The Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association will held its Hall of Fame Banquet at the RiverCentre Grand Ballroom between sessions of the Class AA Boys State Hockey Tournament, honoring four award winners — Barry Ford, Mark Loahr, Terry Skrypek and Mike Taylor — along with five Hall of Fame inductees — Put Furlong, Lorne Grosso, George Larson, Roy Nystrom and Herb Sellars.

Oscar Almquist Award (Given annually to an individual, non coach, who has contributed to the success of high school hockey by advancing opportunities for players and coaches) — Barry Ford

In Minnesota, we often use the term “hockey guy” to describe someone who is knowledgeable, passionate and dedicated to our native sport. Barry Ford matches that description perfectly, and those words don’t just describe his love of hockey, but also how he feels about his family, his country and his community in Coon Rapids that he’s called home for the last 35 years.

Ford got his start coaching in 1971 as an assistant at his alma mater, Minneapolis Marshall High School, and he never stopped coaching. He continued to make his mark by leading kids at all levels in the Coon Rapids and Elk River areas, as well as serving as an assistant at Totino-Grace High School from 1987-89. He was also an active leader in the Coon Rapids booster club and was instrumental in the construction of new locker rooms at Cook Ice Arena.

After successful stints as head coach for both the Coon Rapids Peewee and Bantam A teams, Ford moved to the administrative side of the game. Serving as a counselor for the national summer development camps in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, he became District 10 head coach and held, among many positions: District 10 Select 15 coach/general manager, District 10 assistant director, Minnkota ACE administrator and chairman of the Ted Brill Great 8 High School Festival. From 2001-04, Ford served as the Minnesota Hockey head coach and then spent the next eight years as the vice president of hockey operations.

Ford has lived a life of hockey, placing it behind only his beloved family of wife, Lynn, son, Barry Jr., and daughter, Kim. He’s devoted 42 years of his life to the game with a smile on his face and a determined work ethic. Ford is committed to helping hockey players reach their highest potential and has influenced many, including those with whom he has worked at Minnesota Hockey.

Bruce Johnson Award (Given each year to an active Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association board member, or an individual who has recently served on the board, for outstanding contributions in promoting the association and the sport of hockey) — Mark Loahr

Loahr claimed his 500th career victory this season to become the 12th coach in state history to reach that milestone.

Such a milestone is a tribute to his longevity and success as the head coach at his alma mater, from where he graduated in 1970 when it was still Grace High School. He would earn his undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota in 1976 while serving as an assistant coach at Grace.

The following year he began teaching at Epiphany grade school and, in 1978, began his teaching tenure at Grace, where he has served as a social studies teacher and drivers education instructor during his 36 years at the school.

During his years at Totino-Grace, he has also coached boys’ and girls’ golf, softball and bowling as well as coaching youth hockey and football in both St. Anthony and Roseville for 20 years.

“Mark has provided unshakable stability in the Totino-Grace hockey program for over 30 years,” Mike Smith, Activities Director at the school said. “He has shown great dedication to our school, our program, our students, and to the game of high school hockey.  

“Mark is an alumni of Totino-Grace High School and has been on the teaching and coaching staff for over 30 years. That is something that just does not happen much anymore. It speaks highly of Mark that many alumni have come back over the years to join the coaching staff and continue to be a part of the program.”

Loahr’s hockey tenure at Totino-Grace has included four state tournament appearances (1993, 1995, 2002, 2005), one state championship (2002) and a pair of runner-up finishes (1995, 2005). Additionally, the Eagles have won 10 section academic team titles.

An active and long-time member of the MHCA, Loahr currently serves on the Executive Board as the Section 4 Representative.

Dave Peterson Award (Given annually to a high school coach who has shown great leadership in developing youth hockey either locally or statewide) — Mike Taylor

Mike Taylor has coached hockey for a quarter of a century, beginning with a stint at the College of St. Scholastica, where he played collegiately and graduated in 1985. He also served as a team captain for the Saints as a senior.

An Apple Valley graduate, Taylor came back to his alma mater as an assistant coach in 1992 when he took a position teaching American Studies at Dakota Hills Middle School in Eagan, where he has taught for the last 22 years. He would eventually move onto Eagan as an assistant coach before taking over the reins of the program in 2002.

