After a year, I finally finished a book called "Gopher Hockey by the Hockey
Gopher."  This was written in 1992 by Ross Berstein, then Gopher Hockey mascot.
It is primarily anecdotal, or lots of personal quotes, in style.
 
There were a number of quotes that helped explain some of the history behind
Minnesota and it's recruiting history.  Actually there were additional,
interesting quotes but this posting was getting long enough as is.  Hopefully
the quotes I have included can stand on their own and provide some insight,
without being inflammatory.
 
 
JOHN MARIUCCI: (godfather of American hockey)
On being labeled anti-Canadian: "That's wrong.  My contention was the teams we
were playing were bringing down 22 and 23 year old Canadians who were playing
Junior A hockey, and competing against our high school kids.  That's what I was
fighting, the age deal.  We wanted to control the Canadian kids.  I mean I
brought in Louie (Nanne).  I brought in Murray Williamson.  I could have had my
whole team Canadian, but then I would have destroyed the high school program.
If I didn't have a program at the university for Minnesota kids, where were
they going to go?"
 
AMO BESSONE: (former Michigan State Coach)
"Don't forget there were a lot of great Canadians that played Gopher Hockey.
But, back then there were only two places you could get Americans: Minnesota,
and Boston.  Mariucci had a gold mine of kids out there.  I used to harass
him about taking all the good kids and not leaving me any to choose from.  So
he said he would send me a list of recruits.  He would keep the top ten, and I
could keep the bottom ten.  I tried to recruit up there, but the Minnesota kids
wanted to play for John.  It was incredible, there were loyal as hell to
Minnesota.  Nowadays, if I were still coaching, I could recruit out of Detroit.
They don't have a high school program like Minnesota's, but their Junior
leagues are the best in the counrty.  I attribute that incredible high school
program to Maroosh (Mariucci).  He was committted to the people, and he just
did it all up there."
 
WALTER BUSH: (former Gopher and North Star management)
"It all stems from Maroosh,  and I like the fact they use Minnesota kids
exclusively.  It's terrific.  Personally, I don't like the Canadian boys
coming down here taking scholarships away from our local boys.  In fact, I'd
do to them what their teams up there do to us.  I'd say that each team can
only have a maximum of three Canadian players."
 
BOB UTECHT: (founder of Let's Play Hockey)
"The Gophers have been blessed with nice people -- Doug Woog, Brad Buetow,
Herb Brooks, Glen Sonmor, and of course John Mariucci.  We have enjoyed
immense success here, and it's something we should be proud of.  We always
had great teams in football and basketball with Bierman and Kundla.  But
hockey never got going here until Mariucci took over and traveled around the
state encouraging people to play hockey.  He used to speak for free, and at
town gatherings he'd encourage them to build arenas.  We went from around 10
rinks in the state to over 160 today.  We don't have to win titles every year,
as long as we make some final fours, win the league titles, and as long as
we keep using our own kids to do it.  We need to continue to support our kids,
give them educations and send the best ones to the NHL."
 
DON CLARK: (Gopher Hockey historian)
"Similar to their state's politics, Minnesota prides itself on being
independent and self-sufficient.  During the 70 seasons of hockey at the
U of M, the school and the state have taken great pride in the teams' reliance
on home-grown talent.  Analyzing rosters going back to the early 1920's reveals
that few Canadians or out-of-state players have been members of the Maroon and
Gold teams.  Having watched Gopher Hockey for the past 60 years, I can recall
the names of only 18 Canadians and six out-of-state memebers dating back to
1932."
 
WENDY ANDERSON: (former Gopher, Olympian, and governor)
"I think it's not only appropriate, but we see states like Wisconsin and
Michigan that should emulate it with their own kids as well.  Wisconsin is
about 40 years behind us in developing programs for young people.  They relied
on Minnesotans and Canadians to make teams.  Mariucci went out and built high
school hockey in Minnesota, and frankly Wisconsin, as well.  When I played,
all of us but a few lived within 10 minutes of the arena."
 
GLEN SONMOR: (former lots of things including former Gopher coach)
"He told me 'Glen, if we don't give these kids a chance to play, promote the
Minnesota high school tournament, and get these kids as accomplished as the
Canadian players, they'll have no place to go when they're finished, and the
program will die.'  So he had a clause put in at the U that said the Canadians
who were older and were getting paid couldn't play for Minnesota.  He promoted
the Minnesota kids, and he figured the Gophers would take their lumps at
first, but he'd get the program on its feet."
 
HERB BROOKS: (former a lot of things including Gopher player and coach)
"He wasn't against Canadians, he was just pro-American.  This was in a day
where there were no age restrictions, and very little restrictions other than
they couldn't have turned pro yet.
"I patterned several aspects of my coaching after John.  He was a pioneer and
faced immense competition as a coach.  When the '80 Olympic team won the
gold, John said it was one more piece to the puzzle for American hockey.  I
shared these hopes, dreams and aspirations with John, and was proud of the
fact that there were 12 of us from Minnesota on that team.
"St. Cloud was a very positive experience for me, and John was very
influential in that endeavor as well.  We felt that there were more kids in
Minnesota than opportunities for them.  He encouraged me to go up there for a
year, get the program from division three to division one, raise money for the
new rinks, and get them going in the right direction.  Then I left.  John was
very much a visionary, and had a lot to do with my decision in going up
there."
 
BILL BUTTERS: (former Gopher, WHA/NHL journeyman, and current Gopher assistant
coach)
"We're not anti-Canadian, our philosophy is pro-Minnesotan.  Our kids have
pride, tradition, and good work ethics.  It's a real boost for Minnesota to
see its kids represent the University.  It also helps our budget, we never
have to recruit outside the state, and we don't have to pay outstate tuitions
either."
 
DOUG WOOG: (former Gopher and current Gopher coach)
"I think the thing that's most important here is to perpetuate the growth of
Minnesota kids playing hockey in their own state.  Without compromise, it's
all Minnesota kids and I'm proud of that.  We're keeping it going at a high
level with only Minnesota kids.  I'm committed to going with the Minnesota
kid, and I'm going to stick to it as long as I'm here as coach."
 
Doug P.
--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--
Douglas J. Peterson                   Have         _--____    ____
[log in to unmask]            you        `   /  ----        /
Safety Laboratories Department            driven     -/- __  ____ _  /
Ford Motor Company                           a    .  /  / \--/___/ \/
(313) 390-8089            GO GOPHERS!!!           \_/  ,\_/ /    \_/_   lately?
--+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+--
 
Internal ford mail confirmation flag . . . please disregard.