Austin’s Bray inducted into the Minnesota Girls Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame
Published 10:07 pm Tuesday, March 14, 2017
- Former Austin girls hockey coach Denny Bray, left, was recently inducted into the Minnesota Girls Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Also pictured is Bill Halbrehder, the head of the Hall of Fame committee and the master of ceremonies for the induction. Photo Provided
When former Austin head girls hockey coach Denny Bray heard his phone ring this past summer and the caller started to talk about hockey, he was a little confused. Bray, who had retired from coaching in 2013, thought somebody was calling to set up a summer hockey scrimmage. However, as he continued to listen, Bray found out that he was headed into the Minnesota Girls Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Bray was recently officially inducted into the Hall of Fame, along with Steve Guider, the head coach at Blaine, and John Schultz, a long-time assistant coach at Moorehead.
“It’s a very great honor,” Bray said. “It was a shock at first.”
Denny Bray was recently inducted into the Minnesota Girls Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Herald File Photo
Bray coached the Packers for 16 years and he led Austin to the state tournament in 2000, 2007 and 2008. Bray was named Section 1A coach of the year three times and he was Big Nine coach of the year once. He finished with a career record of 215-193-7 overall.
While his teams won a lot of games, Bray said that there was no secret formula to winning. Mostly, he just made practice a place that players wanted to come to.
“If you make it fun for them, they want to come in and work hard and I figured the wins would come if players are working hard,” Bray said. “I miss it. It was very rewarding to see those kids work so hard. The biggest thing was the kids and hopefully I taught them the game. I always had an open door policy with the kids. If they had issues at school or at home, they could always come and talk to me.”
When Bray looks back at his coaching career, he recalls Bobbie Jo Lang’s shot from the blue line to put Austin past Lakeville in the section final in 2000 as a highlight, but he also looks back fondly on the time in practice and the pre-game pasta parties.
“All of the trips to state were fun. There’s also times you look back on certain practices and how the kids worked so hard. It was always tough to see seniors leave. They’re part of your family and you think you’re going to see them again, but you don’t see them as much as you thought you would,” Bray said. “I wouldn’t have gotten here without my coaches and the kids. We were a well oiled machine of good kids, good parents and good coaches.”
