Willard John Ikola (born July 28, 1932) is an American retired

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

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

boys' hockey coach. Born in

Eveleth, Minnesota Eveleth is a city in St. Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,718 at the 2010 census. U.S. Highway 53 and State Highway 37 (MN 37) are two of the main routes in Eveleth. Eveleth was the site of the conflict that resu ...

, a powerhouse in hockey (owning seven state high school championships, including the very first Minnesota state hockey tournament in 1945, and producing six members of US Olympic hockey teamsEdina High School Hall of Fame
/ref>) he began playing hockey as a young boy, eventually going on to play in the

1956 Winter Olympics The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games ( it, VII Giochi Olimpici invernali) and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 ( lld, Anpezo 1956 or ), was a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from ...

and coaching high school for over 30 years.

Early life

Willard Ikola was born in Eveleth, a small town in northern Minnesota that had one of the states most respected youth hockey programs. Ikola got his start playing hockey as a boy in Eveleth. He soon took up the position of

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

, the latest in the line of exceptional goalies produced by Eveleth that included

Frank Brimsek Francis Charles "Mr. Zero" Brimsek (September 26, 1913 – November 11, 1998) was an American professional ice hockey goaltender who played ten seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Boston Bruins and Chicago Black Hawks. He won ...

Mike Karakas Michael George Karakas (November 13, 1910 – May 2, 1992) was an American professional ice hockey goaltender in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was the league's first American-born and -trained goaltender and the first player of Greek ...

, and Sam LoPresti. Ikola is of

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

descent. His brother

Roy Ikola Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...

was also an ice hockey goaltender.

Hockey career

Ikola started at goalie his freshman year at

Eveleth High School Eveleth is a city in St. Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,718 at the 2010 census. U.S. Highway 53 and State Highway 37 (MN 37) are two of the main routes in Eveleth. Eveleth was the site of the conflict that resu ...

. He was the losing goalie in the state semi-finals and third place game. Ikola was undefeated the next three years, helping the Eveleth boys' hockey team win three consecutive state championships (1948–1950) in the last three years of his high school career. He went on to play with the International Hockey League team, the

Detroit Auto Club The Detroit Auto Club was a minor league professional ice hockey team, and one of the four founding members of the International Hockey League in 1945, and operated until 1951. They played their home games at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan. ...

(1951–1952). After less than a year in the IHL, Ikola went to play in the

National Collegiate Athletic Association 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 ...

at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. Although he only played two seasons as a Wolverine, during his time at the University of Michigan, Ikola played on two NCAA championship teams in 1951 and 1952. After college, Ikola joined the US Airforce. In 1955, while still serving in the Airforce, Ikola would join the United States Olympic hockey team, where he would play in the

in Cortina, Italy. Ikola helped the US hockey team earn a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

as well as being named outstanding goalie of the games. Ikola, alongside former Michigan teammate

John Matchefts John Peter Matchefts (June 18, 1931 – November 10, 2013) was an American ice hockey player and coach. Matchefts played for Team USA at the 1956 Winter Olympics. Career Player An Eveleth native from birth, Matchefts played for his hometown hig ...

, became the first Michigan medalists in the winter games. Although the hockey team lost the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, they beat the hockey powerhouse Canadian team in the semi-final round for a chance at the gold. At that time, professional hockey was still developing in the United States, and all of the players on the US Olympic team were college level players, while other teams like Canada and the Soviet union were composed of professional players. After playing a few more seasons with the US Olympic team, Ikola retired from playing hockey in 1958. However, he did not leave the sport completely. Ikola left his job as an Air Force instructor in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

after University of Minnesota hockey coach

John Mariucci John Mariucci (May 8, 1916 – March 23, 1987) was an American ice hockey player, administrator and coach. Mariucci was born in Eveleth, Minnesota. He attended the University of Minnesota where he played for both the hockey and football teams. H ...

recommended Ikola take up a P.E. teaching and coaching position for the Edina-Morningside High School boys' hockey team, where he became one of the most successful high school coaches in history.

High school coaching career

As head ice hockey coach at

Edina High School Edina High School is a four-year public high school located in Edina, Minnesota, United States, a suburb of Minneapolis. The current student population is 2,683. Edina High School was ranked as 486th best public high school in the United States a ...

and Edina East High School in

Edina, Minnesota Edina ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States and a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. The population was 53,494 at the 2020 census, making it the 18th most populous city in Minnesota. Edina began as a small farming and mil ...

, Ikola compiled a 616-149-38 record, which is third-best in the nation and the 2nd most wins by any coach in the state of Minnesota. During his 33-year career (1958–91), Ikola's teams won 22 Lake Conference championships, 19 section titles and eight state championships. Fifteen of his teams won more than 20 games (out of approximately 25 to 30 games per season), and he had only one losing season; his first year as a coach. During his high school coaching career, Ikola was named Minnesota high school hockey coach of the year six times. Famous for his trademark

houndstooth Houndstooth, hounds tooth check or hound's tooth (and similar spellings), also known as dogstooth, dogtooth, dog's tooth, (), (), is a duotone textile pattern characterized by broken checks or abstract four-pointed shapes, traditionally in black ...

hat, Ikola was modest when speaking of his coaching record. "I never scored a goal or prevented one either," he said. "All the credit for our success belongs to the kids." Although he retired from coaching in 1991 he still stayed active in hockey by becoming a scout for the NHL's

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

Awards and honors

Hall of fame inductions and honors

* 1990 -

United States Hockey Hall of Fame The United States Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1973 with the goal of preserving the history of ice hockey in the United States while recognizing the extraordinary contributions of select players, coaches, administrators, officials and ...

* 1990 - The John Mariucci Award, awarded by the

American Hockey Coaches Association The American Hockey Coaches Association was formed in 1947 in Boston. The founding members coached college ice hockey but membership has grown to include coaches at every level of the sport from youth hockey to professional ice hockey, although ...

* 1990 - The University of Michigan Hall of HonorThe University of Michigan Hall of Honor
/ref> * 1992 - National High School Sports Hall of Fame * 1997 - Edina Athletic Hall of Fame. * 2019 - Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ikola, Willard 1932 births American men's ice hockey goaltenders American people of Finnish descent Ice hockey players from Minnesota Ice hockey players at the 1956 Winter Olympics Living people Medalists at the 1956 Winter Olympics Michigan Wolverines men's ice hockey players NCAA men's ice hockey national champions Olympic silver medalists for the United States in ice hockey People from Eveleth, Minnesota United States Hockey Hall of Fame inductees