BLAINE, Minn. — Herb Brooks accomplished so much.
The “Miracle on Ice” and Olympic gold.
Three NCAA championships.
A career in various NHL roles that spanned decades.
Entry into pretty much every possible Hall of Fame.
Yet there was something that always bugged Brooks, who spent eight years prior to his 2003 death as a member of the Penguins organization, including 57 games behind the bench as head coach from 1999-2000.
“He was disappointed he missed Mario [Lemieux],” Brooks’ son, Dan, said last week at the Herb Brooks Foundation Golf Classic at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn. “By the time Mario came returned [on Dec. 27, 2000], my dad was back in the press box.”
It may have been a near-miss that bothered Brooks, but it was one of several memories Dan and his sister Kelly recalled regarding their dad’s time in Pittsburgh.
When Lemieux took the ice that night at Mellon Arena, against the Maple Leafs and after 44 months off, Ivan Hlinka was the Penguins coach.
But, as Dan explained, Brooks and Lemieux would still talk. A lot, apparently. According to his son, Brooks would get so incensed that Lemieux and former general manager Craig Patrick had to find another way to leave the building so they didn’t have to hear it from Herb.
“My dad would get all [ticked] off, for whatever reason, after a game about a player or two and call Mario and Craig and go ranting and raving,” Dan recalled. “Craig and Mario were so afraid of him that they went out the back door instead of facing him.”
No doubt John Kelly could relate.
Surely you’ve heard of Jan. 13, 2000, when Brooks confronted Kelly — calling Colorado Avalanche games on TV at the time — over something Kelly said regarding Penguins forward Matthew Barnaby.
This happened outside of the Penguins dressing room in Denver.
"Hey, did you make that call on Barnaby?” Brooks said.
Brooks kept after Kelly — who now works for Fox Sports Midwest as the play-by-play voice of St. Louis Blues games — for saying that Barnaby had a tendency to embellish.
“I’ll kick your [butt] all over the place,” Brooks continued as he shoved Kelly, prompting action from NHL security. “Cheap shot. Has a tendency to embellish. I can't believe that, Kelly. Go look at the tape."
“That was done for effect, to motivate the team,” Dan said, laughing as he told the story.
Another memory Dan recalled involved his dad’s first game as Penguins coach. Dan and a couple family friends flew in and met Brooks at a dive hotel somewhere in the suburbs.
Expecting perhaps something fancier, the group was amazed at the spartan setting.
“We walk in and he and the other coaches are trying to figure out line combinations,” Dan recalled. “My dad goes, ‘This is the NHL. You think this is glamorous? This is what it’s like.’ ”
The coach who preceded Brooks with the Penguins was Kevin Constantine. Surely you’ve heard of him, too. Patrick hired Brooks to replace Constantine on Dec. 9, 1999, as the team was spinning its wheels at 8-14-3. Brooks promised a faster style.
“We’re going to play an uptempo, dynamic game,” Brooks said at the time. “It’s ice out there — it’s not blacktop, wood or dirt. We’re in a hole right now. The first thing is to get back to even and play a type of game that fits into the abilities of the players we have here.”
Dan Brooks, who was 12 in 1980, remembered perfectly that time period, knowing his dad was probably going to soon take over the Penguins.
“We kind of knew [Constantine] was on his way out,” Brooks said. “He employed a tight, defensive style. My dad said it was like having Picasso paint a fence with all those good offensive players.
“My dad loved Pittsburgh. He turned the team around. They had a good run. I wish he would have gone back. He loved the organization.”
Herb Brooks also loved golf, which is one of the reasons why Dan and Kelly have this event every year. And they don’t hold it at some swanky country club, either; it’s at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn.
The clubhouse is surrounded by youth soccer and baseball fields. It’s really nice but not over-the-top fancy.
“We could go to a fancy country club and have this, but my dad was more of a common man,” Dan said. “That’s why he loved Pittsburgh so much.”
Every year, Kelly said, they play host to a couple players from the 1980 team. Proceeds from the event help to provide more hockey-related opportunities for kids ages 4-17.
“It means so much to me to see all of these guys come out and play in my dad’s name,” Kelly said. “We don’t even have to sell tickets anymore. It sold out right away. It just kind of warms your heart to know that they’re here for my dad.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
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First Published: August 15, 2018, 12:30 p.m.
