Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

ANTHONY (TONY) CONROY
1975 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Enshrinee

Conroy was part of the great St. Paul hockey tradition that is so entwined with the names of Goheen, Fitzgerald, and Weidenbroner. He starred with these men through the glory years of the St. Paul Athletic Club and later with the professional St. Paul Saints of the American Hockey Association.  He attended St. Luke’s, Cretin, Mechanic Arts, and St. Thomas.  While still in high school, the young Conroy took to hockey and played with the old Phoenix septet.  (Teams were made up of seven players in those days). From 1911 to 1914, Conroy played everywhere, but finally settled to rover and wing under the seven man system.

Joining the Athletic Club team, the St. Paul skater helped his club win the McNaughton Trophy, symbolic of American amateur hockey supremacy, in 1916-17.  The team then played Lachine, Quebec for the Ross Cup International Championship and won 7-6, despite having to play six man hockey for the first time.  After WWI service, Conroy returned to the Athletic Club and was one of four members of that club to make the 1920 United States Olympic Team.  The U.S. finished second to Canada losing 2-0 to the maple leaf skaters for their only defeat.  Conroy had a strong Olympics and scored ten goals in a 29-0 rout of Switzerland.

The speedy back checker played great hockey for the St. Paul club in the twenties as they were always strong contenders for the national amateur title. The team was Western champs in 1921-22 and 1922-23.  Both years St. Paul lost to Boston in the national finals.  The team eventually became professional and Conroy received NHL offers, but preferred to remain in St. Paul.  He retired after the 1928-29 season.

FRANCIS AUSTIN (AUSTIE) HARDING, JR
1975 United States Hockey Hall of Fame Enshrinee

Francis "Austie" Harding followed quickly at Harvard on the heels of his fellow Noble and Greenough graduate Fred Moseley and soon established his own niche as an all time Crimson ice great.  Harding also played four varsity years at prep school and then captained the Harvard freshmen.  Then began three outstanding varsity years during which he led the squad in scoring each year with 30, 25, and 30 point efforts respectively.  The Boston born skater’s abilities were recognized early in his college career when hockey writer Irving Burwell wrote in March, 1937:  “Harvard’s forward line against Yale will have Harding, without question the best American college hockey player of today at center.”  Harvard captured the Ivy League title during Harding’s first varsity year, 1936-37, and was a strong contender in the next two years.  During his senior year he was a team captain, named an All-American, and was awarded the John Tudor Memorial Cup as most valuable player.  One of the most memorable feats of Harding’s career was his last game when he played 58 of the game’s 60 minutes and scored four goals and three assists in a 7-4 victory.  Certainly a true reflection of a contemporary’s description of him:   “A tireless easy skater and a fine stick handler.”

The Cambridge player attracted pro scouts, but World War II broke upon the scene precluding any venture in this direction.  Returning from war time service Harding concluded his hockey playing with the Boston Athletic Association. He was named to hockey historian S. Kip Farrington’s 1921-45 Harvard era team at center.

Stewart Iglehart
1975 United States Hockey Hall of Fame Enshrinee

Stewart Iglehart occupied a unique position in American sports being the only man to have represented the United States internationally in two sports: hockey on the 1933 World Championship Team and polo in the 1936 International Match.  He had been one of only a handful of men in polo to earn a ten goal rating. But as Iglehart used to say of himself, “I have played many sports, some better than others, but hockey was always number one. I felt it gave me wings, an extra dimension and when I dream dreams of past accomplishments, let me dream in hockey.”

As a youngster Iglehart was introduced to hockey by C. C. Pell, former Harvard great, who taught him the rudiments of the game with emphasis on building legs and deception in movement using the shoulders and eyes.  He played at the St. Paul’s School, that great breeding ground of American hockey ie: United States Hockey Hall of Fame enshrinees Malcolm Gordon and Hobey Baker were graduates, before moving on to Yale.  The Chilean born star played varsity hockey in 1929-30, 1930-31, and 1931-32.  The 1930-31 team was a championship team losing only once.  During his undergraduate days, he was regarded as one of the outstanding defensemen developed in the college game.  Selected to both the 1932 and 1936 Olympic Teams, Iglehart was unable to play due to varying conflicting responsibilities.  He did, however, perform brilliantly for the 1933 United States world champions not only on defense, but at right wing and center.

