Minnesota Hockey Greats: Homegrown Talent in the NHL - Paperback

by Jeffrey H. Olson (Author)

A chronicle of Minnesota's hockey excellence in the world's top hockey league--the NHL

The years 1960 to 1982 were a watershed moment for Minnesota hockey, and the Land of 10,000 Lakes has enjoyed hockey success ever since. In that time, pioneering homegrown players like Bill Nyrop, Dave Langevin, Reed Larson, Mike Ramsey, Dave Christian, Neal Broten, Paul Holmgren, and Phil Housley established themselves as bona fide stars at the games' highest and most competitive level. More recently, another remarkable group of native sons--including Zach Parise, Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglein, and T. J. Oshie--left their mark on the league.

Profiling more than seventy players and compiling Minnesota NHL records gathered nowhere else, Jeff Olson celebrates the brilliant achievements of Minnesotans in the National Hockey League.

Author Biography

Jeff Olson has coached hockey at a number of levels. He's coached youth hockey Pee Wee and Bantam teams; high school as an assistant coach at West St. Paul Sibley, New Ulm and Litchfield; and small colleges as an assistant at Hamline University. He also officiated youth and adult hockey and served as an organizer of the Gunderson Lake Conference Hockey Awards Scholarship Golf Classic for a number of years. He has served in a number of capacities with a number of Minnesota nonprofits and charities: board chair of STEP Academy, a Minnesota Charter School; president of Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota, Fort Snelling State Park Association and Eden Prairie Rotary A.M. Club; commissioner of Three Rivers Park District; and president of All Saints Lutheran Church of Minnetonka.