University of Minnesota Athletics
Neal Broten
Men’s Hockey, 1979-81
HOF Class of 1995
Roseau, MN-born Neal Broten took college hockey and the University of Minnesota by storm in 1979, when the freshman scored 71 points in 41 games, helping lead the Gophers to an NCAA title, even scoring the title-winning goal.
Gopher Coach Herb Brooks selected Broten to play on the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team that would win the “Miracle on Ice” gold medal at the Games in Lake Placid, NY.
Back in Minnesota, Broten, with his brother Aaron and childhood neighbor Butsy Erickson, would lead the Gophers to the NCAA championship’s final game. Neal Broten earned All-America honors and received the first-ever Hobey Baker Award as the nation’s top college player in 1981. In his 76-game Gopher career, he scored 72 goals and made 106 assists, for 178 points total.
Turning pro, Broten joined the Minnesota North Stars during their 1981 Cinderella Stanley Cup playoff run. The next year’s runner-up for NHL Rookie of the Year, he later played for the North Stars in Dallas, and for the Stanley Cup-winning 1996 New Jersey Devils. He closed his career in 1997 with the Dallas Stars. Broten received the 1998 Lester Patrick Award and was selected for the All-Time USA Hockey Team. Dallas retired his No. 7 jersey, and he was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009.