During his tenure as the Wildcats head coach, Eagan has won two conference titles, three section championships, made three state tournament appearances and finished third in the 2011 Class AA state tournament.

Much of the success of his Eagan teams can be attributed to the close working relationship Taylor and his staff has with the youth program in developing players. They are active in running summer programs, fall clinics and coaches clinics to cultivate a relationship with the youth players and coaches.

“I feel very fortunate to coach in such a welcoming community that has such committed leadership in our youth program,” Taylor said. “This is not my award. This award belongs to my staff and our youth association board of directors.”

In addition to his Wildcat duties, Taylor serves the MHCA Executive Board as it’s Clinic Coordinator.

Mike and his wife of 25 years, Lisa, reside in his hometown of Apple Valley along with their two children, Colton, 17, and Anna, 12.

Cliff Thompson Award (Awarded for long-term, outstanding contributions to the sport of hockey in Minnesota) — Terry Skrypek

Skrypek has left an indelible mark on both high school and college hockey in Minnesota, leading Hill-Murray into its emergence as a state power before taking over at the University of St. Thomas, where he accomplished a similar feat.

While coaching the Pioneers for 14 seasons, he amassed a record of 325-44-3 while leading his teams to 11 state tournament appearances, four championship games and a state title in 1983, when Hill-Murray went 28-0-0. He also served as an assistant football and head baseball coach, leading the Pioneers to the 1976 state baseball title and earning the state’s coach of the year honor. In 17 years at the school, he taught English, physical education, worked in the development office and also served as the school’s equipment manager.

Upon leaving Hill-Murray, Skrypek embarked upon a 23-year coaching career at St. Thomas where he primarily recruited Minnesota high school products to stock his teams which produced 419 victories, 20 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship-game appearances, 13 MIAC titles, 11 NCAA playoff appearances and nation two NCAA runner-up finishes (2000, 2005). Among his players, Skrypek coach seven MIAC players of the year and 25 All-Americans. He also taught in the Department of Health and Human Performance, served as the school’s interim athletic director (1993), served on the Strategic Planning Committee for the athletic department, was a member of the St. Thomas Arena Advisory Committee and was a member of the NCAA Division III National Hockey Committee.

A graduate of Cretin High School, Skrypek played collegiate hockey at St. Mary’s University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1970, and went on to earn a master’s degree in athletic administration from St. Thomas in 1991.

Skrypek is a member of six halls of fame, including MHCA’s. He is also a member of the Cretin High School, Universities of St. Mary’s and St. Thomas, Hill-Murray High School and Mancini’s Athletic Halls of Fame. He was named the Section hockey coach of the year four times at Hill-Murray, the MIAC coach of the year four times, earned the American Hockey Coach Association John MacInnes Award and was named the AHCA Division III coach of the year in 2005.

Hall of Fame inductee – Pat Furlong

Growing up in the shadow of Hibbing’s famed Memorial Building, hockey quickly became Furlong’s sport of choice. A three-sport athlete, who also played football and baseball at Hibbing High School, he earning all-conference recognition during his senior hockey season. Furlong went on to attend the University of Minnesota where he majored in marketing/distributive education and also earned three varsity letters playing for coach John Mariucci along with fellow MHCA Hall of Fame inductees Lorne Grosso and Roy Nystrom.

His coaching career started when he took a job teaching marketing education at Mound High School in 1966. Shortly thereafter, he embarked on his coaching career, starting with the 1967-68 hockey season. The early days involved a lot of travel to find indoor ice time and included early morning trips to the Minnetonka Bubble, Blake Ice Arena, and, later, Buffalo Arena for practices before school. After a full day of teaching, the team would often get together for meetings and conditioning after school. The big change would come when the Pond Arena was built in downtown Mound in November of 1981 and the high school team had a place to call their home.

Furlong’s teams competed in the Lake Conference for the first seven seasons of his coaching career and worked hard to close the competitive gap during that time. The move to the newly formed Suburban West conference resulted in seven conference championships between 1975 and 1990. The later move to the Tri-Metro Conference resulted in an additional championship in 1992.

