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Minnesota hockey legend Willard Ikola — who won three state high school titles as a player with Eveleth, then coached Edina to eight more — has died.

Edina High School officials announced that Ikola died Monday evening at the age of 92.

Ikola started playing hockey at a young age while growing up in Eveleth on the Iron Range. He was in goal as Eveleth High School won consecutive state titles in 1948, 1949 and 1950 — his sophomore, junior and senior seasons.

Ikola shared memories of those state tournament appearances in an MPR interview in 1993.

“We had a tremendous opportunity up there to play the game as youngsters. We had two inside arenas when I was up there, and of course, it was during the war years, when we were in the early grades there, in early junior high — and we had the opportunity to use those rinks because there was no city team or junior college team because of World War II,” he recalled. “Once we hit the high school squad, we were a pretty well-oiled machine.”

Ikola went on to play for the University of Michigan, winning two national titles. While serving in the U.S. Air Force, he played for the U.S. Olympic team and earned a silver medal at the 1956 Olympics in Italy.

Ikola — “Coach Ike” — then began a 33-year run as coach at Edina, leading the Hornets to eight state titles in 19 state tournament appearances.

“Ike will be remembered for many things, but probably his most notable trademark is his houndstooth hat and his modest attitude towards all his coaching accolades, stating, ‘I never scored a goal or prevented one either, all the credit for our success belongs to the kids,’” read a 

Ikola was named Minnesota High School Hockey Coach of the Year six times before he retired in 1991. He was 

inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

 stands outside Edina’s Braemar Arena — located on Ikola Way.

MPR News Staff

Author

Minnesota hockey legend Willard Ikola — who won three state high school titles as a player with Eveleth, then coached Edina to eight more — has died at the age of 92.

Minnesota hockey legend Willard Ikola dies at age 92

A man wearing a hat coaches during a hockey game

Minnesota hockey legend Willard Ikola dies at age 92

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