Hill-Murray School’s head coach for boys hockey, Bill Lechner, earned his 600th victory last month, placing him in an elite category of only four other coaches in the state. He has been at the Maplewood school for 45 years, first as an assistant hockey coach, then head coach starting in 1997. At 70, the grandpa of seven is on the rink at every practice. “I can still tie my skates and go out there and chase them around — in slow motion,” said Lechner, a cradle Catholic. He and his wife, Sue, live on Bald Eagle Lake in White Bear Lake.
Q) You grew up in South Highland in a different era — before the professionalization of youth sports.
A) If you go down Cleveland Avenue, right where it meets Mississippi River Boulevard and Norfolk, I lived right on the corner, a couple houses in — overlooking Fort Snelling.
I was an altar boy at St. Therese parish (before it merged with two other parishes to form Lumen Christi in St. Paul), where a lot of the Minnesota Twins players got married. Father Gibbs was great. He would play catch with us, and he knew a few of us loved baseball, so he would ask us to be altar boys for the Twins’ weddings. It was pretty cool.
In the winter, we would come home from school for a snack and then walk to Homecroft Park on Edgecumbe Road — you put your skates over your stick and your stick over your shoulder. I had to be home by 5:30 for supper, and then, if my homework was done, I went back ’til 8:30. The rink guy would flick the lights at 8:30. It was an innocent era. The parents didn’t know what we were up to, but they trusted us, and it was safe. I wish it could be more that way.
Q) As the youngest of four, your big brothers appointed you goalie.
A) They needed somebody to shoot at.
Q) What is it about Minnesota’s state hockey tournament (March 15-17 this year) that’s so special?
A) There’s nothing else like it in the United States.
Once you get out of high school and that community — your buddies hanging out on a Saturday night — the innocence goes away because it becomes a business. High school is the last time you can just be with your buddies and there’s no money involved, just the pride of playing and your teammates’ accomplishments and as simple an environment as it can be for the world we’re in.
Q) How has the tournament changed since you started coaching 45 years ago?
A) It was even more innocent then. Now, with all the social media and websites and publicity, it’s gotten crazier. There’s a lot of pressure on the kids. That’s changed. But we do our darndest to try to keep it innocent and family oriented. If we talk about 10 things at practice, five or six are hockey things and the others are about life. I try to put it back to the innocence of what I enjoyed (as a teen).
Q) And hockey is a great way to skate off adolescent stresses.
A) We always say: “Whatever is happening — good or bad — I’ll hang around and talk to you afterwards. But when we’re on the rink, let’s just let go of this world. Let’s just escape for a few hours.”
Q) You make the most of that time.
A) I’m in charge of 12 forwards (coaching players in a position to score). I’ll drive home from practice and go: “Did we (cheat) that kid today? Did I say hi to every kid? Did I talk to the goalie? Did I say good job?”
Q) You hold the guys to a high standard at the state tournament.
A) We hope that, at the end of those three days, they say, “That was really cool!” And for the right reasons.
I think it’s very important that, when you are representing your school, yourself, your jersey — on buses and in restaurants and in hotels and at the rinks — we are gentlemen. We say please and thank you. We pick up after ourselves. We watch our language.
All the guys who are playing pro hockey who played for us — once they’re 35, they’re done. Well, if you live another 50 years, you better be a good person. And we coaches have to be good role models. It’s not “do as we say.” We have to live it. I don’t hang around bars. I don’t swear. We have to live the right way.
Q) You receive texts from former players almost every day and go to many weddings.
A) It’s busy! A lot of them know I’m 70 and not as good of a golfer, so they’ll call and invite me to go golf because they want my $20. It’s an easy $20.
It’s the relationships, at the end of the day. When we get together at alumni events, they don’t talk about the winning goal I got, they talk about the stupid stuff — remember on the bus, Coach, when you turned around and we were singing, when you stepped on the puck and you flipped and then your stick went flying. They understood the fun of it all. They don’t talk about the trophy case.
Q) And you’re humble about your role in the Hill-Murray hockey dynasty.
A) I didn’t start this. I’m just one of the chapters. It takes a village. We have excellent coaches, great players, the entire Hill-Murray community and support staff.
Q) You pray every night.
A) I start with an unselfish request, praying for three or four friends or neighbors that are hurting. And then the selfish one: I’m not asking personally for anything, it’s just: “Give me the strength to help the kids.” That’s kind of it.
Q) You unwind every day on Bald Eagle Lake.
A) It’s the peace of cooking up some burgers, going out, floating around and forgetting about the world.
We spoiled ourselves. We got a new pontoon and a lift — you just hit a button and it drops the pontoon in. Within four minutes, you’re out on the lake.
In June and July, I get off the hockey rink at 1, and the grandkids are asking, “Can we go to Papa and Mimi’s on Friday?” On Sunday, I call my kids and say: “Hey, love ya! But are you coming to get your children?”
Q) What do you know for sure?
A) The older I get, the more I know to appreciate the day. We rush through life. And all of a sudden, days and weeks and years go by. It’s important to make an impact as positive as possible in the day that you’re living. Don’t waste it.
