News

 

By Ashley McKenelly
 

Neal Broten was born on November 29, 1959 in Roseau, Minnesota. He is the older brother of NHL stars Aaron and Paul Broten. Like his two brothers, Neal attended Roseau High School, a perennial hockey contender in Minnesota, where he appeared with the Rams in the state tournament in three consecutive years (1977-79). His 1978 achievement of four assists in a single period still stands as a Roseau Rams’ record today.

 

As a freshman playing for Herb Brooks and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, Broten scored 21 goals, had 50 assists and was named WCHA Rookie of the Year. His final goal of that season was the game-winner that clinched the 1979 NCAA Championship in which the Gophers defeated the University of North Dakota 4–3. Broten would later win the inaugural Hobey Baker award in 1981, which honors U.S. collegiate hockey’s best player.

 

Broten is one of two players to have played on teams that won the NCAA hockey championship (Minnesota, 1979), the Olympic Gold Medal (Team USA, 1980), and the Stanley Cup (New Jersey Devils, 1995). He is the only player to have won the Hobey Baker, the Olympic gold medal and the Stanley Cup. Neal Broten and Ed Belfour are the only players to have won an NCAA championship, an Olympic gold medal and the Stanley Cup.

 

Broten was member of the U.S. Olympic team that won a gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics. He was also a member of Team USA at the 1981 and 1984 Canada Cup tournaments as well as the 1990 World Championship.

 

Broten played 17 seasons in the NHL. Highlights of his long NHL career include the first American to score more than 100 points in a single season (1985-86) as well as two NHL All-Star Game appearances in 1983 and 1986. He won a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 1995, scoring the game-winning goal in Game Four against the Detroit Red Wings to clinch the title. Coincidentally, his 1980 Soviet counterpart, Viacheslav Fetisov, was on the ice for the heavily-favored Red Wings when Broten scored the clincher. Broten became the first American to score a Cup-winning goal. Fellow Americans Brett Hull, Mike Rupp, Patrick Kane and Alec Martinez have done it since.

 

Broten served as the captain of the Dallas Stars for two months during the lockout-shortened 1994-95 NHL season. He had previously served as an alternate captain on a number of occasions.

 

Broten briefly came out of retirement in 1999 to once again play for the U.S. National Team in the 1999 World Championship qualifying tournament when no active NHL players were available. He scored six points in three games as the U.S. won the tournament, before retiring from hockey for good.

 

Broten was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000 having appeared in 1,099 NHL regular season games from 1981-97 with the Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings. Broten’s jersey No. 7 was retired by the Dallas Stars on Feb. 7, 1998.

 

Since retirement, he moved to River Falls, Wis., and managed the Sally Broten Horse Company with his wife after retirement. The company raises and trains reining horses. In 2014, Broten’s nephew, Shane Gersich, was drafted by the Washington Capitals.

 

Voted by Minnesota Wild fans in 2009 as the greatest Minnesota-born player of all time, Broten’s legacy was cemented. And in typical Broten fashion, he made an appearance at Xcel Energy Center, waved to the crowd, posed for some photographs and went back to the farm, a simple life where his daughter and two grandsons, ages 5 and 3, are a 20-minute drive away.

 

Neal along with his brothers skated in an alumni game that was part of the 2014 Hockey City Classic, in which the University of Minnesota hosted Ohio State University at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. That was Neal’s first time skating in two years. Before that, the trio last played together in 1998, donning the red, white and blue for an international tournament in Klagenfurt, Austria, and helping Team USA get back into the A pool for Olympic play. According to Aaron, these days they get together every November to hunt deer in northern Minnesota, and maybe once a summer.

 

Neal Broten is one of 10 coaches who will be attending the first ever Miracle on Ice Fantasy Camp in Lake Placid this March. Join players from the gold medal winning 1980 USA Hockey Team and participate in their inaugural fantasy camp in Lake Placid, host city of those historic 1980 Winter Games. Connect with the greatest sports moment of all time. Meet and get to know players from that greatest of all teams in the relaxed and friendly atmosphere that is Lake Placid. Skate in the 1980 Rink - Herb Brooks Arena at the Lake Placid Olympic Center where we beat the Russians and shocked the sports and political worlds. For more information visitmiracleonicefantasycamp.com, like us on Facebook: Miracle on Ice Fantasy Camp, and follow us on Twitter @1980HockeyCamp.

 

Photo: Steve Babineau