Hill-Murray Pioneer Hockey: History 1975

In its first year as a member of the State High School League, Hill-Murray won its first 18 games, won the Section 3 championship for the first of six straight times, and took home the 3rd Place trophy from the state tournament.
Tom Conroy scored Hill-Murray's first ever goal in the state tournament, assisted by future coach Jeff Whisler. Later, they found a new nemesis in Grand Rapids, which defeated Hill-Murray 2-0 and won its other two tourney games 8-3 and 6-1.
188 goals scored is still 4th most in school history, 33 goals against is one more than the record-holding 1971 team, and 35 goals scored in the section playoffs is still a school record.
Goaltender Steve Janaszak completed his fourth varsity season at Hill-Murray, then went on to the University of Minnesota where he was a member of NCAA champion teams in 1976 and 1979, and was named team MVP in 1979. He won a gold medal for the United States in the 1980 Olympics and was the recipient of the Ken McKenzie trophy in 1981, given to the best American-born rookie in the IHL. Janaszak played one game for the Minnesota North Stars in 1980.
Rod Romanchuk led the team with 55 goals in 1975 and played for the University of Wisconsin which won a national championship in 1977.
The State High School League admitted 18 private schools with hockey programs, increasing the total number of teams to 139. This provoked a major section realignment, and the creation of a new Section 3, which consisted of schools from the north and east suburbs and remained pretty much unchanged until the two-class format was adopted in 1992. Previously, Region 3 had been the "back door" region for losers in the northern regions (7 and 8).

1974-1975 Hill-Murray Hockey

Varsity Roster