Attachment A

The following is Herb’s blueprint for the Herb Brooks Foundation based on his words and those who knew him well:


“Overall, I think there is a real bright future for hockey in Minnesota. We have the infrastructure in place, we have a lot of wonderful volunteers and we have some very dedicated coaches out there. But I think we have to always remember, at least on the amateur side, what this is for. It is for our young people so that they have a real meaningful environment to play and learn the game. There are a lot of positive things, but we also have to watch out for the ‘doing too much too soon for too few’ syndrome. Basically, we need to stop narrowing the base of our pyramid. We have to understand that when you have competition without preparation, then there is no real development. Sure, we’ve got to take care of our elite players by challenging them and bringing them along, but at the same time we can’t let other kids, with latent development, fall through the cracks. And these Triple-A programs, showcase teams, and select programs do little for the real development of our players. That is a big concern.” Herb Brooks


“We have to ask ourselves, who are we building these rinks for: the fans or the kids? Perhaps instead of building such elaborate indoor facilities, we should go back to constructing more outdoor rinks with artificial ice. This is what baseball, soccer and basketball have over hockey – kids can hone their games virtually anywhere. Hockey is unique, we need ice. Sure, there are thousands of lakes and ponds, but the weather doesn’t always cooperate. So we need more good quality outdoor ice sheets for our kids to get in more practice time. So maybe the next time they want to build a community rink for $5 million, they should look instead to build 5 to 10 outdoor lighted artificial rinks, with warming houses, where kids could play consistently for six months out of the year.” Herb Brooks

“Why are Europeans producing so much talent these days? Well, in Europe they have a better ratio of games to practices, and in the United States we are turning out a bunch of 20-minute hockey players – that is a serious problem. It takes an hour for kids to get to the rink and get ready. They play one-third of the one hour game for a total of 20 minutes, and then it takes another hour to get undressed and go home. That means a kid is only playing 20-minutes of hockey out of a three hour afternoon.

The bottom line is that we need more emphasis on development, pure and simple, and one way to achieve that is by hiring professional coaches who can coach other coaches. Sure we have coaching clinics and certification programs, but is it enough? Now, this is in no way intended to be a backhanded slap at our youth coaches and volunteers who are giving up their time and energy to help teach our kids. Rather, it is something to consider helping our kids get better. If a program were to hire a young professional coach to help teach and train the volunteer coaches at the grass-roots level, wouldn’t that make everyone better? Now, does it cost money? Sure, but that is one area where the Europeans are advancing much quicker than we are and as a result they are producing more talent on to the next levels. I think we should open the dialogue and discuss it, that’s all.” Herb Brooks

“We just have to work on our development programs and keep it going. Locally, I think we have too many AAA, showcase, and elite camps for the kids today and as a result we are creating a bunch of robots. We need to make it fun for the kids and let them learn to love this game the way we did. Kids love to play and we need to give this game back to them.” Herb Brooks

“This may or may not be cyclical. Sure, I am concerned, but you have to ask who are we losing market-share to. The answer to that is Europe, not Canada. Once again, we need to look at what Europe is doing better and try to get better ourselves. We need to make some changes and that can only be good for the game. Tolstoy once said ‘everybody wants to change the world, but they don’t want to change themselves.’ So, we all have to change our thinking and focus on getting our kids better. I have always been a student of the European’s philosophies and styles of hockey. Having said that I don’t think they are necessarily better athletes. They are just trained differently, with much more emphasis put on skill development, pace of execution and repetition. Are Europeans better athletes? No. Are they more competitive people? Certainly not. And, are there more opportunities for them? Not even close. I mean we have more rinks in Minnesota alone than in most of Europe. They work with what they’ve got, and are not afraid to do exhaustive dry land training to hone their skills. I remember watching a bunch of kids practicing on a basketball court in Czechoslovakia one time, working on their back crossovers, their breakouts and on their power play in just tennis shoes. They were mastering the special relationships and working with what they had. There are only a few rinks in all of Prague, so how do they produce so much top-level talent? It is strictly a matter of development and the way that they are introduced to the development sequence of skills that they learn.” Herb Brooks

