We remember Willard Ikola, former Edina High School hockey coach

01-22-25

Willard Ikola, the former Edina boys hockey coach who led the program to eight state championships and 19 state tournament appearances, died Monday evening, according to school officials. He was 92.

When he retired in 1991, Ikola had 616 career victories and was named Minnesota’s high school hockey coach of the year six times. In the first 47 years of the Minnesota high school state hockey tournament, Ikola had been involved in 23 of them — four as a player and 19 as a coach.

Ikola became the coach at Edina in 1958. He led the program for 33 years and was inducted into the Edina Athletic Booster Club Hall of Fame in its inaugural year. Rest in peace Coach Ike.