St. Paul high schools to fold into one boys hockey team

St. Paul Johnson boys hockey is no more.

A tradition-rich program with state titles in 1947, 1953, 1955 and 1963 was the latest boys hockey causality, bowing to changing eras and demographics on St. Paul’s East Side.

“We hung on as long as we could,” Johnson coach Steve “Moose” Younghans told the Star Tribune on Thursday morning.

St. Paul school district leaders sent an email to students and families announcing the news Thursday morning. In the email, obtained by the Star Tribune, district leaders wrote that they believe all St. Paul players will have an opportunity to play next season on this single team without cuts.

Highland Park will be the host school, with practices and games being held there. St. Paul Central also feeds into Highland; Como Park previously fed into Johnson. The Highland coaching staff will lead the team, the district’s email said.

Johnson will have only four players for the upcoming 2025-26 season, Younghans said, plus two from Como Park who fed the co-operative program, and one from Open World Learning Community.

“It has been decided St. Paul Public Schools and the athletic directors to combine (co-op) the hockey teams and create one SPPS team starting the 2025-26 season” Highland athletic director Pat Auran wrote in the email.

This news continues a trend of dissolving inner-city and first-ring public school hockey programs. Minneapolis has put one team on the ice representing seven public schools since the 2010-11 season. Bloomington Kennedy is on the same track as St. Paul Johnson: the Eagles players will fold into Bloomington Jefferson next season. Richfield disbanded its team, and in Robbinsdale, Armstrong and Cooper form a single co-op.

Half of the eight 1991 state tournament participants will not field a team next winter: Richfield, Kennedy, St. Paul Johnson and Burnsville.

How rich is Johnson’s history? The great Herb Brooks played there, on the 1955 team, before going on to become hockey royalty.

“It’s a sad day, a real sad day,” said Skip Peltier, a standout member of the 1963 championship team.

More recently, Highland Park was on the opposite side of the sliding-participation trend in boys hockey. In 2016, the school completed construction of a privately funded locker facility, the centerpiece of its remarkable program comeback. The varsity program had ended in 1987 and formed a co-op with Central that lasted until 2007, when both schools decided to send their hockey players to Como Park’s program.

Strong youth program numbers led to Highland Park varsity hockey relaunching in 2010-11, and soon it will stand as the single host for all.

The Johnson and Highland Park programs posted losing records this season, with the Johnson Governors going 9-14-2 and the Highland Park Scots 8-17-2. Across the river, Minneapolis has posted successful seasons recently with its one co-op city team, formed in 2010, and now St. Paul will try to follow suit.

“In the inner city, there’s a lack of interest, skills and parent involvement in some sports,” former Como Park interim activities director Nate Galloway told the Star Tribune in 2016. “I’m not making predictions, but I think you’ll see more consolidation.”