Featured Blog: Forliti, Olein & Rose Elected to Roseville Hockey Hall of Fame

This November, RAYHA (Roseville Area Youth Hockey Association) Board along with Hall of Famers Don Black, Jack Brodt, Denny Malarkey, Frank Rog & John Savre voted to add Bob Forliti, Bill Olein and John Rose to the RAYHA Hall of Fame. 

The RAYHA Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place in Roseville Ice Arena’s Olympic Room overlooking the John Rose Oval as part of the celebration that will be the 4th Annual IceBreaker on January 19, 2013.

Honored for their outstanding achievements and contributions to youth hockey in
the Roseville area will be:

Bob Forliti

Bob began his coaching career in 1965 with the Alameda Pond Ponies, literally named after the frozen body of water that they skated upon.  Before they could play or practice on the ice, they would first have to shovel the snow, and it seemed to always be snowing. Bob was the first one on the ice to shovel and usually was the last one off. If something was broke and needed repairs, he always had his tools and he knew how to fix anything.  He was the hardest
working person at the rink, and an excellent hockey coach. He sincerely cared for everyone on his team and wanted to make sure everyone played equal time, long before RAYHA made it that practice mandatory. He would spend any amount of time needed to teach you the right way to skate, shoot, hold your stick, how to play your position – to do things, both on and off the ice the right way.  

Bob spent endless hours plowing rinks on the lake so the neighborhood kids had a place to skate. He went so far as to convince the city to stop the demolition of an old warming house and then figured out a way to move it to the lake so all the kids had a warm place to put on their skates.

As if that was not enough “above and beyond” he then proceeded to put up lights and would pay for all the electricity so kids could skate at night.

He was the kind of person that pushed you to do your best, no matter your talent level.  He just wanted people to be happy and see a smile on their face

Bill Olein

Bill spent 32 years in the City of Roseville, working at the ice arena and the oval and serving citizens and certainly will leave a legacy that includes working well above and beyond the call of work duty in giving his time up for all those Thursday and Saturday night hockey games, special events, flooding rinks, organizing tournaments, mentoring youth, and other evening and weekend duties through the years.

His selflessness was instrumental in creating an atmosphere of teamwork and cohesion in the winter sport community and organizations such as the RAYHA, Roseville Area Figure Skating Club, Midway Speed skating, Greater Minnesota speed skating, Friends of the Oval Foundation.

Bill’s dedication and determination was a key factor in achieving National Gold Medal Award Status for the Skating Center. But most importantly, working with 100 plus youngsters annually on the payroll, Bill acted as role model and mentor to thousands of area kids, giving them a blueprint on being a good citizen.

John Rose - Former board member, coach, and past president of the RYHA (predecessor of RAYHA) who was also an avid organizer and event volunteer. He was also a past director of District 2 as well as a Roseville school teacher and a Minnesota state legislator. He was a strong believer and proponent of sportsmanship and fair play. John was concerned that our fund-raising was always asking the same people for the money and the effort and believed that we could create a better flow by establishing events that could bring in dollars from outside the immediate community while providing benefit to participants.

Due to his influence, we started the Thanksgiving B tournament which not only provided a showcase at home for our B Peewee and B Bantam teams, it brought in outside dollars.

As a State Legislator, John was a strong proponent of the development of a National Sports Center in Blaine, and the development of the Oval in Roseville which bears his name. Speed skating had strong interest at that time and John believed that an outdoor speed skating track with an artificial ice infield would be a major benefit to several sports while bringing additional revenue to Minnesota and to the Roseville area. He worked tirelessly with his fellow legislators, contractors, and sports organizations to get support and eventually the John Rose Oval became a reality.

 “The RAYHA board and general membership are constantly inspired by the contributions of our predecessors, without whom we would not have the culture of fairness and integrity that is Roseville Area Youth Hockey," RAYHA President Jeff Johnson noted. "We are so fortunate to have people like Bob, John and Bill that have given us a roadmap to follow for guidance and inspiration.”

For more information on the IceBreaker and the ceremony, please contact Mike Murphy m.r.murphy@comcast.net.

Want to blog for Roseville Patch? It's easy. Just click on to this link for information and directions.