University of Minnesota Athletics
Broten Inducted into MSHSL Hall of Fame
10/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
MINNEAPOLIS (GopherSports.com) – The only man to ever win the Hobey Baker Award, an Olympic gold medal and the Stanley Cup has added a new honor to his credit as Gopher Hockey alum Neal Broten was inducted into the 2015 Minnesota State High School League’s 2015 Hall of Fame Class on Sunday.
A native of Roseau, Minn., Broten is also one of only two players (Ed Belfour) to have won an NCAA national championship, an Olympic gold medal and a Stanley Cup.
The forward led Roseau High School to consecutive state tournament berths in 1977 and 1978 before helping the Gophers capture the 1979 national championship as a freshman. Broten set a Gophers freshman record with 50 assists that season.
He then left the Gophers for one year, serving as a center and the fourth-leading scorer on the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” U.S. Olympic Team that won gold in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Broten returned to the Gophers the following year and earned First Team All-America honors while leading Minnesota back to the national championship game. In his final year with the program, Broten was named the first recipient of the Hobey Baker Award while he closed out his college career with 142 points (38 goals, 104 assists) in 76 games.
Following college, Broten played 17 seasons in the NHL including 11 with the Minnesota North Stars. He became the first American player to notch 100 points in an NHL season in 1985-86, and he remains one of the top scoring American-born players in NHL history. Broten was instrumental in Minnesota’s two Stanley Cup final appearances and later helped the New Jersey Devils capture the Stanley Cup in 1995.
Broten was previously inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and the Roseau Athletics Hall of Fame.
The League's Hall of Fame, sponsored by Wells Fargo, started in 1991. The 2015 class is the 21st group to be inducted. The inductees were chosen through a multi-level selection process that included League member schools and a panel of prep sports reporters and broadcasters. With this class, there now are 208 individuals in the hall.
-Pride On Ice-
