Bio

Tommy got interested in hockey when he was watching a St. Louis Blues game in his living room. His dad Charlie overheard him say that he would like to try it and soon they both went to Winterland in North County for a public skate.

It was much harder than it looked on T.V. and after a while from falling down all over hard ice he wanted to go home. During a break his dad had bribed him with a hot chocolate to go back out because there was still an hour of skating left. Not long after that he was signed up with Valley Hockey Club with Bud Mitchell and John Marcovich as coaches.

Tommy would skate for Valley Hockey from Mites through Pee Wee playing against other St Louis teams and having annual road trips to Springfield, Champaign, Peoria, Chicago, and Kansas City. Under the guidance of Coach Mitchell his teams were city champs consecutively for several years during the early 70’s.

In Bantams he played one year with Delta and the following year he was with the Brentwood Blazers. The Blazer team in their orange and yellow jerseys would win the MAIHA Open Division and then advanced to the Regional Tournament championship game and would end up as runner-up.

Tommy was selected to represent the St Louis area later that summer with several other St. Louis players at the AHAUS Olympic Training Camp in Colorado Springs. The players would undergo training from the Olympic Hockey Team coaches and met several members of the 1980 Miracle on Ice Team. One thing he remembers from the camp was the little under a mile walk from the OTC to the rink and then back to the OTC twice a day, while carrying their hockey bags.

Tom was enrolled at Ritenour Junior High as a freshman and they didn’t have a high school team in the MSCHA. So the search to find a new school began over the spring after the bantam season was over. When the letter came from CBC High School that he had been accepted with a scholarship a new journey would begin for him.

After adjusting to high school hockey his sophomore year, in 1981 during his junior year CBC was beginning to make some noise again by winning the state consolation championship and Tommy earning his team MVP for the season. In 1982 his senior year the Cadets would win the competitive West Division title with a 16-1-3 record and then advance to the MSCHA State Championship game under the leadership of Rick Kennedy. The Cadets would earn the state runner up trophy with Tom being awarded the team Most Valuable Defenseman and he was also selected to the MSCHA All Star Team.

While playing high school hockey Tom was also skating for the Brentwood Blazers Junior B team under the leadership of Lou Struckman and Doc Runco. What Tom enjoyed about Junior B hockey was the range of talent and age differential. He was 15 when he started in the league and you could have an opponent their first year of college who could be stronger, faster, and more skilled than you. After being drafted by the Blazers, he played three seasons and the team was able to capture a league title 1982, win the Gateway Tournament in 1981 and 1982, and they also participated the AHAUS Junior B National Tournament in 1982. Tommy was awarded the Gateway Tournament MVP trophy in 1982 and The Metro Junior B League Most Outstanding Defenseman later that year.

Over the summer in 1982 Tom was drafted by the Des Moines Buccaneers from the USHL Junior A League. Then later summer he was notified that he was traded to the Sioux City Musketeers under the leadership of Bob Ferguson. In his first year away from home, he was able to take advantage of the everyday practices and lengthy game schedule to develop his skills. Being the last defenseman to be picked for the team he was determined to make an impact. Even though he wasn’t on top of the list for points over the two seasons he was there, he learned that coaches also value plus/minus ratings in which he excelled in. 

In his first season with Musketeers the team played in the AHAUS Junior A National Championship game and would bring home the runner-up trophy. The following year the team would again make an appearance at the national tournament and Tom was selected as the Musketeer MVP for 1983-84 season. Tom was also selected to USHL All-Star Team that same year.

Tom then ventured up north to Minnesota to join a Division III college powerhouse Bemidji State University under the leadership of Bob Peters. While there, the teams were able to reach the NCAA Tournament Final Four each year and would win the championship once. While there Tom was able to gain insight on how to approach your opponent and also the game itself. In his junior year at BSU he was selected to the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Honorable Mention Team and in his senior year he was selected to the First Team. He also earned honors by being selected to the AHCA All American Hockey Squad to end his playing career.

In three seasons he played in 103 games and tallied 80 points with 17 goals and 63 assists. At that time for BSU defenseman, Tom was ranked 7th for career scoring, 5th for career assist, and 5th for assist in a season. In 2006 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of BSU hockey, the program decided to form a 50 Greats 50 Years Team and Tom was selected as a member of this team.

After his playing career Tom became involved with youth hockey when his three boys Ryan, Aaron, and Collin decided to play the game. He had coached at the mite, squirt, pee wee, and bantam level in Grand Rapids, MN. In the three seasons where his teams could qualify for the state tournament, two teams qualified for regional play and then one went on to play in the tournament with his youngest son Collin as a player.

In 2011 Tom began his high school coaching career with the Bemidji High School Boys Hockey as an assistant coach. The BHS Lumberjacks hockey program had missed out on the MN High School League State Tournament for over two decades with its last appearance in 1986.

After three seasons of Tom riding the bus to northern Minnesota towns that were as far as 2-1/2 hours away and getting home at 1:30 in the morning, then having to get up for work at 6:15 a.m., the Lumberjacks in 2015 and 2016 won their section back-to-back to end their 29 year drought and punched their ticket to the state tournament. In 2016 the Section 8 champs would end their season as MSHSL State Consolation Champions.

Tom would finish his high school asst. coaching career at the end of the 2016 season and posted 79 wins, 47 losses, and 9 ties over the 5 year period.

Currently Tom is retired from teaching after 18 years of educating elementary, middle school, and high school students. He lives in northern Minnesota in a small town of Cohasset with his wife Heidi and their two spoiled pugs. Tom has often commented on how much his parents Charlie and Marilyn supported him through the good and tough times throughout his hockey career and in life. They allowed him to play a game that he loved and along the way it provided him with confidence on and off the ice.

He has also said over the years that he was very lucky to play for some knowledgeable coaches and with talented teammates. He has also mentioned that he mostly enjoyed coaching his three sons. Being able to share laughs, smiles, and even disappointment after a tough game is what he cherishes the most over the years with them.

Finally, it would have been difficult to do some of the things in his hockey career without the support of his wife Heidi. She has had many hockey titles along the way: Hockey girlfriend, hockey fiance, hockey wife, and hockey mom. Over the years she was able to keep the family life flowing smoothly and do more than her part while, Tom was out playing or coaching a little boy’s game of skating after a rubber puck.