Introducing, providing and maintaining a variety of hockey-related opportunities at no cost for our youth — while growing the game.

In his later years, Herb Brooks applied his brilliant hockey mind to make sure that young players of all abilities developed their skills properly. Herb worked a long time to refocus youth hockey on practice, fundamentals and skill development in place of playing and winning games.

Herb was going against the grain. Practice had begun to be overshadowed by games, while Herb believed practice should take a higher prominence over games.

Practice, practice, practice. Herb thought that practice with instruction — rather than game play — is a better environment for youth players to learn the fundamentals.

In Europe, the approach is vastly different, and in many ways, better. Coaches there stress fundamentals in skating, puck control with speed, and passing—an approach similar to Herb’s. They also run dynamic, fast-moving, fun practices. Rather than waiting in line to skate around a cone and shoot on a goalie, Europeans often play small games, 2-on-2 or 3-on-3. There is very little stationary time—the entire ice surface is used for the entire hour—and the results are impressive. 

Herb had inspired many people, and not just through his extraordinary coaching success. His emphasis on keeping hockey fun for everyone who wants to play resonated.

Not long after his death, Herb’s family, his son, Dan, his daughter, Kelly Brooks Paradise, and his cousin, Bill Weller, took up the mantle and created the Herb Brooks Foundation. They commissioned a small board of directors, and then got to work. The first step was a “market analysis.” Was there enough demand for a back-to-basics approach, such as the one Herb championed? 

The answer, not surprisingly, was an emphatic “yes,” and Herb’s survivors had their mandate. They also discovered that many people in the hockey community were more than willing to donate their time and expertise to help, while others gave money. In 2007, they helped develop the Herb Brooks Training Center as part of the Schwan Super Rink expansion project at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn., about 12 miles north of the Twin Cities. The Schwan Super Rink opened in 1998 with four sheets of ice and expanded in 2007 to not only include the Herb Brooks Training Center but an additional four sheets of ice as well, making it the largest ice complex on earth.

Board members spend time partnering with the business community, soliciting donations and commitments.

The Rink Rats Program is a shining star for the Herb Brooks Foundation. It provides inner-city children the opportunity to learn to skate and play hockey. Over the past two decades, while high school hockey flourished in suburban, and even rural Minnesota communities, it waned dramatically within city schools. At one point, only two urban programs “fielded” teams. The Rink Rat program plus other youth hockey organizations slowly but steadily are reinvigorating the sport within The Cities. 10 urban middle schools now have youth hockey programs. It also sponsors programs at four community parks and in several junior high schools. 

In addition to learning the game, these youngsters are gaining important life lessons, just as Herb envisioned. They’re also benefiting from tips they receive from Twin Cities-area university teams, such as Augsburg College. The Auggies skate with a group of youngsters in the spring, helping them with a broad range of skills, and of course, serving as mentors. 

Butch Johnson, a northern Wisconsin businessman and former HBF board member and friend of Herb’s, played an integral role in the Rink Rat Program. He sponsored over 100 city kids each summer at a hockey camp at his rink in Spooner, Wisc. In addition to hockey, the urban youngsters get a taste of some of the Northern Midwest’s most beautiful countryside and woodlands. 

Children of military families also had a special camp. The Herbie’s Heroes Program offered free hockey camp (also at Spooner) for these youngsters. And, because one parent may be overseas in the service, the program provides camp scholarships, financial assistance, equipment, rides and other help, when needed. 

As the Herb Brooks Foundation continues to grow it manages numerous additional programs—golf tournaments, used equipment drives, sponsorship opportunities, etc. All are designed with Herb’s ideas in mind: Improve the game; improve the players; increase their opportunities to play. Herb believed that these methods would develop excellent people. The results are bearing that out.