Lou Cotroneo, a longtime high school hockey coach and referee, died on Tuesday.
St. Paul hockey legend Lou Cotroneo dies at age 93
Cotroneo, a member of St. Paul Johnson's state championship team in 1947, coached in the Johnson program for 20 years and later worked for the North Stars and Wild.
November 10, 2023 at 1:41AM
Cotroneo, of St. Paul, was 93.
A member of St. Paul Johnson's state championship team in 1947, Cotroneo coached in the Johnson program for 20 years. He was the head coach from 1964-73, leading the Governors to seven appearances in the state tournament. The Governors were runners-up in 1964 and 1967.
After leaving coaching, he continued to referee hockey at all levels until the mid-1980s.
He also served as a goal judge for the Minnesota North Stars for seven seasons and worked for the Minnesota Wild as a media host.
In 1993, a group of St. Paul leaders tried to get North Stars owner Norm Green to move the team's home games from Bloomington to the Civic Center in St. Paul.
"I think some of the better hockey fans I've met over the years are people on the East Side," Cotroneo told the Star Tribune. "A lot of them, you'll never get to know their names. They're not corporate people, but they're hockey people."
A funeral will be held Nov. 21 at Church of the Assumption in St. Paul.
After four days off, Wild will play Canadiens on Thursday night at Xcel Energy Center.
