Lou Nanne

Lou Nanne
IIHF Hall of Fame , 2004
Date of birth	June 2, 1941
place of birth	Sault Ste. Marie , Ontario , Canada
Nickname	Sweet Lou from the Soo
position	defender
Shot hand	Right
Career stations
1961-1963	Minnesota Golden Gophers
1963-1967	Rochester Mustangs
1967-1968	USA hockey
1968-1988	Minnesota North Stars

Louis "Lou" Vincent Nanne (born June 2, 1941 in Sault Ste. Marie , Ontario ) is a retired Canadian-American ice hockey player , coach and manager. For the Minnesota North Stars , he completed 635 games in the National Hockey League , where he was then coach and manager. Nanne was a US national player and took part in the 1968 Olympic Games .

Career as a player

Nanne grew up in Ontario, where he played ice hockey with Phil and Tony Esposito at an early age . In 1960 he began studying at the University of Minnesota . There he played under the famous coach John Mariucci for the Golden Gophers and developed into one of the best players in college ice hockey. In 1963 he was the WCHA's top scorer with 14 goals and 29 assists in 29 games . No defense lawyer was able to do this before. In the same season he was elected MVP (“Most Valuable Player”) in the WCHA as well as in the First All-Star Team. He was also on the NCAA West First All-American team. He played a total of 81 games for the Gophers, scoring 22 goals and 52 assists. He then worked for the Rochester Mustangs in the United States Hockey League for four years . Nanne's rights at the time were with the Chicago Blackhawks . Since there were contractual disagreements with these, it was not until 1968 that he was allowed to play in the NHL.

In 1967 he became a US citizen so that he could play for the US national team. At the 1968 Olympic Games in Grenoble , he finished sixth with the US team. In seven games he scored two goals and gave two assists. He then signed as a free agent a contract with the Minnesota North Stars in the NHL and came in the first season to two missions before he developed into a regular player the following year. Mostly he was used as a defender, sometimes he also played as a winger in attack. By 1978 he had made 635 appearances with 68 goals and 157 assists. He was denied major team successes. The North Stars were among the most unsuccessful teams in the NHL at this time and only survived the first round of the play-offs once. Nanne was a popular player with the North Stars and at times a representative of the NHL Players' Association . In 1976 and 1977 Nanne led the US team as team captain at the World Championships and in 1976 at the Canada Cup .

Career as a manager

Immediately with the end of his career as a player, Nanne was coach (until the end of the season) and general manager (until 1988) of the North Stars in the 1977/78 season . In 1978 these merged with the Cleveland Barons . With the help of skillful player trades and the draft, Nanne managed to create an ambitious team from one of the worst teams in the league. In 1981 the North Stars reached the Stanley Cup finals for the first time (1: 4 against the New York Islanders ). Until 1984 the North Stars played good seasons in the NHL, but without being able to win a title. More largely unsuccessful years followed. In 1988 Nanne resigned as General Manager, but remained with North Stars until 1991. He was also the manager of the US team in 1981, 1984 and 1987 at the Canada Cup and 2004 at the World Cup. As an ice hockey official he was active in various committees.

Nanne is a member of the US Hockey Hall of Fame and the IIHF Hall of Fame . In 1989 he received the Lester Patrick Trophy .

NHL statistics

	Seasons	Games	Gates	Assists	Points	Penalty minutes
Regular season	11	635	68	157	225	356
Playoffs	5	32	4th	10	14th	8th

Personal

His grandson Vinni Lettieri also made it into the NHL as an ice hockey player.

literature

• Ross Bernstein: More ... Frozen Memories: Celebrating a Century of Minnesota Hockey . Nodin Pr, 2007, ISBN 1-932472-49-5 , pp. 60 .

Web links

• SI.com: Sweet Lou From The Soo - Lou Nanne, Minnesota's general manager, is a lousy poet, but his savvy and salesmanship have made the club a contender. Many think he should be running the NHL
• Biography, photos and interview with Lou Nanne (English)
• Lou Nanne at hockeydb.com (English)
• Lou Nanne at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Lou Nanne in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )