Feature Story
John Russo: Godfather of Minnesota
By Melissa Zeleny
Ask most Minnesotans to name someone who
has made an impact on hockey in the North Star State and you will probably hear
names like Herb Brooks, Doug Woog or one of the Broten brothers. Ask a recent high school player and you
might hear the name John Russo.
Russo has dedicated the majority of his
life to the development of hockey players.
Russo went on to play college hockey at
the
Although he tried out at the 1963 Detroit
Red Wings Training Camp, Russo soon discovered that his hockey future lay in
coaching. Throughout the next four decades, Russo coached minor hockey teams
throughout
On his journey, Russo’s head and
assistant coaching positions included stops at; Iowa State (1972-82 and
1983-85); Iowa Minor Hockey Association, founder (1974–86); Prior Lake High
School (1983); St. Louis Park High School (1987-89); Breck
School (1986-87 and 1989-90); Minneapolis South High School (1991-92 –
including a trip to the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament);
Farmington High School (1993-94); ending at the The
Blake School (1995-2002).
From 1986 to today, Russo has written his
Coaches Corner column for Let’s Play Hockey, making him one of the
publication’s longest running columnists. Among the hundreds of columns he has
penned are the legendary Golden Rules columns – Golden Rules for Forwards (page
42), Golden Rules for Defensemen, Golden Rules for Coaches and Golden Rules for
Parents. Many of these columns are reprinted at the beginning of every hockey
season, and can be seen tacked to bulletin boards in rinks and locker rooms
across the state by both players and coaches. The “Coaches Corner” column is so
successful that selected columns have been collected in his book: Best of
Coaches Corner 1986-94.
During his time coaching, Russo also went
on to create the highly successful Russo Hockey Training Programs, where he
wrote disciplined and effective programs to teach shooting, stickhandling,
defensive play and training methods. His schools did more than simply teach
skills, however. They also employed innovative teaching techniques like station
use and cumulative skill building that helped revolutionize coaching technique.
Russo saw the value of training the trainers and the promise of developing a
coaching process to expand a coach’s expertise beyond even his own reach.
The
mastermind behind the Upper Midwest High School Elite Hockey League concept,
Russo has dedicated countless hours of his time and spent thousands of dollars
of his own money towards getting the program off the ground. Now in its sixth
successful season, Russo, who hand picks his coaching staff from among
Elite players supplement their short high
school seasons with additional high-level games, allowing them to develop
without leaving home. Elite players from small towns, from under-coached teams
or from outlying areas of the state gather to improve their skills and to
showcase themselves to dozens of next-level scouts, again without having to
leave home.
Junior, college and pro scouts have the
opportunity to watch and evaluate all the state’s best players in one location
“And we even provide them with food at the tournament,” laughs Russo.
Although the league is still in its early
years, the success stories are great. All nine Minnesota high school players
selected in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft played in the program, including Blake
Wheeler, who was selected higher (fifth overall) than any other Minnesotan in
history. The past two Mr. Hockey winners (Nate Dey and Tom Gorowsky) suited up
for the Elite League as well as all 10 of the 2004 Mr. Hockey finalists and
seven of the 10 2003 finalists.
In addition, the past two Frank Brimsek Award winners (goalies Jon Anderson and Matt Lundin) played in the program as did all four of the high
school boys selected to participate in the 2003 Minnesota Wild Skills
Competition at
The list of accomplishments grows with
the top two 2004 NHL draft prospects playing high school hockey (Blake Wheeler
and Will Engasser) in North America having played in
the Elite League, with 14 players who have played in the program being ranked
in the same Central Scouting Mid-Term Draft Rankings. Seventeen of the 21
players named to the Star Tribune’s 2004 All-Metro team, including the player
of the year (Tom Gorowsky) played for Russo while 36
of the players in the 2004 Class AA and A State Tournaments were on Elite
League teams.
In his free time, Russo and his wife
Susan, who split their time between their home in Edina and a cabin in
Wisconsin, enjoy spending time teaching his “3.5” grandchildren, including an
eight-year old granddaughter who currently plays at the mite level in
Minnetonka but, under Russo’s tutelage, might be seen sporting Grandpa’s red
and white alma mater colors in the next few years.
Although it would be difficult to get an
exact number, with involvement spanning over 45 years and covering the entire
Midwest, from Michigan to Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, Russo has directly
mentored thousands of men and women who have been his teammates, his players
and his co-coaches or co-administrators. With this many lives and careers
touched, Russo certainly is the “godfather of high school hockey” in
Let’s Play Hockey
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