach at age 24. He spent 26 years as a head coach, with 19 of those years at Jamestown, N.D., St. Louis Park and Burnsville. Barger also coached at Brainerd, Austin and New Prague.

As a head coach Barger's teams won four conference championships, were conference runner-up seven times, including three to Edina while at St. Louis Park and playing in the Lake Conference. Barger's teams also participated in four state tournaments in five years while in North Dakota. 

Barger had a disciplined approach to developing individual skills, team skills and personal commitment but also knew the importance of being a strong advocate for high school hockey. Barger served on the Minnesota High School Hockey Coaches executive board for 14 years, worked the Minnesota Select program in the summers and coached high school all-star games in both Minnesota and North Dakota. 

Barger has won eight coach of the year honors, including two from the MHCA. He continues to promote Minnesota players and teams by directing a holiday classic tournament in St. Louis Park. He also directs summer tournaments, a high school fall league and summer development clinics that draw many of Minnesota's best players and teams. 

Pat Guyer: Guyer graduated from Greenway High School in 1981, where he was a hockey standout. Guyer was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 2005.

Guyer also played college hockey for Minnesota-Duluth. He began his high school coaching career with a two-year stay at Mora High School from 1985-1987. After a short stint with Chisholm High School, Guyer began his coaching legacy in Greenway in 1990. In his tenure as Greenway's head coach, Pat's teams enjoyed much success. In the 1991-92 season, Guyer led his Tier II, Region 7 championship team to a state title.

Greenway finished as the runner-up in Region 7 in the 1994-95 season as a Class A team and then again the following year in 1995-96 as a Class AA team. After both seasons Guyer was named Region 7 Coach of the Year in his class. Guyer and the Raiders returned to the state tournament in 2001, when they placed third in Class AA. His teams were Iron Range Conference champions in 1994-95, 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2000-01.

Guyer has a 225-148-8 career coaching record, including 181-105-7 at Greenway.

Guyer helped coach the Select 17's from 1996-2001 and is the head coach of Team North in the Upper Midwest High School Elite Hockey League.

Guyer's family includes his wife, Tessie, son Gino, daughter-in-law Laura, granddaughter Lily, son Andrew and his fiance' Callie, and son Alex.

Bruce Olson: Olson grew up in Salol, 10 miles from Roseau, and attended Roseau High School, graduating in 1975. He attended Minnesota-Duluth for four years from 1975-79. 

Olson's coaching career began at Minot (N.D.) High School, where his teams earned North Dakota runner-up state tournament finishes in 1985 and 1987. He was named North Dakota's Coach of the Year in 1987.

Olson coached Roseau High School from 1991-99 and from 2000-02. He was named Class AA Coach of the Year in 1998 and 1999, leading the Rams to the state Class AA title in 1999.

In 2002 he was named head coach of the Bemidji State women's hockey team. From there, he shared the reins as a co-head coach for Warroad in 2005. Most recently, he was an assistant coach for Warroad. Olson understood the passion, and pressure, his players felt lacing up the skates for either cross-county rival Roseau or Warrod.

Olson had a passion for life: he enjoyed hunting, fishing, golf, hockey and the camaraderie of many great friends. His greatest joy was spending time with his wife and family. Olson will be remembered for his big heart, compassion, dedication, enthusiasm and great sense of humor.

Minnesota High School Hockey is truly blessed because of Bruce Olson.

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