Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1086806
t took Tom Kurvers open- ing an old, dusty bin for him to even find a couple pictures of his high school glory days playing hockey at Bloomington Jefferson. It was just a different genera- tion, a different culture back in 1980 when as a senior captain Kurvers helped lead the Jaguars to their first State Tournament in school history. There was no social media. Nobody had cellphones. "We just played, and had mem- ories—the best memories," Kurvers said. Late Starter Kurvers didn't lace up the skates for the first time to play hockey until, get this, 8 years old. Yet, he developed into one of Minnesota's most accomplished hockey people. After high school, Kurvers went on to University of Minnesota Duluth, where he won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey 's best player and came within a goal of a national championship by playing in the longest game in NCAA history—a four-overtime marathon against Bowling Green in the 1984 title game. M H J ON L I N E . C O M | M A R C H 2 0 1 9 28 by Michael Russo Russo's Rants P R E S E N T E D B Y "Bantam, Peewees, Squirts, it was, 'Man, if we could play in the State Tournament, wouldn't that be the greatest thing ever?' That's all I ever wanted." - Tom Kurvers Photos / Dan Myers/Minnesota Wild, UMD Athletics, Graig Abel/Getty Images Raised Right This all started because Kurvers, a multi-sport athlete, simply wanted to take up hockey and his dad, a football and basketball guy, let him. Jim Kurvers was an all-state football player. He was on one of Minnesota's great high school bas- ketball teams of all-time at Hopkins, winning State Championships in 1952 and 1953. He was a four-year letterwinner in baseball. "I had a sports advantage through DNA, thanks to my father, and then on top of that, he was a model sports parent," Tom Kurvers said. Kurvers: State Tourney Was 'All I Ever Wanted' After college, the defenseman began an 11-year NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens. He won a Stanley Cup his second year in 1986 and went on to play 716 reg- ular-season and playoff games for seven organizations. The past two decades, he worked for the Phoenix Coyotes and Tampa Bay Lightning in management and scouting. In June, Kurvers, 54, landed a dream job as Paul Fenton's right- hand man as one of the first-year general manager's two assistant GMs with Kurvers' hometown Minnesota Wild. Stanley Cup and Hobey Baker Award winner Tom Kurvers recalls childhood path to Bloomington Jefferson's first State Tournament I