Willard Ikola
Willard Ikola ( born July 28, 1932 in Eveleth, Minnesota ) is a retired American professional ice hockey goaltender and coach. As a player, he won the silver medal, as a coach, he was successful in the High School section at the Olympic Winter Games 1956.
Career
Ikola learned the sport of ice hockey in Eveleth. From 1946 to 1950 he played for the High School of Eveleth High School and won three championship from Minnesota ( 1948-50 ). With it, the team was able to win 67 games in a row and stayed for three years without defeat. He then played temporarily for the Detroit auto club in the International Hockey League, but moved shortly thereafter to the college team of University of Michigan. There he won in two seasons with the Wolverines NCAA Championship (1952, 53).
1955 Ikola was appointed to the U.S. national team. With this he won the silver medal at the Winter Olympics 1956 in Cortina d' Ampezzo. The U.S. team is Ikola only the Soviet Union was defeated with 0:4 in the final round. Until 1958, he played for the U.S. team, while he worked as a navigator in the Air Force. After that he turned down an offer from, to play professional hockey and was coach at the High School of Edina ( Edina High School and Edina East High School). After he even finished the first season with a negative balance ( 4-9-5 ), his team pointed in the following 32 seasons on a positive balance. Overall, this is 616-149-38. During his time in Edina he could total 22 Conference titles, 19 regional championships and eight state championships (1969, 71, 74, 78, 79, 82, 84 and 88) win. Six times he was named High School Coach of the Year by Minnesota.
Later Ikola worked as a scout for the New York Islanders.