Roger Christian

Last week I was out hiking in the Vancouver area. I did not get a chance to celebrate the life of Roger Christian. Christian, a true American hockey legend, passed away last week at the age of 75.

Richard Goldstein of the New York Times has a great piece on Christian:

Roger Christian, whose four-goal game propelled the United States to its first gold medal in Olympic ice hockey, an improbable championship at the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Games, died Wednesday in Grand Forks, N.D. He was 75. 

Here's the full story.

Roger and brother Billy Christian were linemates on the U.S. team in the Squaw Valley Games. The key decision was a 3-2 victory against the Soviet Union, when Roger assisted on two of Billy’s goals. Roger also scored four goals in a 9-4 victory over Czechoslovakia for the gold medal.

Roger Christian played on five U.S. national teams and is enshrined in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. For 20 years Roger starred with his hometown Warroad Lakers. The brothers later partnered to form Christian Brothers, a hockey stick maker in Warroad, Minn.

The Christian family of Warroad are American hockey royalty. Roger's nephew (Billy's son) Dave went on to play a big role in the United States "Miracle On Ice" gold medal win at the 1980 Olympics as well as a lengthy NHL career.