Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

Doug Johnson was born and raised in South Minneapolis, Minnesota and came up through the youth hockey ranks playing defense for Roosevelt high school where they made an appearance in the 1974 State Tournament.

Doug played four years in college at St. Thomas, and finished third in the NAIA Tournament in 1978 that was played at the Coliseum in St. Paul.

In 1978 Doug went to an open tryout at Met Center and was one of three players signed by the North Stars.  He was assigned to Johnstown of the Northeastern Hockey League. The following year he was assigned to Baltimore of the Eastern Hockey League and also spent time at Oklahoma City - the Stars top farm team.

Doug purchased Let's Play Hockey from Bob Utecht after a meeting on the golf course at River Falls.  He took over with the October 1986 issue from Mr. Utecht.  Being able to publish the hockey stories that give the players, parents and grandparents the joy of seeing their names in print is one of the most satisfying things of owning the publication.

Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and in the heart of hockey country, Let's Play Hockey publishes 29+ issues a year including the summer months. With more than 50,000 youth hockey players in Minnesota alone and countless hockey parents, coaches and fans - Let's Play Hockey newspaper has carved out a distinctive and successful niche in the newspaper industry. Let's Play Hockey has thousands of readers throughout North America and of course in neighboring states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, North and South Dakotas'.

Let's Play Hockey is instrumental in developing and initiating programs to help the future progression of amateur hockey in the Unites States.