Hutchinson's hockey founder

Last month, dozens of Hutchinson youth hockey players sharpened their skills at a three-week camp put on by the Hutch Hockey Association.

The hard work and dedication of the players through the years has led to numerous youth state championship banners that line the east wall at Burich Arena.

If not for former Hutchinson resident Bob Backlund, the strong youth programs that the city produces each season may have been years behind the competition.

Youth hockey gets a start
Backlund grew up on the West St. Paul, winning city championships playing hockey at St. Paul Humboldt High School and conference titles later at Macalester College in St. Paul.

In 1961, Backlund and his family moved to Hutchinson as he became plant manager at 3M. His passion for the sport of hockey was passed on to his three sons — David, Paul and Jim.

However, when they arrived in town, only a small rink at the elementary school existed.

“I went to the skating rink up by the grade school and the kids were on figure skates. That was fine, but I found some other guys who had sons and we started to work toward getting a youth hockey program,” Backlund said. “There wasn’t much hockey out here. There was just a few guys with any kind of background.”

Backlund found a supporter in city recreation manager Ivan Hurt, who found plywood for boards for the rink.

“Ivan was very helpful through it all. We got the rink built. It didn’t have round corners — it was almost square. But kids started to show up, so we started a recreation team that had kids from like 7 to 18-years-old,” Backlund said. “We didn’t have equipment — just blue jeans and canvas gloves. Ivan was able to get us some old jerseys from youth football to use as well.”

Backlund did a lot of the coaching as there were only two or three men with hockey experience. He remembers telling kids with no money to wrap their legs with cardboard as padding.

“I got a call down at work one day from a kid. ‘Mr. Backlund, the cardboard keeps falling down.’ I said, ‘you have to tape them, son,’” he said.

To read more about Backlund and his contributions to the start of youth hockey in Hutchinson, check out Thursday's print edition on newsstands right now.

Eric Kraushar is the sports editor at the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sports@hutchinsonleader.com