John Mariucci (May 8, 1916 – March 23, 1987) was an American

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

player, administrator and coach. Mariucci was born in Eveleth, Minnesota. He attended the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

where he played for both the hockey and football teams. He was named an All-American in hockey in 1940. Mariucci was inducted into the inaugural 1973 class of the

United States Hockey Hall of Fame The United States Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1973 with the goal of preserving the history of ice hockey in the United States while recognizing the extraordinary contributions of select players, coaches, administrators, officials and ...

and was elected to the

Hockey Hall of Fame The Hockey Hall of Fame (french: Temple de la renommée du hockey) is a museum and hall of fame located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) rec ...

as a builder in 1985.

Playing career

After starring for the Eveleth hockey and football teams, Mariucci went to college at the

where he played both sports – leading his hockey squad to an undefeated AAU championship in 1940. Mariucci played for the

Chicago Black Hawks (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

for five seasons and was the

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

in 1945–46 and 1947–48. Mariucci was known primarily as a defensive-minded bruiser, finishing with only 11 goals and 34 assists in 223 games, but totaled 308

penalty minutes A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for an infringement of the rules. Most penalties are enforced by sending the offending player to a penalty box for a set number of minutes. During the penalty the player may not participate in play. Penaltie ...

. He lost three seasons while serving in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

(1942–43 through 1944–45), but played two seasons for the

United States Coast Guard Cutters The United States Coast Guard Cutters were a senior amateur ice hockey team operated by the United States Coast Guard Yard on Curtis Bay, Baltimore. The team played in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League for parts of two seasons, using Carlin's I ...

in the

Eastern Amateur Hockey League The Eastern Hockey League was a minor professional United States ice hockey league. Eastern Amateur Hockey League (1933–1953) The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL). The league was founded by Tommy Lockhart, ...

. Mariucci's best season with the Black Hawks came in 1946–47 when he played in 52 of the team's 60 games and finished with 9 goals and 11 assists and his 110 penalty minutes were second in the league to

Gus Mortson James Angus Gerald "Old Hardrock" Mortson (January 24, 1925 – August 8, 2015) was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Black Hawks, and Detroit Red Wings, winning ...

. On October 28, 1948, Chicago traded Mariucci to the

St. Louis Flyers The St. Louis Flyers were a minor league ice hockey team, based in St. Louis, Missouri, playing home games at the St. Louis Arena in the Cheltenham, St. Louis neighborhood, across from Forest Park. The Flyers played fourteen seasons in the Ameri ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the lea ...

for cash. After one season in St. Louis, on September 4, 1949, Mariucci was traded to the

Minneapolis Millers The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, through 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League. The team played first in ...

in the United States Hockey League (USHL), again for cash. He spent the 1950–51 season with the USHL

St. Paul Saints The St. Paul Saints are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. They are located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and have played their home games at CHS Field since 2015. They prev ...

and then returned to the Millers (this time in the All-American Hockey League) for the 1951–52 season before retiring.

Coaching career

After his professional playing career ended, Mariucci became the head coach of the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big T ...

hockey team. He was noted for not attempting to sign Canadian players for his hockey teams, but instead relying on home-grown talent from Minnesota. This helped to grow youth and high school hockey programs in the state of Minnesota. He was coach at the university from the 1952–53 season until the 1965–66 season, except for the 1955–56 season in which he was the head coach of the US Olympic team that won a silver medal. Mariucci's best Gopher team came in 1953–54 when Minnesota would advance all the way to the NCAA finals before losing to

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

, 5–4 in overtime. In 1967, he was named the assistant to the general manager for the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

, with

Glen Sonmor Glen Robert Sonmor (April 22, 1929 – December 14, 2015) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, scout and coach. He played 28 games in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers from 1953 to 1955, though most of his career was ...

becoming the Gophers' coach. He eventually worked for

Lou Nanne Louis Vincent Anthony Nanne (born June 2, 1941) is a Canadian-born American former National Hockey League defenceman and general manager. He played in the National Hockey League with the Minnesota North Stars between 1968 and 1978 and then served ...

, one of his Gopher Hockey players, and held the position with the North Stars until his death in 1987. He returned to the international scene as the head coach of the United States team at the 1976 and 1977

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

. He was involved in a bizarre confrontation with Nanne during the 1977 championships. After loudly criticizing Nanne during the game against the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, Nanne responded by charging his coach, which led to a fist fight while the game continued. After the game finished, the fight continued until both men were separated by players and officials. The University of Minnesota honored him by first renaming the hockey arena in

Williams Arena Williams Arena is an indoor arena located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the home arena for the University of Minnesota's men's and women's basketball teams. It also housed the men's hockey team until 1993, when it moved into its own buildi ...

after him and later when a new hockey arena was opened in 1993, the school transferred his name to that one as well,

Mariucci Arena 3M Arena at Mariucci is the home arena for the Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey team of the University of Minnesota. The arena is located on the Minneapolis campus and seats approximately 10,000 fans (9,600 in the main bowl plus club room ...

. In 1983, the John Mariucci Award, began to be awarded to the Minnesota High school coach of the year, as selected by the state's hockey coaches, as Mariucci is immortalized as the "Godfather of Minnesota Hockey". Upon his death, the Minnesota North Stars wore a memorial round patch, with initials JM within, for parts of the 1987–1988 season.

Career statistics

Head coaching record

References

External links

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Gopher Hockey History Coaches Info

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mariucci, John 1916 births 1987 deaths American men's ice hockey defensemen American people of Italian descent Chicago Blackhawks captains Chicago Blackhawks players Hockey Hall of Fame inductees Ice hockey people from Minnesota Sportspeople from Eveleth, Minnesota Lester Patrick Trophy recipients Minnesota Golden Gophers football players Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey players Minnesota North Stars executives Players of American football from Minnesota St. Louis Flyers players United States Coast Guard Cutters players United States Hockey Hall of Fame inductees United States men's national ice hockey team coaches United States Coast Guard personnel of World War II Ice hockey coaches from Minnesota Ice hockey players from Minnesota