He was an original, one of a kind, a colorful personality, an alcoholic , a storyteller and known as one of the nicest hockey people you could meet. Glen Sonmor was all of these things and for Minnesota hockey he was more than that. Sonmor had an indelible impact on college and professional hockey in the state of Minnesota and that legacy lives on today. The Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan-native played professionally before turning to coaching as he had two short stints with the New York Rangers among time spent with the Cleveland Barons in the American Hockey League. In fact it was his time with the Barons that his playing career was ended when he lost his eye when a teammate launched a slap shot into his face. He had a glass eye for the rest of his life and times it resulted in some memorable moments as in one moment as coach of the North Stars his eye popped loose prompting a mad search on the Minnesota bench during the middle of the game.
Sonmor went on to coach the Springfield Indians of the American League for a season, but after the club failed to make the playoffs he was let go. After this setback was when former Rangers’ teammate and the Golden Gophers’ bench boss John Mariucci hired Sonmor to be the University of Minnesota’s freshman team. He had success with this team and over the next few years coached at Ohio State and the USHL before being hired on as the Golden Gophers’ head coach in 1970. Sonmor did not have a lot of success but he did hire one of his former Golden Gopher freshman players to coach the Gophers’ freshman squad in Herb Brooks. After two seasons where Sonmor had 22 wins total, he’d move on to coach and General Manager for the upstart World Hockey Association for the St. Paul Saints. It was Sonmor’s love of toughness that really put the ‘Fighting’ into the Saints as he always made sure he dressed a bunch of enforcers in his lineup. The Fighting Saints not only were not afraid to rough it up but they could also play hockey but they came up short in two memorable runs to the WHA semifinals. Before there was a Boston brawl there was one in Hartford for the ages. After the Saints folded for the 2nd and last time in 1978 he’d be signed on to coach the hapless Minnesota North Stars.
Because the North Stars had been so bad throughout the 1970’s, the first thing Sonmor had to do was to reshape the culture of a team so it could be a team that believed it could win. Part of that was having the toughness necessary so he always had a place for guys like Jack Carlson, Gordie Roberts and He wasn’t afraid to give younger players like Bobby Smith a chance to make an impact right away. A merger with the Cleveland Barons added key veteran forward Al MacAdam and goaltender Gilles Meloche. Toss in a few more savvy draft selections like Neal Broten, Craig Hartsburg and Dino Ciccarelli and now the North Stars had the skill and scoring depth to really compete.
During what would become arguably his most memorable season as the North Stars’ head coach, his club had one last stumbling block in the Boston Bruins. The Bruins had absolutely owned the North Stars ever since they entered the league in 1967, and they did this mostly through intimidation. So Sonmor decided it was time to send a message. Towards the end of the season, the North Stars traveled to Boston and before the game Sonmor asked General Manager Lou Nanne if it was ok to make this a statement game that his team would not be intimidated. The morning prior to the game Sonmor greeted the team with a comparison player for player with the Bruins trying to demonstrate to his team that the North Stars were as tough as the Bruins and he demanded that his players drop the gloves at the first sign of disrespect no matter how small. So right at the opening puck drop, when Boston’s Steve Kasper tapped the leg of Bobby Smith the lanky center not known to drop the gloves did and went right after Kasper. 406 penalty minutes later, the North Stars had lost the game 5-1 but the message was sent and when the two clubs faced one another in the playoffs Minnesota swept the series. The ‘Cinderella’ North Stars made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals but ultimately fell to Butch Goring and the dynasty that was the New York Islanders.
An addiction to alcohol was a recurring theme in his time with the North Stars and after a nasty bar brawl in Pittsburgh, Minnesota replaced Sonmor in the middle of the 1982-83 season. This allowed Sonmor to get the help that he needed and he used his struggle to help many teens take action towards overcoming their own addictions like those you can read about in this St. Paul Pioneer Press article from 2011. Later he’d make his way to the broadcast booth as the color commentator for the Golden Gophers. He was an unabashed homer who never met an official he liked. You can hear the joy in Sonmor’s voice as the Gophers won a national title on Xcel Energy Center ice in 2002. He stayed on as commentator alongside Wally Shaver until 2011.
