December 13, 1999

John Mayasich was a wizard on ice but never got a shot to prove it in the NHL.

Last Friday, at the annual U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame induction dinner in Minneapolis, the Wayne Gretzky Award, which honors an individual for his or her contributions to U.S. hockey, was introduced. The first recipient, fittingly, was the award’s namesake. Among those who joined in applauding Gretzky was a broad-shouldered, soft-spoken Minnesotan: 66-year-old John Mayasich, who in his playing days could have laid claim to being the Great One of U.S. hockey.

That Mayasich is little known outside his home state is an accident of time and place rather than the result of any limitation in his skills. “I don’t care who you name, John could have played with them,” says former Harvard coach Billy Cleary…

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