Neal LaMoy Broten (born November 29, 1959) is an American former professional ice hockey player. A member of the 1980 US Olympic hockey team that won the gold medal at Lake Placid in 1980, Broten was inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame in 2000 having appeared in 1,099 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season games from 1981 to 1997 with the Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings. He is the older brother of Aaron and Paul Broten.
Early career
Broten, like his two brothers, attended Roseau High School, a perennial hockey contender in the state of Minnesota, where he appeared with the Rams in the state tournament in three consecutive years (1977–79). His 1978 achievement of four assists in a single period still stands as a Roseau Rams' record today.
As a college freshman playing for Herb Brooks and the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Broten scored 21 goals, had 50 assists, and was named WCHA Rookie of the Year Broten became the first American to score a Cup-winning goal. Fellow Americans Brett Hull, Mike Rupp, Patrick Kane, Alec Martinez and Matthew Tkachuk have done it since.
Broten served as the captain of the Dallas Stars for two months during the lockout-shortened 1994–95 NHL season after the trade of previous captain Mark Tinordi. He was traded to New Jersey before the end of the season. He had previously served as an alternate captain on a number of occasions.
During the 1982–83 NHL season, Broten participated in a rare fight against Wayne Gretzky. It was one of only a handful of fights during both his and Gretzky's careers. Broten later recalled how he and his teammates would later have to deal with Gretzky's enforcers, Marty McSorley and Dave Semenko.
Broten initially refused to play for the North Stars in 1991–92 due to a contract dispute, instead playing in Germany for BSC Preussen Berlin where he filled in for his former U.S. Olympic teammate Dave Silk who was on temporary leave in the U.S. with his pregnant wife.
Post career
thumb|right|200px|Broten in 2008 (second from right)
Broten briefly came out of retirement in 1999 to once again play for the US national team in the 1999 Ice Hockey World Championship qualifying tournament (the U.S. team featuring several NHL players had surprisingly finished among the bottom four in the previous 1998 world championship tournament) when no active NHL players were available. He scored six points in three games as the U.S. won the tournament, before retiring from hockey for good. He lives in River Falls, WI. In 2014, Broten's nephew, Shane Gersich, was drafted by the Washington Capitals.
In popular culture
Broten is not featured in the 1981 TV movie about the 1980 U.S. hockey team called Miracle on Ice except in archival footage of the gold medal ceremony.
In the 2004 Disney movie Miracle, he is portrayed by Trevor Alto. Alto played college hockey for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.
In the 2008 documentary, Pond Hockey, he reflects on his youth growing up playing hockey in his hometown of Roseau, MN.
Awards and honors
{| class="wikitable"
! Award
! Year
!
|-
| All-WCHA First Team
| 1980–81
|
|-
| AHCA West All-American
| 1980–81
|
|}
- NCAA Championship - Minnesota Golden Gophers (1979)
- WCHA Rookie of the Year (1979)
- Gold Medal XIII Olympic Winter Games, Lake Placid (1980)
- Hobey Baker Memorial Award (1981)
- NHL All Star (1983, 1986)
- Stanley Cup champion - New Jersey Devils (1995)
- Lester Patrick Trophy (1998)
- US Hockey Hall of Fame (2000)
- Broten's jersey number (7) was retired by the Dallas Stars (February 7, 1998).
- Voted by Minnesota Wild fans as the greatest hockey player ever from Minnesota (2009).
Transactions
- Drafted: Minnesota North Stars, 2nd Round (42 overall), 1979 NHL entry draft. Pick was obtained by the North Stars in a draft-day trade that sent Dave Semenko from the North Stars to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for 2nd and 3rd round draft picks.
