DULUTH — As Chris Locker lay in a hospital earlier this week, intubated and suffering from kidney and liver failure, his brothers — Mike and Derek Locker — knew something that might bring their younger sibling some comfort.
They put on a recording of the 1996 Minnesota Class AA semifinal pitting Duluth East against Apple Valley — the legendary five-overtime game that might not have been but for Locker’s game-tying goal in the third.
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The Greyhounds fell 5-4, but that game and the state championship East won in 1995 behind the play of Locker and former Mr. Hockey winner Dave Spehar etched their names into Minnesota hockey history.
Locker died early Thursday morning at 47 from complications of liver failure, Derek said. It wasn’t long before word started to leak out and tributes to someone rated as one of the 100 greatest players in Minnesota high school hockey history by Minnesota Boys Hockey Hub started to pour in from social media, Mike said.
Sports dominated Locker’s life from an early age. His dad, John Locker, owned the Duluth Courthouse Racquetball Club and the future Greyhounds star was out playing when “the racquets were taller than him,” Mike said.
Mike and Derek graduated from East in 1988 and 1991, respectively. Even though their younger brother was eight years behind Mike in school, you couldn’t find the older pair without seeing Chris.
“Chris went wherever we went,” Mike said. “And he was always playing up.”
In fact, when they were playing Bantam hockey, it was an 8- or 9-year-old Chris that was the backup goalie, Derek said.
“If our regular goalie was out, he would get out there in Squirt-C pads — that’s how talented he was,” he said.
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Even when they weren’t out on the ice, the Locker boys were playing hockey. Their boyhood home included a large empty basement space that was perfect for hockey.
“Every day we played hockey,” Derek said.
Derek played for the 1991 state runner-up Greyhounds boys hockey team that was the first state qualifier coached by Mike Randolph, who'd go on to be Minnesota hockey’s all-time wins record holder.
“We taught Chris and Spehar how to go to state,” Derek joked.
Even Mike couldn’t resist talking a little trash to the 1996 Greyhound squad.
“They would never beat our ‘88 team,” he said.
Still, it was the connection Locker found with Spehar that seemed to spark a legendary run for East and Randolph that included another championship in 1998, five more runner-up finishes and 14 more appearances in St. Paul.
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In fact, it was Locker who told Randolph the Greyhounds would take home a title. He didn’t stop there, however. He also predicted that he and Spehar would score 100 points each.
Locker had struggled with his grades and was declared ineligible for the 1994 postseason. Randolph couldn’t recall if they both hit 100, but he knows “it was close” (Locker had 92 and Spehar 102) and it was Locker who was there to raise the trophy.
“Chris was the first one to get the trophy in his hands with the team surrounding him and he raised it up high — very proudly,” Randolph said. “I’ll never forget the expression on his face and how happy he was — and obviously the team — that that moment came true for him.”
Spehar said when he was young and playing pond hockey or even street hockey, he would find areas of the ice and he “could see a lane or a vision of how I could get the puck.”
When Spehar was little, those pucks rarely got to him, but when he started playing with Locker at 12 or 13, it all seemed to change.
“That’s when it was the most fun playing the game ever,” Spehar said. “I would go to those areas of the ice and he saw me…It was like, ‘Ohh, finally,’ but not finally in a negative way. I just knew how special it was. He had world-class vision and it was incredible to play with him.”
Locker’s vision and puck-handling skills soon had friends and teammates calling him the “magic man,” according to Mike.
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While it was Spehar scoring the lion’s share of the goals, it was Locker’s vision that kept the puck ending up in the right spot for Spehar to shoot.
“Chris needed Spehar and Spehar needed Chris — like Hall and Oates,” Mike said.
After high school, Locker had approximately 40 scholarship offers and he initially attended the University of Minnesota. Injuries and other issues derailed his Division I career and he finished with a season at Wisconsin-River Falls in 1999-2000.
After his playing career, Locker occasionally struggled with mental health issues like anxiety, Derek said. He never married or had kids, but hockey remained a huge part of his life.
“He loved the game — hockey was his life, 100%,” Derek said.
Locker spent time coaching the Minnesota Duluth club team as well as with Shattuck-St. Mary’s AAA program in Faribault, but perhaps his favorite time was coaching nephews Josh Locker and Mathew Locker to the AA Peewee state championship before their own careers with the Greyhounds varsity squad.
He also consulted with local hockey players to help connect with junior hockey teams that were the right fit.
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It also wasn’t just about getting them tryouts, Derek said, Locker “genuinely cared about” the kids and how their careers progressed.
Spehar, who spent four years and scored 128 points for the Gophers, said Locker had perhaps “the most raw talent” he’s ever encountered playing hockey.
“The constant in his life was that he loved hockey,” Spehar said. “I’ll always remember his humor and quick wit, but he loved hockey. Any way he could be involved, he wanted to be involved with it.”
The Locker family will hold a visitation from 3-4 p.m. on Feb. 7 followed by a service at the Cremation Society of Minnesota in Duluth. At 5:30 that day, there will be a celebration of life at Club One Under, the Mike and Derek’s golf simulator and sports bar in the Fitger’s complex.
On the TV screens they’ll be showing — what else — a replay of the 1996 Class AA semifinal between East and Apple Valley.
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