Name Rube Bjorkman | Role Olympic athlete | |
Born February 27, 1929 (age 95) ( 1929-02-27 ) | ||
Rubin Eugene Bjorkman (born February 27, 1929) is a former head coach of the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux hockey men's team. A graduate of Roseau, Minnesota High School where he led his team to a State Championship in 1946, Bjorkman was a member of the US Olympic teams in 1948 and 1952 (silver medalists). He was a three-year letter winner at the University of Minnesota. Known as the "Masked Marvel" due to the flight goggles he wore to protect his glasses, Bjorkman was considered one of the finest hockey players of his era.
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Career
Bjorkman's High School coaching career began at Greenway High School in Coleraine, Minnesota. His 1962 team competed in the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament, making him one of the few who have participated in the tournament as both a player and coach.
His first college coaching season (1963–1964), at RPI, culminated with his team finishing third in the NCAA Championships. Following that season he was hired as the Head Hockey Coach at the University of New Hampshire where he would spend four years prior to accepting the position at the University of North Dakota. In ten seasons with the then Fighting Sioux Bjorkman became the least successful coach in the history of the program. He only had two winning seasons, no team titles or awards of any kind and is the only coach to have a losing record in his time with the team. Typifying how poor his results were, the year after he left the Fighting Sioux posted their first 30 win season, were the WCHA champions for the first time since 1967 and finished the season as the national runner up.
In 1982 Bjorkman was honored by the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association when he was named the recipient of the Cliff Thompson Award, given for long term, outstanding contributions to the sport of hockey in Minnesota. In 1997 The American Hockey Coaches Association recognized Bjorkman with the John "Snooks" Kelly Founders Award. Named after the famed Boston College coach, this award honors those people in the coaching profession who have contributed to the overall growth and development of the sport of ice hockey in the United States.