After two years off of coaching high school hockey, and one year at Monticello with the boys program, Furlong returned to coaching the girls team in Mound for 10 years. This tenure included conference championship teams in 1997 and 1998.  Since leaving Mound after the 2005 season, Pat has coached at Benilde-St. Margaret’s (two years), Eden Prairie (two years), Holy Family (two years) and Edina (three years) with both boys and girls teams. He has coached over 1,000 hockey games and is still coaching to this day. His record, as a varsity and JV/assistant and head coach) is 599-462-33.

He is quick to say that he’s never had a bad day teaching and coaching; maybe a bad hour or two, but he never allowed that to turn in to a bad day. Teaching and coaching has been a passion throughout his life and he has made it a commitment to always show up to the rink or in the classroom excited and ready to go. Despite the ups and downs, the tough seasons, and tough losses, he made the commitment to stay positive and continue to give his energy to coaching and working with the students and athletes.

Hall of Fame inductee – Lorne Grosso

With 677 career wins at the end of the 2013-14 regular season, Rochester Mayo head coach Lorne Grosso, who has been the school’s head coach for 47 years, is the winningest coach in Minnesota boys high school hockey history, having passed the legendary Willard Ikola for the state’s top spot during the 2010-11 season.

In nominating Grosso, Todd Huyber said “Lorne’s time spent coaching and teaching the young men on his teams about life through sport is a true passion for him. Last season, he had to have quadruple heart bypass surgery in November and, by Christmas, he was back at the rink coaching. He is at true gentleman because, as he reminds us, in his 47 years of coaching, he has never received a penalty when behind the bench.”

A native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Grosso grew up playing with the likes of Lou Nanne and Phil and Tony Esposito before coming to Minnesota to play for the Gophers and John Mariucci. While at Minnesota, Grosso was paired on a line with fellow 2014 Hall of Fame inductee Roy Nystrom, of Albert Lea, whom he coaches against and leads by seven career coaching victories.

Although he has been successful at winning hockey games, Grosso’s approach, at times, is philosophical. “At times, I have more fun losing than winning because I see that the kids are playing up to their ability,” Grosso said. “If we play our best and happen to lose, I am fine with that.”

As the years have passed by and the wins piled up, Grosso has noticed the game change but his fundamentals of coaching have stayed the same. “The equipment is better, the kids are bigger, and the game is faster,” he noted. “But you try to teach them the same things that will make them successful. You try to get them to improve and develop. As far as the coaching aspect, it’s pretty much the same game.”

Grosso attended St. Basil’s Novitiate for the priesthood before moving on to the University of Minnesota, from where he graduated in 1966. He took over as the head hockey coach at Mayo upon his graduation and taught Latin and Italian at the school from 1966-99. In 1999, he accepted a position at Rochester Lourdes, teaching religion along with Latin and Italian before retiring in 2007.

In 2009, Grosso was inducted into the Rochester Quarterbacks Club Hall of Fame and, last year, the American Hockey Coaches Association honored him with its Mariucci Award, a national award for a high school hockey coach.

Grosso and his wife, Joannie, are the parents of three children; daughters Laura and Marisa, and son Jim; have seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. When not coaching, he enjoys playing the guitar and piano, walking the couple’s two dogs, cutting fire wood and travelling to Italy and Florida. He also sang and played guitar at mass for 22 years, has been a hospital visitor for St. John’s Catholic Church, brings communion to the homebound and serves as a Eucharistic minister.

Hall of Fame inductee – George Larson

Larson grew up in the West 7th Street area of St. Paul and attended Monroe High School, where he was a three-sport athlete, competing in football, hockey and baseball and, as a member of the Green Wave, he played in the 1962 state hockey tournament.

After high school, Larson went on to play collegiate hockey at Brown University and Gustavus Adolphus College before beginning his career in education at St. Paul Washington where his friend, Rod Magnuson, encouraged him to stay in teach and get involved in coaching.

Larson worked with Ray Cosky as the junior varsity and assistant varsity coach at Robbinsdale High School before taking over as the head coach at Brooklyn Center High School in 1973.

During his career, Larson’s teams won 293 games and, for a number of years, he worked to establish a two-class state hockey tournament.

