Former Bloomington Jefferson assistant coach John Bianchi was honored by the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association on Friday with the Cliff Thompson Award, which is given for outstanding long-term contributions to the sport of hockey in Minnesota.
Bianchi was a longtime coach (1974-1995), teacher and principal at Jefferson. He had a son play on all five of the Jaguars' state championship teams (Steve in 1982, Tony in 1989 and Joe in 1992, 1993 and 1994). Bianchi was inducted into the MHCA Hall of Fame in 1999.
Erik Aus (Centennial), Dave Morinville (Moorhead), Keith Hendrickson (Virginia/Mountain Iron-Buhl) and Tom McFarlane (Cloquet) were in this year's hall of fame class.
Coaches of the Year
Pat O’Leary of Wayzata was named the Class 2A coach of the year and Steve Olinger of Eden Prairie the Class 2A assistant coach of the year by the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association on Friday.
The top coaches in Class 1A were Chris Olson of Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato (head coach) and Dave Swanberg of LeSueur/Henderson/St. Peter/Tri-City United/Cleveland.
Longer games on the horizon?
Benilde-St. Margaret’s coach Ken Pauly, former president of the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association, said the state’s boys’ hockey coaches have put in a request to the Minnesota State High School League to have the length of periods extended from 17 to 20 minutes. Pauly said the coaches expected to learn the status of their request in the fall. In 2003, the MSHSL approved a bump in periods lengths from 15 to 17 minutes.
50-goal Club inductee
Thief River Falls forward Ethan Johnson became the newest member of the state’s “50-goal Club” when he scored in the Prowlers’ 4-1 victory over St. Paul Academy in Saturday’s Class 1A third-place game. The goal gives Johnson 50 this season, the most in Thief River Falls history.
Grand Rapids wins another thriller
Dramatic victories have become commonplace for Grand Rapids in this year’s playoffs, and the Thunderhawks continued that trend on Saturday in the state Class 2A third-place game. Trailing Stillwater 2-0 entering the final period, Brendan Mark, Drake Anderson and Mitchell Mattson scored in the third to give Grand Rapids a 3-2 victory. Mattson’s winning goal came with 5:12 remaining.
Six Hermantown, three Wayzata players on all-tourney teams
Below are the MSHSL’s Class 1A and Class 2A all-tournament teams as voted on by a panel of coaches and media members attending the tournament.