1995-1996 Hill-Murray Hockey


Twin Cities Suburban East Champion
  • With a roster that boasted eight future D1 players, Hill-Murray had one of its most dominant regular seasons ever. Their only loss was to unranked Burnsville, despite outshooting the Blaze 47-18, and came after three victories over top-three opponents.
  • On Dec. 23, the state's top three ranked teams all played at Aldrich Arena. Following a 2-2 tie between #2 Johnson and Hibbing, #3 Hill-Murray took on #1 Duluth East. Star forward Chris Locker injured himself while celebrating the game's first goal and did not return, and East eventually led 4-3 with time running out. But Hill-Murray tied the game with 21 seconds left in regulation, and won on Nate Mauer's third goal with 30 seconds remaining in overtime.
  • Following that, the East Side Showdown was held for the first time, a six team holiday tournament at Aldrich Arena. The same three teams were all scheduled into the same round-robin bracket, which Hill-Murray won by defeating Johnson 5-3 and East 4-3.
  • After the holiday tournament, Hill-Murray and Duluth East were co-#1 with Apple Valley third. Hill-Murray then went on a 15-game win streak that included a 9-2 win at Jefferson, which ended up losing the Section 5 final in overtime to eventual state champion Apple Valley.
  • The Pioneers lost again to White Bear Lake in the section playoffs, after beating the Bears 6-2 eleven days earlier. Freshman Shawn Roed scored twice including the winning goal, after Hill-Murray had scored twice in the third period to force overtime.

DateOpponentScoreLocation
12/2Edina5-3WBraemar Arena
12/9Blaine9-5WFogerty Arena
12/14Anoka6-1WAldrich
12/16Elk River3-1WColumbia Arena
12/23Duluth East5-4W (OT)Aldrich
12/27St. Paul Johnson5-3WAldrich
12/29Duluth East4-3WAldrich
12/30Burnsville2-5LAldrich
1/4Osseo7-0WAldrich
1/6Forest Lake*2-1W (OT)Forest Lake Arena
1/11Roseville*6-0WAldrich
1/13Stillwater*6-1WAldrich
1/18Irondale*11-0WColiseum
1/20Mounds View*8-4WColiseum
1/25White Bear Lake*7-0WAldrich
1/27Bloomington Jefferson9-2WBIG (Bloomington)
2/1Forest Lake*10-4WAldrich
2/3Roseville*10-2WRoseville Arena
2/8Stillwater*3-1WAldrich
2/10Irondale*12-0WColiseum
2/15Mounds View*4-3W (OT)Aldrich
2/17White Bear Lake*6-2WAldrich
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Section 3AA Playoffs
2/22Irondale11-1WColiseum
2/28White Bear Lake3-4L (OT)Coliseum

Final Record 22-2-0



Varsity Roster


Coach: Steve Rohlik
Assistant: Dave Schwartz, Herb Harvey

No.NamePos.GradeHeightWeight
1Jon VerloG115' 9" 160
6Dave TanabeD106' 1" 175
7Quinton KruegerD115' 11" 185
8Steve JonesF116' 0" 190
9Rick BrosseauF115' 11" 165
10Jeff RothmundF115' 9" 155
11Jesse UnklesbayF115' 9" 160
12Peter SmothersF115' 10" 180
14Joe SchmidtF116' 0" 185
15Shane Spears (A)D126' 1" 205
16David GrahamD106' 0" 160
17Tim Wolfe (C)F125' 11" 170
18Andy NessF115' 8" 155
19Nate Mauer (A)F126' 0" 165
20Shane MaherD126' 0" 185
21Bill CodyG125' 10" 175
22Brandon SampairF115' 9" 180
24Brian BeldeF11
24Joe ShillingsF105' 9" 160
25Steve SavreF125' 10" 160
27Matt UremovichF126' 1" 205
28Zach ScribnerD105' 11" 165

Pioneer Press All-state: Nate Mauer
Honorable mention: Bill Cody, Brandon Sampair, Shane Spears, Tim Wolfe

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