Herb Brooks

Herbert Paul " Herb" Brooks Jr. ( * August 5, 1937 in St. Paul, Minnesota; † August 11, 2003 in Minneapolis ) was an American professional ice hockey player and coach.

Career as a coach

He celebrated his biggest success in 1980 at the Olympic Games in Lake Placid. First, he won on February 22 in the medal round with his team against the favorites from the Soviet Union 4-3, the game went as " Miracle on Ice" in history, and then the final game against Finland and won 4-2 the Olympic gold medal.

In the 1970s he was a coach at the University of Minnesota and won three times the National Championships (1974, 1976 and 1979 ) and once the Western Collegiate Hockey Association ( WCHA ) Title ( 1975). A year after the triumphant victory at the Olympics, the Americans tried as coach of HC Davos. After a turbulent winter in the Swiss mountains Brooks returned to his homeland. In the NHL, he coached the New York Rangers ( 1981-85 ), the Minnesota North Stars ( 1987-88 ), the New Jersey Devils ( 1992-93) and the Pittsburgh Penguins (1999-2000 ).

In 1998, he was coach of the French national ice hockey team at the Olympic Winter Games. In 2002 he had a recurrence, when he won the Olympic silver medal with the U.S. national ice hockey team in Salt Lake City.

Herb Brooks lost on 11 August 2003 on a highway in north Minneapolis control of his minivan while he probably was not wearing a seatbelt. He was found about 35 meters from his car dead. Herb Brooks is survived by his wife and two children.

For the 25th anniversary of the gold medal win in 1980 was renamed Herb Brooks Arena, the Olympic Center ice rink in Lake Placid. In April 2013 was also the home ground of the St. Cloud State Huskies, originally the National Hockey Center, renamed Herb Brooks to National Hockey Center.

1990 Herb Brooks was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999 in the IIHF Hall of Fame and in 2006 posthumously inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.