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Friends, family gather to mourn Brooks' death at wake
August 15, 2003

Glen Sonmor hired Brooks as his assistant coach at the U of M. The former coach to the Gophers and the Minnesota North Stars says Brooks is the greatest coach he's ever seen. (MPR Photo/Tom Scheck)

Many fans and friends of Herb Brooks gathered at St. Paul Cathedral on Friday to attend the wake for the Minnesota hockey legend. Brooks died in a one-car accident earlier this week. Brooks grew up in St. Paul and became famous after he coached the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team to a gold medal in the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid.

St. Paul, Minn. — Mourners ranged from fans to players and coaches to neighborhood friends. At times the line of mourners spilled out from the Cathedral onto the sidewalk. In the afternoon heat, the Salavation Army handed out water. Flower arrangements surrounded Brooks' body. In his coffin was a picture of Brooks as a player on one of the Olympic hockey teams. Brooks played on two of those teams, 1964 and '68.

He's best known, however, for molding great hockey teams. In 1980, Brooks convinced an upstart team of college players that they could defeat a better Soviet team. The "Miracle on Ice" game is regarded by some as the greatest sporting event in the 20th century.

Warren Strelow, who was the goalie coach on that team and is now goalie coach for the San Jose Sharks, says he'll miss his life long friend.

He was always just an average guy to everybody and never made himself above and beyond anybody. - Al Hronsky

"He cared about people. He was a blue-collar worker but he didn't have blue blood. He was just like the common man and he never forgot his roots. He never forgot the East Side where he grew up, we were both born and raised on the East Side. He always had time for everybody no matter how insignificant they were," Strelow said.

Brooks coached St.Cloud State University and led the University of Minnesota to three national championships and besides coaching several professional teams.

Glen Sonmor hired Brooks as his assistant coach at the U of M. The former coach to the Gophers and the Minnesota North Stars says Brooks is the greatest coach he's ever seen. Sonmor says Brooks was able to get his teams prepared for any game. He says the 1980 victory over the Soviets is an example of his coaching greatness.

"I'm glad to see people saying that that was nothing short of a miracle orchestrated by Herb Brooks," Sonmore said. "You give those players all kinds of credit but putting it together and developing it and bringing that team along. I don't know of anybody else who could have done that."

Others say Brooks changed the way American hockey is played. They say that before 1980 American hockey mostly consisted of dumping a puck down the ice and chasing it. Brooks developed a more European style of play in 1980, relying on fast skating, clever puck handling and horizontal passes to deceive a defense.

	A different coach

Jack Carlson,a former player for the Minnesota North Stars, didn't play under Brooks, but says Brooks saw the game differently than other coaches.

"The game changed when Herbie got into the Olympics and you can see the style of hockey that is played now and I do think that you have to give all of that credit to Herb. He broke down the game and figured out how the game should be played and he innovated it to a different style. And when you have a different style of hockey then you're going to have some success," Carlson said.

When asked by the St. Paul Pioneer Press why the family didn't move the funeral to a larger site like Mariucci Arena, Brooks' son, Danny said his mom told him that Brooks has been in a hockey arena his whole life, and should be sent out from a church.

Those who knew Brooks away from hockey understand those comments. Al Hronsky says he and Brooks used to get together for a couple of beers on St. Paul's East Side and in Shoreview. He says Brooks was a hockey legend who wasn't comfortable in the limelight.

"He was always just an average guy to everybody and never made himself above and beyond anybody. He thought he was nothing special. He always had a smile, always could tell a joke or two and touched everybody that he came into contact with," he said.

Investigators are still piecing together what caused Brooks minivan to spin out of control. The Anoka County Coroner's Office ruled the Brooks wasn't wearing his seat belt at the time of the crash. The office also says Brooks died from blunt force chest and abdominal injuries after he was thrown from the minivan. A spokesman for the Department of Public Safety says it could be weeks before they determine what happened.

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