skip navigation

Feb 23-24-25, 1961 St. Paul Auditorium

1961 State Tournament Leading Scorers

Player Team Goals Assists Total Points
Craig Falkman St. Paul Johnson 5 0 5
Jon Hall Minneapolis Roosevelt 0 5 5
Tom Brindley St. Paul Johnson 2 3 5

A NEW LOOK

This state tournament marked the only time in the event's history where all region champions were new.  All of the teams weren't new, but how some of them advanced.  For example, South St. Paul entered through the back door of Section 1.  The previous year the Packers were the Region 2 champs, and they would go on to win Region 2 again in 1962.  This tournament marked the first time the tournament champion won each of its games by one goal.  Roseau won the crown with a 1-0 victory over South St. Paul with a goal from David Backlund.  In the quarterfinals, the Rams needed overtime to defeat Minneapolis Roosevelt, 3-2, and then needed three overtimes to get by North St. Paul for another 3-2 win.  Richard Ulvin had the hat trick for Roseau in the semifinals.

SLAP SHOTS

  • Two participating schools had the same nickname. Can you name the schools? Hallock & Bloomington were both nicknamed the Bears.
  • South St. Paul was in the middle of a six-tournament streak.
  • Hallock made its second and final state tournament appearance.
  • Attendance surpassed the 8,000 mark for the championship game and the 40,000-milestone was eclipsed for the tournament at 40,607.

SOUTH ST. PAUL - REGION 1

Roster Position # White & Maroon
Gary McAlpine G 1
Frank Zywiec D 2
Vince Egan D 3
Bill Arend D 4
Bill Hocking D 5
Tony Paliduchuk W 6
Doug Woog C 7
Dave Schwark W 8
Bruce Larson W 9
Alan Pletch W 10
George Hocking W 11
Tom Maher W 12
Ray Funes C 13
Bob Brodt C 14
Mike Trudeau W 15
Greg Kustelski Manager
Charles Smith Coach
Dennis Tetu Assistant Coach

North St. Paul - region 2

Roster Position # Red & White
James Durose G 1
Steve Kopesky D 2
Steve Gustafson C 3
Dan Lindahl W 4
Joe Brady D 5
LeRoy Damsgard W 6
Pat Goff W 7
Bob Kohlman C 8
Jim Friberg W 9
Andy Creager D 10
Arne Bauer D 11
John Noye G 12
Bob Wicklund D 13
Ron Brown W 14
Ken Olsen D 15
Dick Mitchell Manager
Arnie Bauer Coach
Wes Bauer Assistant Coach

HALLOCK - REGION 3

Roster Position # White & Orange
Marvin Hanson G 1
Jerry Ryden C 2
Gary Truemer W 3
Dan Homstad W 4
John Curtis W 5
Wayne Carlson W 6
Roger Bernstrom D 7
Neil Johnson W & D 8
Richard Lindgren C 9
James Tureson W 10
Bob Johnson D 11
LaVerne Nelson G 12
Mike Mattson C 13
Joe Jerome W 14
Pat Overend D 15
James Landberg Manager
Ken Wellen Coach
John Mooney Assistant Coach

ST. PAUL JOHNSON - REGION 4

Roster Position # Maroon & White
Allen Peterson G 1
Bob Johnson G 2
Tom Brindley D 3
Larry McGrath D 4
Jerry Erickson D 5
Craig Falkman C 9
Mike Gabriel W 8
Dick Ackerson W 11
Dave Peterson C 14
Rolf Vinnes W 10
Bill Wahman W 12
Richard Lind W 13
Dan Huna W 6
Ed Falkman C & D 16
Dick Nordlund W 7
Pat Tucci Manager
Rube Gustafson Coach
Lou Cotroneo Assistant Coach

MINNEAPOLIS Roosevelt - REGION 5

Roster Position # Maroon # White
Ed Knox G 1 1
Dennis Rust G 2 2
Ernie Andrews D 3 3
Dave Trovik W 4 4
Ross Johnson D 5 5
Mark Ryman C 6 6
Dean Carlson - Co-Captain D 7 19
Gary Engfer D 8 8
Jon Hall W 9 9
Dick Swenson W 10 20
Ron Noble W 11 11
Roger Hendrickson W 12 12
Ron Naslund - Co-Captain C 13 13
Jim Rook W 14 14
Tim Hastings C & D 15 15
Tom Mosher Manager
Bob Johnson Coach
Tom Turk Assistant Coach

Bloomington - region 6

Roster Position # Green & White
Roger Townsend G 1
Michael Cohan G 2
Larry Koepke D 4
Paul Weimelt W 5
Dale Revak W 6
Michael Indre C 7
Bill Stromberg D 8
Michael Smith D 9
Wally Sherer - Co-Captain W 10
Roger Hanson D 11
Thomas Lehtinen D 12
Thomas Hohag W 13
Bruce Anderson - Co-Captain W 14
James Hendrickson W 15
Darrell Nichols - Co-Captain C 16
Lee Jensen Manager
Blake Jaskowiak Coach
Edward Cinto Assistant Coach

Duluth East - Region 7

Roster Position # White & Black
Jon Birch G 1
Bob Hoene C & W 2
Peter Neimeyer C 3
Cory Lomen W 4
Dave Stepnes W 5
Bill Sivertson C 6
Bob Magie W 7
Bob Hill D 8
Tom Weyl W 9
Bill Savolainen W 10
Bill McGiffert W 11
John Bonte D 12
Mike Hoene C 13
Mark Williams D 14
Dick Fisher D 15
Glenn Rolle Coach
Clarence Diers Assistant Coach

ROSEAU - REGION 8

Roster Position # White & Green
Gary Johnson G 1
Richard Rygh G 15
David Johnson D 13
Gary Grugel W 12
Jerome Swenson D 7
Paul Rygh W 6
David Backlund C 8
Paul Dorwart D 9
David Peterson W 11
Richard Ulvin W 5
Robert Lillo C 4
David Mattson W 2
Jeffrey Vacura W 3
Gordon Hipsher D 10
Charles Oseid D 14
Jackie McDonald Manager
Oscar Almquist Coach
Francis Macioch Assistant Coach