1979-1980 Hill-Murray Hockey


State 2nd Place
Section 3 Champion
St. Paul City Conference Champion
  • For the first time in school history, Hill-Murray had a perfect regular season and reached the championship game of a state high school league tournament. For the fifth time in six years, however, they lost to Grand Rapids in the state tournament. The Pioneers outshot the Indians 32-16, but scored only once against future North Stars goalie Jon Casey.
  • After playing in only two one-goal games all season, Hill-Murray needed two overtimes to dispatch White Bear Mariner to earn its sixth consecutive state tournament berth. Dan Dolan scored the winning goal, which was the first multiple-overtime win in school history. The only previous 2OT game was the 1965 State Catholic Tournament championship.
  • A St. Paul city conference rule stipulated that a game would end any time a team amassed a ten goal lead after two periods. Hill-Murray played in five of these shortened games, but still set a school record with 195 goals scored for the season, which has been surpassed only twice, by the 1983 and 2008 championship teams.
  • Bill Schafhauser went on to play for Northern Michigan and was a second team All-American in 1984. He won the Ken McKenzie trophy as the top American-born IHL rookie in 1985 and later coached the Hill-Murray JV team (2004-2007) and the Hill-Murray girls varsity beginning in 2007-08, winning state championships in 2014 and 2015.
  • Jeff Poeschl also played for Northern Michigan and has coached hockey at Mahtomedi beginning in 1997-98, winning state Class A championships in 2020 and 2023.
  • Ben Belde played for the University of Minnesota and suffered an injury crashing into the goal post, prompting a change in the design of the goal pegs.
  • In all, 11 players on the 1980 team would go on to play D1 college hockey.

DateOpponentScoreLocation
12/1Roch. John Marshall6-3WGraham Arena
12/8Cretin*11-2WAldrich
12/12St. Paul Harding*9-2WSt. Paul Auditorium
12/15St. Paul Como Park*6-2WAldrich
12/19St. Paul Highland Park*9-0WAldrich
12/22South St. Paul5-2WWakota Arena
12/27Blake11-1WAldrich
12/29Mounds View3-2WRoseville Arena
1/9St. Thomas Academy*10-0WSt. Paul Auditorium
1/16St. Paul Central*14-0WAldrich
1/19St. Paul Johnson*6-3WAldrich
1/23St. Paul Humboldt*10-0WAldrich
1/26Cretin*6-1WSt. Paul Auditorium
1/30St. Paul Harding*7-3WSt. Paul Auditorium
2/2St. Paul Como Park*10-0WSt. Paul Auditorium
2/4St. Thomas Academy*5-1WAldrich
2/6St. Paul Highland Park*3-1WSt. Paul Auditorium
2/16St. Paul Central*10-0WAldrich
2/20St. Paul Humboldt*8-3WAldrich
2/23St. Paul Johnson*1-0WSt. Paul Auditorium
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Twin City Game
2/25Mpls. Southwest4-1WAldrich
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Section 3 Playoffs
3/1Spring Lake Park8-0WCottage Grove Arena
3/4Forest Lake9-3WAldrich
3/6North St. Paul9-1WAldrich
3/8White Bear Mariner4-3W (2OT)St. Paul Auditorium
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State Tournament
3/13East Grand Forks3-1WSt. Paul Civic Center
3/14Mpls. Southwest7-2WSt. Paul Civic Center
3/15Grand Rapids1-2LSt. Paul Civic Center

Final Record 27-1-0



Varsity Roster


Coach: Terry Skrypek
Assistant: Bill Lechner

No.NamePos.GradeHeightWeight
1Scott RichardsG115' 9" 170
3Todd SoutorD115' 8" 160
4Scott WeltzinD105' 8" 170
5Sean ReganD115' 9" 170
6Bill Schafhauser (A)D126' 0" 180
7Ben Belde (C)D125' 11" 170
8Joe HorwathW115' 9" 165
9Mark KroisW9
10Dan DolanC115' 8" 155
11Mark KissnerW126' 2" 190
12Pat FoleyC116' 0" 165
14Tom XavierW115' 7" 140
15Mike KingC125' 10" 155
16Bill KingW125' 10" 170
17Jim MurphyW116' 0" 175
18Rob SchweitzW126' 3" 180
19Joe JireleC115' 7" 150
20Cliff NittiW115' 10" 170
21Jeff Poeschl (A)G126' 0" 150



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