John Sheridan was a Minneapolis rink rat, beginning in the early 1960s, all the way through high school. He would head to Folwell Park after school and play hockey till dinner. After dinner it was back to the park to play hockey until they turned the lights out and closed the warming house. Saturdays and Sundays were the same, more hockey, more skating.  John will tell you the hockey winters of his childhood were the best time ever and he is fortunate to have grown up in the time and place that he did.

From the very beginning of his hockey career John was a goal scorer, which he humbly attributes to hard work, but others will tell you was because he was also extremely talented. He first skated for the legendary Minneapolis park board team "Marv's Boys", then in 7th and 8th grade moved up to the VFW bantam A team, called "AntsInPants", whose players came from the Henry High School neighborhoods, A highlight of the 8th grade season was the team beating Woodrow Wilson VFW (representing Southwest) to advance to the state tournament. He began his high school varsity career for Henry High as a sophomore in 1969. In John's senior season at Henry, 1971-72, he was a top scorer in the state scoring 42 goals (in far fewer games than are currently played) and was named First Team All-State.

After high school John played one season of junior hockey, skating for another legendary team, The St Paul Vulcans.  Although after a junior tryout in Sault St Marie, Canada, he was offered a spot on the Guelph junior team, John decided he would rather play junior hockey closer to home. Skating for the Vulcans competed against his older brother Paul, who played for the Minneapolis Junior Bruins, and although John would never tell you this, records show the Vulcans beat the Jr Bruins 12 of the 13 times they played that season. A hockey coach named Herb Brooks was so impressed by John's play with the Vulcans that he offered him a scholarship to skate for the University of Minnesota. This was a dream come true as John had been a huge Gopher hockey fan, going to games since he was in grade school.

John played one year for the Gophers, 1973-74, and what a year it was. The Gophers won their first ever national championship, defeating Boston University 5-4 in the semi finals and Michigan Tech 4-2 in the championship game. Against Michigan Tech, John scored the first goal and assisted on the fourth goal. He scored 24 goals the entire season, as a freshman tying Buzz Schneider for the team lead.

After the season John was drafted both by the Minnesota North Stars, 96th overall, and by the Indianapolis Racers of the WHA, 94th overall. He signed with the Racers, becoming a pro hockey player at age 19. John skated for Indianapolis the 74-75 WHA season, going up against hockey legends such as Gordie Howe. He continued his goal scoring ways, with 17 tallies, fifth most on the team.

John returned to the Racers for the 75-76 season. He then concluded his professional playing career skating for a number of a different teams, including a team in Utica, NY.

It was in Utica that John transitioned into coaching, including starting the hockey program at Mohawk Valley Junior College and becoming their head coach for six years. He then moved to Aurora, Ohio with his family where he became head coach of the Aurora High School boy's team for 17 years. One of his players on the boy's team was his daughter, as there were no girl's hockey opportunities at the time. In 2012 John received "The Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity" award, presented to one Ohio high school coach each year, a fitting award for a Minneapolis born and raised man who has devoted his life to hockey. Minneapolis Hockey proudly welcomes John Sheridan into its Hockey Hall of Fame.

Learn more about Minneapolis Hockey's incredible history at www.mplshockeyhof.com