Returning from world tournament play, Iglehart played with the Crescent Athletic Club which eventually became the New York Rovers.  The team was an outstanding collection of future NHL talent with such names as Colville, Shebicky, and Patrick dotting the roster.  Iglehart more than held his own in this competition and most hockey observers of the day felt he could easily have moved p to the New York Rangers with the others.  Instead, he preferred to continue his business career on a full time basis.  He concluded his hockey playing with the legendary St. Nicholas Hockey Club of New York City.

JOSEPH C. LINDER
1975 United States Hockey Hall of Fame Enshrinee

Joe Linder was described by contemporaries and those who have made a study of the game as the “first great American-born hockey player.” A powerful rawboned, virtually irresistible skater, playmaker and team leader, Linder was involved in the American hockey scene as an amateur and professional player from 1904-1920.  From then until his death in 1948, he remained on the scene as a coach, manager and sponsor of the game in the Superior-Duluth area.

During his high school years, 1901-04, Joe Linder participated in and starred in hockey, baseball and football.  He captained all three sports every year of his Hancock, Michigan High School career. In 1904, as a high school senior, he was selected by Doc Gibson, a charter United States Hockey Hall of Fame enshrinee, to play on the Portage Lake Michigan hockey team in league and championship play.

Following a brief stay in the professional ranks, Linder returned to amateur hockey, 1905-1911, in the Copper Country in the upper peninsula of Michigan.  He took practically a family team into the new American Amateur Hockey Association playing out of Duluth from 1912-20.  The Linder-captained team reached its greatest heights on March 7, 1914, when they defeated the famous Victoria’s of Winnipeg for the first victory of an American team over the Canadian champs.  In the game write-up a sports reporter said, “Capt. Joe Linder played like a veritable demon.  On offense and defense Linder stood out as one of the greatest men I have ever seen on ice.”

Shortly after his retirement as an active player, Linder entered the grocery business in Superior, Wisconsin.  He remained active in the “Head of the Lakes” business and sports community in his later years.  A few years before his death, he was honored in the February 1941 issue of Esquire when in a review of the American and Canadian hockey scene it was stated that “any list of the thirty best hockey players the whole world has had would have to include the American-born Linder.”

FREDERICK R MOSELEY, JR
1975 United States Hockey Hall of Fame Enshrinee

His fellow United States Hockey Hall of Fame (USHHF) enshrinee John Chase has perhaps best summed up Fred Moseley, the hockey player: “Throughout his hockey career he was a tremendous team player…a tireless, powerful skater, a great back-checker, and a leader on and off the ice.”

Like many great Eastern hockey players Moseley followed the traditional prep school path to the ice game.  A Nobel and Greenough graduate, where he played four varsity years, Fred Moseley moved on to Harvard where he immediately became a regular on the freshman team.  After that, there was never any doubt as to who would be the center ice man for the Crimson over the next three years.  The Massachusetts born skater captained the team in 1935-36 as the Cambridge skaters captured their first Ivy League title with a 5-1 record.  Overall, the team was 14-4-2. The Ivy League for hockey did not formally start until the 1933-34 season.  Named an All-American that year, Moseley added this honor to his capture of the John Tudor Memorial Cup the prior season. The Tudor Cup is given annually to the most valuable member of the Harvard hockey team who displays ability, sportsmanship, leadership, team cooperation, and what John Tudor ’29, called “the old come through in the pinch.”  The trophy was established following the 1929-30 season by members of the Porcellian Club who were classmates of Tudor, captain of the 1928-29 hockey team.

Moseley also competed in football and baseball for Harvard, but it was in hockey where he left his mark at the school being named to Harvard’s Hall of Fame for the sport.  Hockey historian S. Kip Farrington named him to his all Harvard team for the 1921-45 period.  Moseley closed his hockey career through service with the St. Nicholas Club and Beaver Dam in the Winter Club League.