Ken Yackel played for the Minnesota Gophers from 1953 until 1956. While in college he also lettered in baseball (three times) and football (twice). Yackel was very young in 1952, just out of high school, but he helped the U.S. win the silver medal in Oslo. Oddly, he never again played on a U.S. National team. In 1959, Ken Yackel played six games with the Boston Bruins for his only NHL experience, one of only two American players in the NHL in the 1950s. But he did play minor league hockey in the AHL, WHL, and IHL, with the Cleveland Barons (1956-57), Saskatoon-St. Paul Regals (1957-58), Providence Reds (1958-60), Minneapolis Millers (1960-63), and the Muskegon Zephyrs (1963-64). After retiring as a player he first became a gym teacher and coached baseball and hockey at Edina Junior and Senior High School, and later was an insurance agent. In St. Paul, a hockey rink was named in his honor in 1993, the Ken Yackel Westside Arena.
United States