DULUTH — Whether it was the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Minnesota North Stars, the Miracle on Ice or local prep hockey, there was one name associated with them all — John Gilbert.
Gilbert, 82, died after a short illness on Wednesday in Duluth.
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The celebrated hockey writer started his career with the Duluth News Tribune before moving on to the then-Minneapolis Star Tribune in 1967. At one time, Gilbert was covering the North Stars, the Gophers and the World Hockey Association’s Fighting Saints all at the same time.
Retired News Tribune hockey writer Kevin Pates remembered reading Gilbert’s stories in the Star Tribune growing up in St. Paul.
“John’s legacy will be as the person most connected to reporting hockey in the history of the state of Minnesota,” Pates said. “He will be known for covering hockey better, more intently than anybody that’s ever written for a newspaper in Minnesota.”
A graduate of Central High School in Duluth, Gilbert represented his father, Wally, at a ceremony renaming the Denfeld football stadium Marv Heikkinen Field at Walt Hunting Stadium. Wally Gilbert is one of the most accomplished athletes in Denfeld history, playing with the NFL Duluth Eskimos and appearing in nearly 600 Major League Baseball games mostly with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1920s and 30s.
Still, Gilbert will be best known and remembered for his contributions to hockey and his relationship with Minnesota coaching legend Herb Brooks. Gilbert became close friends with Brooks covering the Gophers, something that was helpful when Brooks was coaching the 1980 Olympic team. Gilbert also wrote a book about his friend called “Herb Brooks: The Inside Story of a Hockey Mastermind.”
Phil Verchota, a 1975 graduate of Duluth East and a member of the 1980 Olympic team, first met Gilbert when he was playing hockey for the Gophers.
“John was an icon in the newspaper world,” Verchota said. “John was a wonderful, wonderful sports writer and he’ll be missed, especially for his encyclopedic memory of hockey players — whether they were from the Iron Range or the Twin Cities.”
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It wasn’t just his relationship with Brooks or the Gophers, however. It was Gilbert’s ability to create a connection with players and coaches that set his work apart.
“People in the hockey world in Minnesota love John, they confided in John,” Pates said.
Gilbert's bona fides extended beyond the rink as well, as he was writing automotive reviews and covering Minnesota Duluth sporting events as recently as a few weeks ago, even though a critical cardiac episode at a race track in Wisconsin in 2022 led to a lengthy convalescence.
Duluth Denfeld hockey coach Dale Jago remembered first meeting Gilbert as a freshman at UMD. The Bulldogs were playing the Gophers in Minneapolis and Gilbert was greeting all the Minnesota-born players, but he was unfamiliar with Jago, who was from Reston, Manitoba.
“I was like ‘Who is this guy?'” Jago said.
Even after retiring from writing full-time, Gilbert was a regular at the Essentia Duluth Heritage Center for Denfeld or Duluth East games. More than 30 years after Jago left the Bulldogs and long after Gilbert stopped covering the Gophers, Jago was still referring to Gilbert as “the enemy.”
“I always poked fun at Johnny for being a Gopher-lover,” Jago said. “It was just to give him a little bit of grief, but I used to confer with him on cars and ask what his latest test drive was. We had some interesting banter back and forth and I always made time for him when he was around — he’s an interesting dude.”
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It’s not just the Hunters’ or Greyhounds’ locker rooms that looked forward to Gilbert’s visits, Jago said.
“There’s no better testament, I think, to a journalist or sports writer than you’re welcome in every locker room,” Jago said. “I think Gilbert was pretty much welcomed into every room that he went in.”
Even in his earliest days at the Star Tribune, sportswriters weren’t covering such varied levels of hockey — except Gilbert.
“He covered all of those levels,” Pates said. “There are tons of high school people that love him, tons of Minnesota North Star and Minnesota Wild people that love him and Gopher people love him because he did all of those — that’s why he’s Mr. Hockey.”
This story has been updated at 4:35 p.m. on Jan. 30 to include comments from Phil Verchota. It was originally posted at 10:49 p.m. on Jan. 29.
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