He also served as a scout for the Minnesota Wild for a number of years where he kept tabs on the high school talent available in the State of Hockey. In 2006, Sonmor was honored with the prestigious Lester Patrick Award in recognition of his contributions to the game of hockey. The news of Sonmor’s passing on Monday morning caused a lot of fans to reflect on his life. I’ve tried to collect a few of these recollections of a life well-lived.
Lou Nanne on Glen Sonmor, who died last night at age 86:”Personally, he was like a family member. … Just a character.” #northstars#mnwild
— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) December 14, 2015
From wild.com’s poster Antti Laxative.
“My fondest recollections of him were as Fighting Saints coach and GM. He is one of the many reasons I was glad I was around for (and my family were STH’ers for) the WHA years! That man put the “FIGHT” in Fighting Saints! Again, as a HUGE WHA wonk and STH’er – I rarely missed a Fighting Saints game. Glen was GM. We had just lost to the Nordiques in the Finals and the rumors started that we were gonna get Robert Gordon Orr! Holy crap I was amped. I guess Glen thought he had an “in” since Orr had a camp with Shakey Walton. Anyway it never panned out – but WOW did it create a buzz for a while as it was not unheard of (in fact, it was the norm) for NHL stars to jump to the (perceived) $ of the WHA after the Golden Jet took the first dive a few years before that. As it turned out Orr’s knees were so bad he only played a handful of games for the B’s and Hawks after that anyway…so he wouldn’t have worn a Fighting Saints sweater for long (It’d sure be fun to have one though). I always wondered what would they have done – Cuz Shakey wore #4 too! I’m sure Orr would have won out but Walton WAS our best player…so it wouldn’t have come cheap to Bobby I bet. We ended up getting Dave Keon – who I loved, but he was at the end of his career as well…and was no Orr. Of course the famous fight-filled game the North Stars had with the B’s in ’81 when Coach Glen fought a fan – was a great memory (406 minutes in penalties, 12 ejections). Oh, one more – it was early in the season of ’72 and the LA Sharks were in town at the Auditorium. Sharks tough guy Jim Watson was on his way to the box and Sonmor starts heckling him. Watson takes off a glove and holds one hand over his eye (mocking Glen’s one “good” eye). My dad starts laughing (Our seats were behind our bench at the Auditorium – and then, in the corner – front row (yup…with glass boards right in front of us), when we moved to the Civic Center)…but as dad looked over at me I must have had a look on my face like “That wasn’t very nice” (I’m a renown softie) so he stops laughing. Anyway, Sonmor had to be held back from leaping over the bench! In retrospect, I wish I knew what Glen said to get that from Watson, but I’m guessing it wasn’t the only time he ever saw that gesture.”
From long time hockey fan Brian Felska.
“Say Glen Sonmor and I picture Gophers hockey. He never, ever saw a penalty against the Gophers he liked. As a color man, you always got “color” from his loud voice to his choice of word. He was always so involved, I often wondered he would go out on the radio. Pure passion for hockey and his Gophers. I also remember him as the coach of the Fighting Saints, which was appropriate, because he felt strongly about standing up for yourself and your teammates. The Saints were indeed Glen Sonmor’s Fighting Saints.”
Small excerpt from the Minneapolis Star Tribune‘s Patrick Reusse.
“Sonmor was the coach of the North Stars during their near-to-glory days in the early ’80s and the problem he created for newspaper people was this: The locker room door would open, you would spend some time getting quotes from players (perhaps as they smoked a postgame heater) and then you would walk into the adjacent coach’s office to interview Sonmor. Glen would have a couple of thoughts on the contest, and these thoughts would detour to anecdotes from Sonmor’s decades in the game, and the reporters would be laughing and that 11:45 p.m. deadline would be getting closer. Even for hockey heathens in the sporting press, attendance was much greater in those Sonmor years than for any local NHL product, before or since. High-scoring, entertaining hockey was partly responsible for this — but Sonmor was Reason 1A. Glen Robert Sonmor was the greatest story-teller in the 47 years of Twin Cities sports that I have been allowed to cover.”
The State of Hockey News would like to extend our most sincere condolences to the family of Glen Sonmor as he will be missed but never forgotten.
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
