John Mariucci
John Mariucci (May 8, 1916 – March 23, 1987) was an American ice hockey player, administrator and coach. Mariucci was born in Eveleth, Minnesota. He attended the University of Minnesota where he played for both the hockey and football teams. He was named an All-American in hockey in 1940. Mariucci was inducted into the inaugural 1973 class of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame and was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder in 1985.
Playing career
After starring for the Eveleth hockey and football teams, Mariucci would go onto college at the University of Minnesota where he would play both sports - leading his hockey squad to an undefeated AAU championship in 1940.[1] Mariucci played for the Chicago Black Hawks for five seasons and would be the team captain in 1945-46 and 1947-48. Mariucci would be known primarily as a defensive-minded bruiser, finishing with only 11 goals and 34 assists in 223 games, but would total 308 penalty minutes. He would lose three seasons to the war (1942-43 through 1944-45), but would play two seasons for the United States Coast Guard in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League.[1] Mariucci's best season with the Black Hawks would come in 1946-47 when he would play in 52 of the team's 60 games and finish with 9 goals and 11 assists and his 110 penalty minutes would be second in the league to Gus Mortson.
On October 28, 1948, Chicago would trade Mariucci to the St. Louis Flyers of the American Hockey League for cash. After one season in St. Louis, on September 4, 1949, Mariucci would be traded to the Minneapolis Millers in the United States Hockey League (USHL), again for cash. He would spend the 1950-51 season with the USHL St. Paul Saints and would then return to the Millers (this time in the All-American Hockey League) for the 1951-52 season before retiring.
Coaching career
After his professional playing career ended, Mariucci became the head coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers hockey team. He was noted for not attempting to sign Canadian players for his hockey teams, but instead relying on home-grown talent from Minnesota. This helped to grow youth and high school hockey programs in the state of Minnesota. He was coach at the university from the 1952–53 season until the 1965–66 season, except for the 1955–56 season in which he was the head coach of the US Olympic team that won a silver medal. Mariucci's best Gopher team would come in 1954-55 when Minnesota would advance all the way to the NCAA finals before losing to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 5-4 in overtime.
In 1967, he was named the assistant to general manager for the Minnesota North Stars with Glen Sonmor becoming the Gophers' coach. He eventually would work for Lou Nanne, one of his Gopher Hockey players, and held the position with the North Stars until his death in 1987. He returned to the international scene as the head coach of the United States team at the 1976 and 1977 Ice Hockey World Championships.
He was involved in a bizarre confrontation with Nanne during the 1977[2] championships. After loudly criticising Nanne during the game against the Soviet Union, Nanne responded by charging his coach, which led to a fist fight while the game continued. After the game finished, the fight continued until both men were separated by players and officials.[3]
The University of Minnesota honored him by first renaming the hockey arena in Williams Arena after him and later when a new hockey arena was opened in 1993, the school transferred his name to that one as well, Mariucci Arena.
In 1983, the John Mariucci Award, began to be awarded to the Minnesota High school coach of the year, as selected by the state's hockey coaches, as Mariucci is immortalized as the "Godfather of Minnesota Hockey".[1]
Upon his death, the Minnesota North Stars wore a memorial round patch, with initials JM within, for parts of the 1987-1988 season.
Career statistics
--- Regular Season --- ---- Playoffs ---- Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1938-39 U. of Minnesota NCAA 0 0 0 0 0 1939-40 U. of Minnesota NCAA 0 0 0 0 0 (won AAU National Title) 1940-41 Providence Reds AHL 17 3 3 6 15 1940-41 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 24 0 5 5 33 5 0 2 2 16 1941-42 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 46 5 8 13 64 3 0 0 0 0 1942-43 U.S. Coast Guard Cutters EHL 0 0 0 0 0 1943-44 U.S. Coast Guard Cutters EHL 0 0 0 0 0 1945-46 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 50 3 8 11 58 4 0 1 1 10 1946-47 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 52 2 9 11 110 -- -- -- -- -- 1947-48 Chicago Black Hawks NHL 51 1 4 5 63 -- -- -- -- -- 1948-49 St. Louis Flyers AHL 68 12 30 42 74 7 0 1 1 12 1949-50 Minneapolis Millers USHL 67 8 24 32 87 7 0 2 2 23 1950-51 St. Paul Saints USHL 59 2 28 30 85 4 0 0 0 0 1951-52 Minneapolis Millers AAHL 39 18 31 49 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NHL Totals 223 11 34 45 328 12 0 3 3 26
References
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database
- Gopher Hockey History Coaches Info
- http://www.mshsca.org/hockey/mariucciaward.html
Sporting positions | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | Chicago Black Hawks captain 1945–46 |
Succeeded by Red Hamill |
Preceded by
Red Hamill
|
Chicago Black Hawks captain 1947–48 |
Succeeded by Gaye Stewart |
Awards and achievements | ||
Preceded by | Spencer Penrose Award 1952–53 |
Succeeded by Vic Heyliger |
- 1916 births
- 1987 deaths
- American ice hockey defensemen
- American military personnel of World War II
- American people of Italian descent
- American military personnel of Italian descent
- Chicago Blackhawks captains
- Chicago Blackhawks players
- Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
- Ice hockey people from Minnesota
- Sportspeople from Eveleth, Minnesota
- Lester Patrick Trophy recipients
- Minnesota Golden Gophers football players
- Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey coaches
- Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey players
- Minnesota North Stars executives
- Players of American football from Minnesota
- St. Louis Flyers players
- United States Hockey Hall of Fame inductees
- United States men's national ice hockey team coaches