- Traded to the New Jersey Devils for Corey Millen, 2/27/95
- Traded from New Jersey Devils to Los Angeles Kings for future considerations, 11/22/96
- Claimed on waivers by Dallas from Los Angeles, 1/28/97
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
{| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em"
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff"|
! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"|
! colspan="5"|Regular season
! rowspan="100" bgcolor="#ffffff"|
! colspan="5"|Playoffs
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! Season
! Team
! League
! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM
! GP !! G !! A !! Pts !! PIM
|-
| 1977–78
| Roseau High School
| HS-MN
| 26 || 43 || 77 || 120 || —
| — || — || — || — || —
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1978–79
| University of Minnesota
| WCHA
| 40 || 21 || 50 || 71 || 18
| — || — || — || — || —
|-
| 1979–80
| United States National Team
| Intl
| 55 || 25 || 30 || 55 || 20
| — || — || — || — || —
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1980–81
| University of Minnesota
| WCHA
| 36 || 17 || 54 || 71 || 56
| — || — || — || — || —
|-
| 1980–81
| Minnesota North Stars
| NHL
| 3 || 2 || 0 || 2 || 12
| 19 || 1 || 7 || 8 || 9
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1981–82
| Minnesota North Stars
| NHL
| 73 || 38 || 60 || 98 || 42
| 4 || 0 || 2 || 2 || 0
|-
| 1982–83
| Minnesota North Stars
| NHL
| 79 || 32 || 45 || 77 || 43
| 9 || 1 || 6 || 7 || 10
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1983–84
| Minnesota North Stars
| NHL
| 76 || 28 || 61 || 89 || 43
| 16 || 5 || 5 || 10 || 4
|-
| 1984–85
| Minnesota North Stars
| NHL
| 80 || 19 || 37 || 56 || 39
| 9 || 2 || 5 || 7 || 10
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1985–86
| Minnesota North Stars
| NHL
| 80 || 29 || 76 || 105 || 47
| 5 || 3 || 2 || 5 || 2
|-
| 1986–87
| Minnesota North Stars
| NHL
| 46 || 18 || 35 || 53 || 33
| — || — || — || — || —
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1987–88
| Minnesota North Stars
| NHL
| 54 || 9 || 30 || 39 || 32
| — || — || — || — || —
|-
| 1988–89
| Minnesota North Stars
| NHL
| 68 || 18 || 38 || 56 || 57
| 5 || 2 || 2 || 4 || 4
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1989–90
| Minnesota North Stars
| NHL
| 80 || 23 || 62 || 85 || 45
| 7 || 2 || 2 || 4 || 18
|-
| 1990–91
| Minnesota North Stars
| NHL
| 79 || 13 || 56 || 69 || 26
| 23 || 9 || 13 || 22 || 6
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1991–92
| BSC Preussen
| GER
| 8 || 3 || 5 || 8 || 2
| — || — || — || — || —
|-
| 1991–92
| Minnesota North Stars
| NHL
| 76 || 8 || 26 || 34 || 16
| 7 || 1 || 5 || 6 || 2
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1992–93
| Minnesota North Stars
| NHL
| 82 || 12 || 21 || 33 || 22
| — || — || — || — || —
|-
| 1993–94
| Dallas Stars
| NHL
| 79 || 17 || 35 || 52 || 62
| 9 || 2 || 1 || 3 || 6
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1994–95
| Dallas Stars
| NHL
| 17 || 0 || 4 || 4 || 4
| — || — || — || — || —
|-
| 1994–95
| New Jersey Devils
| NHL
| 30 || 8 || 20 || 28 || 20
| 20 || 7 || 12 || 19 || 6
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1995–96
| New Jersey Devils
| NHL
| 55 || 7 || 16 || 23 || 14
| — || — || — || — || —
|-
| 1996–97
| New Jersey Devils
| NHL
| 3 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 0
| — || — || — || — || —
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1996–97
| Los Angeles Kings
| NHL
| 19 || 0 || 4 || 4 || 0
| — || — || — || — || —
|-
| 1996–97
| Phoenix Roadrunners
| IHL
| 11 || 3 || 3 || 6 || 4
| — || — || — || — || —
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1996–97
| Dallas Stars
| NHL
| 20 || 8 || 7 || 15 || 12
| 2 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 0
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3"|NHL totals
! 1,099 !! 289 !! 634 !! 923 !! 569
! 135 !! 35 !! 63 !! 98 !! 77
|}
International
{| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:50em"
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! Year
! Team
! Event
! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff"|
! GP
! G
! A
! Pts
! PIM
|-
| 1979
| United States
| WJC
| 5
| 2
| 4
| 6
| 10
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1980
| United States
| OG
| 7
| 2
| 1
| 3
| 2
|-
| 1981
| United States
| CC
| 6
| 3
| 2
| 5
| 0
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1984
| United States
| CC
| 6
| 3
| 1
| 4
| 4
|-
| 1990
| United States
| WC
| 8
| 1
| 5
| 6
| 4
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3"|Junior totals
! 5
! 2
! 4
! 6
! 10
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3"|Senior totals
! 27
! 9
! 9
! 18
! 10
|}
See also
- List of members of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame
- List of NHL players with 100-point seasons
- List of NHL players with 1,000 games played
References
External links
- Profile at hockeydraftcentral.com
- Picture of Neal Broten's Name on the 1995 Stanley Cup Plaque