“We have to broaden the base of the pyramid, recognize the late talent of individuals, and value and understand the need for preparation of skill development. Competition without preparation is anti-development and we are on a slippery slop in youth hockey today with the ‘Triple A’ and ‘Showcase’ concepts.” Herb Brooks

“As far as Xs and Os are concerned, I tried to blend the European style of hockey with the North American style- a hybrid system that was unique and different. I basically wanted to create an environment to give this game back to the players as much as possible. At the same time bringing out their creativity and ability to react at the highest possible tempo.” Herb Brooks

“One of my mentors was John Maricucci, who told me that I was more than just a coach and that I needed to reach out and help the growth of the game through out the state. I have always remembered that and as a result have tried to do as much as I could to develop the coaches, administrators and volunteers to grow the game.” Herb Brooks


“Herbie wanted to see every young kid have the opportunity to play the game. Then, he wanted to make sure that the dollars that were raised for them were well spent and benefited the masses, versus just the top-level kids. He also wanted to make the sport less structured and more available to more people. I certainly agree with that and will do my part to keep Herbie’s vision alive.” John Mayasich

“You know, as far as Hockey is concerned, Herbie just loved the game and was tireless in his pursuit to see it improve. His biggest obsession as of late was to get our younger kids to be able to play better. He didn’t like all the structure that was in the game right now. He didn’t want them over coached, but he wanted them taught properly, and that was something he worked very hard at. He had so many ideas and thoughts of how we could do that better, and that is what drove him. He cared so much about the game, and since he had become a grand parent, I believe that made him see things differently on how the game should be played for future generations.” Lou Nanne

“I think Herbie wanted American Hockey to become No. 1 in the world. To do that, Herbie’s theory was that we had to expand the base of the pyramid. So, by building the base of our athletes, we will build the base of the pyramid. That will grow the game and make it stronger for the next generation. Herbie felt hockey was just a fun, great game, and the more kids that played would be much better off in life for having done so. Sure, if they go on to play in college, or the Olympics, or in the pros, that was great, but for him, it was more about getting players to play the game and enjoy it.” Larry Hendrickson

“I am certainly going to do my part with the Gophers. Then, I will try to get involved at the state level to do what I can there too. I mean when you lose someone like an Herb Brooks, other people have to try to step forward and fill in that void. So, with the position that I am in with the Gophers, people will look to me to do that and I will do what I can. Nobody can fill Herbie’s shoes, but we need people to try to take us down the path of where hockey needs to go in the upcoming years.” Don Lucia

I know Herb was very outspoken about improving the game from the ground up, rather than the top down. So, Herb did not want to just work with the best players, he wanted to build the base of the pyramid wider so that more people would be involved with the game at the lower levels and could move up as they got better. So, I will do my part as a coach to keep his vision alive.” John Herrington

“For me, I am not going to carry his torch. But in some small way, what I have been doing over the past 20 years and am continuing to do will help in the end. I have always believed that the grass roots level of hockey with young kids is the best level of all hockey and I know that Herbie felt the same way. Herbie was always thinking about how he could help more kids to get better. So, I will continue to do my part and hopefully I can make a difference. Herbie would expect each of us to do more. He was always asking for more out of people, no matter what it was. I mean for Herbie it was all about surpassing your expectations and getting over the wall. And Herbie wasn’t just a teacher who said to do it either; he was the guy who had already done it himself. So, that will be all of our challenges now that he is gone.” Paul Ostby

“We just need to keep his vision going forward, and that will take a lot of people. You know, Herb had more people who were fighting against him than were with him. He was out there on his own a lot with his ideas and convictions, and it will be tough to keep a lot of them going. Herb was never intimidated by anything or anybody; he was just principled and determined.” Joe Micheletti

“I think it is probably going to be more of a conglomerate of people who are going to have to aspire to carry Herbie’s torch. Bill Butters

“Herbie is gone now, so it will be up to the rest of us to keep his torch burning brightly.
That is what Herbie would have wanted, each of us doing his or her part to grow the game of hockey – for the next generation of kids. That more than anything, will be his legacy.” Ross Bernstein