Larson retired from a long and distinguished career in education as the principal at Brooklyn Center.

Hall of Fame inductee – Roy Nystrom

Nystrom’s interest in hockey began at a very young age on a rink across the street from his house in Eveleth – home of the United State Hockey Hall of Fame. He recalls looking out of his bedroom window and seeing hockey icon, John Mayasich, skating on the rink wearing his Gopher jersey. Nystrom would put on his skates and join him for some passing and skill instruction. From that point on, he wanted to play for the Gophers and be a hockey coach.

While playing for Eveleth High School, the first part of that dream came true when John Mariucci, also an Eveleth native, offered him a scholarship to play for the Gophers (1961-65). Following his college graduation, Roy fulfilled the second part of that dream when he accepted his first teaching and coaching position in Grafton, N.D., where he developed a fledgling program. He would remain there for four years before moving 40 miles south to Grand Forks Central High School, where his teams won three consecutive state championships and, in 1973, he was named the North Dakota high school coach of the year.

After that season, Nystrom accepted a teaching and coaching position in Albert Lea, where he has coached for the past 41 seasons and is currently second in the state, behind college teammate, rival coach and friend, Lorne Grosso, in career victories with 671. He has coached more than 1,000 high school games, has collected several section Coach of the Year awards and has coached the Tigers to three state tournaments, including the Class A consolation title in 2005. In 2011, Albert Lea dedicated it’s arena in his honor, renaming the rink Roy Nystrom Arena.

Raised with a strong work ethic which he passes along to his players, Nystrom is often known for saying to his team before a game, “Pull up your bootstraps and get your lunch pails, boys. It’s time to go to work!” His post-game philosophy for himself and his team is, “Don’t get too high on the wins or too low on the losses.” Nystrom’s love of the game, the enjoyment he gets working with kids, his ability to teach life lessons through coaching, and the fun of coaching with his son are all reasons why he has been coaching for 48 years. Four of his assistants are his former players and he is often asked how long he will continue. His reply is, “I feel blessed to have been able to do this and I will continue as long as I’m having fun and I’m healthy.”

Nystrom’s family includes his wife of 48 years, Jan, son, David, and daughter Stefanie along with her family – husband, Randy Portner, and their sons, Riley, 13, and Ben, 9 (an AA peewee and A squirt, respectively, for Lakeville), and daughter, Haley, 8.

Hall of Fame inductee – Herb Sellars

Sellars was a member of Hibbing’s 1952 state championship hockey team as a junior and the school’s Iron Range Conference football championship squad as a senior before he moved onto the collegiate ranks at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where he played for four seasons and eventually earned his bachelor’s (elementary and secondary eduction, 1958) and two master’s degrees (education psychology, 1970, and education administration, 1975).

During 35 years as an elementary and secondary school teacher, counselor and principal, he served as a coach and adviser for football, hockey, swimming, track and field, student council and program for the gifted and talented.

It was as a hockey coach at Chisholm that Sellars made a lasting mark. He was instrumental in the formation of a two-class format, serving as the chair of the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association two-class committee.

Sellars’ reach has gone far beyond the hockey world in his community. Among his civic activities, he has been on the board of directors for the Chisholm Sports Arena, Range Center Inc. (Center for Developmentally Disabled), Great Scott Township (currently serving as its chairperson), Central Iron Range Sanitary Sewer District (currently serving as its treasurer) and the Range Association of Municipalities and Schools.

An avid hunter and fisherman, who enjoys spending time on the family’s island on Lake of the Woods, he is a charter member and chaired the Hibbing-Chisholm chapter of Ducks Unlimited and Mid-Range Marksmanship Center, of which he is a life member, and served on the board of directors and is a life member of the Hibbing-Chisholm chapter of the Minnesota Deer Hunters.

Professionally, he has been named a Blandin Principal’s Leadership Fellow and is a winner of the Minnesota Elementary Principal of the Year award. In 1980, he was named the hockey coach of the year by the Duluth-News Tribune.

Sellars stills resides in the Chisholm area with his wife of 54 years, Mara. The couple has a daughter, Inta, and two adopted sons, Joel and Peter.