Steven Allan Jensen (April 14, 1955 – November 29, 2022) was an American professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player and owner and director of Heartland Hockey Camps. Jensen was a forward who appeared in 438 games in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

from 1976–82. For 39 years, Jensen served as founding owner and director of the Heartland Hockey Camp located in

Deerwood, Minnesota Deerwood is a city in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 526 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Deerwood was platted in February 1892. Deerwood was incorporated i ...

, and was a full-time teaching professional with more than four decades of instruction experience, including 12 years of experience playing International and NHL hockey. He was a five-time member of the

United States men's national ice hockey team The United States men's national ice hockey team is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with its U18 and U17 development program in Plymouth, Michigan. The team is controlled by USA Hockey, the governing body for organized ice hockey in the ...

and played in the

1976 Canada Cup The 1976 Canada Cup was an international ice hockey tournament held September 2 to 15, 1976, in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Quebec City in Canada as well as in Philadelphia, in the United States. It was the first of five Canada Cup to ...

Early life and college

As a hockey player at Armstrong High School, in

Plymouth, Minnesota Plymouth is a city in Hennepin County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. A suburb in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the city is about west of downtown Minneapolis.The population was 81,026 at the 2020 census, making it Minnesota's ...

, Jensen was an All-State performer. At the college level, he was a participant in 2

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

championship games, helping win the National Championship, in 1975, while playing at

Michigan Tech Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ...

. For two consecutive years, Jensen was named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team. As a freshman at MTU, Jensen was awarded the Matovich Top Student/Athlete Award

Hockey career

Jensen started his professional career in his hometown with the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

, and in 1977 he helped make history when the North Stars become the first team in the NHL to have four

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

s score 20 or more goals. He then played four years with the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

, where he became only the fifth American in NHL history to score more than 100 career goals. During the 1980–81 and 1981-82 NHL seasons Jensen was the active leading goal scoring American in the NHL. After retiring from the NHL, Jensen spent four seasons playing and coaching in the professional leagues of

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. During the 1983-84 Swiss-2 season, while playing for

EVZ The Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (German: Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft; acronym EVZ), is a German Federal organisation with the purpose of making financial compensation available "to former forced laborers and ...

Zug , neighboring_municipalities = Cham, Baar, Walchwil, Steinhausen, Unterägeri , twintowns = Fürstenfeld (Austria), Kalesija (Bosnia-Herzegowina) Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; french: Zoug it, Zugo r ...

, Jensen became the only hockey player in Swiss history to score seven goals in a pro game. During his two seasons as a player in Switzerland, he had 61 goals in 56 games. Jensen also had extensive experience in international hockey. As a member of the 1976 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team, he led the team in goal scoring with 52 goals. During the 1976 Olympic Games, in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

, Jensen tied with

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Vladimir Shadrin Vladimir Nikolaevich Shadrin (russian: Владимир Николаевич Шадрин; 6 June 1948 – 26 August 2021) was an ice hockey centre who played in the Soviet Hockey League from 1964 to 1979 for HC Spartak Moscow. He also p ...

with six goals in six games, to lead the tournament in goals scored. During the 1976 World Ice Hockey Championships, in

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, three months after the Olympics, Jensen led Team USA in scoring with four goals and five assists in nine games. Jensen was also on Team USA's preliminary roster for the 1979 World Championships in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria, and the

1981 Canada Cup The 1981 Labatt Canada Cup was the second best-on-best ice hockey world championship and involved the world's top six hockey nations. Tournament games were held in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal and Ottawa. The Soviet Union national ice hockey team ...

, but declined the invitations in order to operate his summer hockey camp business. Jensen did play for the U.S. National Team in 1983, winning the Pool B

1983 Ice Hockey World Championships The 1983 Ice Hockey World Championships took place in West Germany from 16 April to 2 May. The games were played in Munich, Dortmund and Düsseldorf. Eight teams took part, with each playing each other once. The four best teams then play each o ...

, in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Positions

* 1983 Assistant Coach, U.S. National Team, World Championships * 1984 Austrian League, Head Coach for GSV in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

, Austria * 1985 Austrian League, Head Coach for ATSE in Graz, Austria * 1992 Jr. B USA Hockey National Runners-up, Head Coach Heartland Winterhawks * 1993 USA Hockey Festival Champions, Assistant Coach of Team West * 2005 ACHA National Championship Runners-up, Head Coach FGCU * 2006 1st Head Coach in ACHA history to lead a # 16 seed to victory over # 1 seed * 2007 Led FGCU to their 4th consecutive ACHA National Tournament appearance * 2007 Led all coaches in the college hockey ranks with 34 wins at FGCU * 2008 Tier 1, USA Hockey UI8 State Champions, Coach of Everblades * 2008 Tier 1, USA Hockey SE Regional Championship Runners-up, Coach of Everblades * 2008 Tier 1, USA Hockey, Over 50 National Champions, Head Coach * 2009 Tier 1, USA Hockey, Over 50 National Championship Runners-up, Head Coach * 2010 Tier 1, USA Hockey, Over 50 National Champions, Head Coach Jensen served USA Hockey for 17 years as a certified hockey official. From 1985 to 1998, he officiated over 1,500 USA youth hockey games. He served as Head Scout of the USA Hockey SE Region for the

Aberdeen Wings The Aberdeen Wings are a Tier II junior ice hockey team based out of Aberdeen, South Dakota, that began play for 2010–11. A member of the North American Hockey League in the Central Division, the Wings play their home games in the Odde Ice C ...

, a member of the

North American Hockey League The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the United States and is in its 48th season of operation in 2022–23. It is the only Tier II junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey, and acts as an alternati ...

. Jensen was the first Minnesota-born hockey player to attend Michigan Tech on a scholarship. He worked for CBS Sports as a color commentator during the 1976 Stanley Cup playoffs, and had a brief appearance in the 1981 film ''

Airplane II ''Airplane II: The Sequel'' (titled ''Flying High II: The Sequel'' in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, and the Philippines) is a 1982 American parody film written and directed by Ken Finkleman in his directorial debut and starring Ro ...

''. In 1985, he became the first entrepreneur to privately own an ice arena in the state of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. The Heartland Hockey Camp, which Jensen founded in 1985, was named Small Business Success Story, by Twin Cities Business Magazine, in 2009.

Personal life and death

Steve Jensen was the uncle of Washington Capitals blue-liner

Nick Jensen Nick Jensen (born September 21, 1990) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). Jensen was drafted 150th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. Earl ...

. Jensen died on November 29, 2022, at the age of 67.

Awards and honors

References

External links

*
Jensen @ hockeydraftcentral.com Steve Jensen's Heartland Hockey Camp Web Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Steve 1955 births 2022 deaths American men's ice hockey left wingers ATSE Graz players EV Zug players Fort Worth Texans players Ice hockey people from Minneapolis Ice hockey players at the 1976 Winter Olympics Los Angeles Kings players Michigan Tech Huskies men's ice hockey players Minnesota North Stars draft picks Minnesota North Stars players New Haven Nighthawks players Olympic ice hockey players for the United States Springfield Indians players Vancouver Blazers draft picks NCAA men's ice hockey national champions Sports coaches from Minneapolis