December 6, 2022
Part of a true brotherhood, John Pohl is the oldest of four boys of a Red Wing, Minnesota teacher, hockey coach, and athletic director father, Jim, and lawyer mother, Joanne. Born in 1979, John was joined by brothers, Mark, Mike, and Tommy within the next five years. “We boys did everything together,” John says of his youth. “We were very close and are very tight to this day.” They bonded even more because when John was 8 or 9 years old, his parents divorced and—in a seemingly unusual arrangement—the boys alternated days between their parents’ households, thus seeing both parents daily.
Attending hockey games coached by Jim Pohl—who started the Red Wing High School program in 1974—John learned early the nuances of the game such as positioning. He was playing hockey by the time he started his formal schooling and skating at hockey camps organized by his dad. He played piano until 5th grade, participated in football for two years, became a member of Red Wing High School’s Missota Conference champion varsity golf team as a 7th grader and played shortstop on its baseball conference championship team in 1997. Now the Activities Director at Hill-Murray High School in Maplewood, John regrets not having been involved in the performing arts since—like sports—it builds confidence, develops friendships, and teaches life lessons.
Playing on the varsity hockey team at 5’ 10” and 160 pounds, John was centering the first line as a 9th grader as the team advanced to the 1995 Class A Minnesota State High School League Tournament, falling 2-1 to Totino Grace in the semifinals. During his sophomore season, John, a right-handed shooter, scored 42 goals and added 57 assists for 99 points and the team reached the finals of MSHSL tournament before being drubbed 10-3 by perennial power Warroad. John shared the Class A tournament scoring honors with 5 goals and 2 assists (Dave Spehar of Duluth East scored an astounding 9 goals and 4 assists in the Class AA tournament) and joined teammates Bryce Barry, Seth Larson, and Tom Moore on the All-Tournament team.
It was in the summer of 1996 that John was invited to try out for the U 17 national team. “I had been playing for fun and never lifted weights,” says John. “When I made the national team, it hit me that these were the top twenty players in my age group, and I could play Division I hockey. Maybe not with the Gophers, but still play at the highest level.” The American team reached the medal round but lost to Canada in the gold medal game.
John’s junior year at Red Wing was the first of two storybook experiences in his hockey career. “We had a really good nucleus of players who were committed and worked hard,” he says of the 1996-97 team. So good that the team was undefeated with a 28-0 record and swept through the Class A MSHSL tournament upending Warroad 4-3 with John’s brother, Mark, assisting on the game-winning goal. “It was awesome for the guys and the town,” he says of the thrilling year. John scored 54 goals and had 57 assists during the season on a prolific line with Larson and Moore. He was again named to the All-Tournament team.
In John’s senior year, Red Wing returned to the state tournament for a 4th consecutive year but defeated 2-1 by Hermantown in the semifinals before claiming 3rd place in a victory over St. Louis Park. Named to his 3rd All-Tournament team with linemate Moore and defenseman Brian Cashman, John led the tournament in scoring with 11 points. John also had the distinction of being named Mr. Hockey in 1998, an unusual award bestowed to a Class A player. The other finalists were Nick Angell of Duluth East; Dave Hergert of Bloomington Jefferson; Pat OLeary of Robbinsdale Armstrong; and Erik Wendell—who would play a significant role in John’s future—of Maple Grove.
Deciding to try to be a part of Minnesota’s hockey heritage, John signed up to be a Gopher at the University of Minnesota (U of M). “It was scary,” says John of his introduction to big-time college hockey. “I was nervous and didn’t know whether I could make it as a small-town player.” He did have limited playing time his first year which was Doug Woog’s final year at the helm of the Gopher squad. The next season under the guidance of new coach Don Lucia, showed significant gains as John, now 6’0” and 180 pounds, scored 18 goals, had 41 assists, and named to the WCHA conference 2nd team. Playing with a wrist injury in the 2000-01, John still scored 19 goals in 38 games as the team lost 5-4 to Maine in the NCAA regional semifinals.
John’s senior year at the U of M was his second storybook season experience. Now one of the team captains, John scored 27 goals and assisted on 52 more for a total of 79 points. Games were sellouts. The crowd was roaring. The team had momentum and advanced to the NCAA Frozen Four Championships, defeating Michigan 3-2 and facing Maine in the finals. “It was a dramatic win in overtime,” John relates with enthusiasm. “In St. Paul. It was magical.” John had a huge role in the victory: he scored the second Gopher goal and assisted on the tying and game-winning goals. Understandably, he was on the All-Tournament team.
A career in professional hockey followed. John played from 2002-05 for the Worester Ice Cats in the American Hockey League (AHL) with a taste of the NHL when he played one game for the St. Louis Blues who had drafted him as the 255th selection in 1998. The unique opportunity to play in the 2003 World Championships occurred when John was en route home from Massachusetts after not seeing his family for 8 months. He visited Minnesota for a single night after an exhausting drive before flying back to get his gear and join the team. Spent, John laughs, saying, “I slept fourteen hours when I finally had the chance to rest. It was a great experience with great players. It gave me a lot of confidence going into the next year.” John scored 3 goals and added 4 assists.
With the Toronto Marlies (AHL) most of the 2005-06 season, John broke into the NHL briefly that year and the next two seasons (2006-08) scoring 17 goals and accumulating 21 assists while playing in 115 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs. John retired from professional hockey in 2010 after playing for two teams in Europe and a final year with the Chicago Wolves in the AHL.
Roommate and teammate Erik Wendell, one of the 1998 Mr. Hockey finalists, introduced John to his younger sister Krissy,, their first year at the U of M. Romance bloomed and the couple got married in 2007. Krissy is well known to Minnesota sports fans as a superb athlete from Brooklyn Park who was on several World Championship women’s hockey teams, an Olympian in 2002 and 2006, the Patty Kazmaier Award recipient as the best college women’s hockey player in 2005 while attending the U of M, a member of multiple Halls of Fame, and currently one of the few women NHL scouts (Pittsburgh Penguins). John and Krissy Pohl have three girls: Emily, 14; Anna, 12; and Lucy, 10. Their daughters play soccer, hockey, and tennis. “They’ve developed great friendships through sports,” says John of his active daughters. The parents had been coaching them, but they have now stepped aside from coaching Emily.
After retiring from professional hockey, John accepted a position at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul as a business teacher and head girls’ hockey coach from 2011-16. In 2016, John switched to Hill-Murray in neighboring Maplewood and served as Learning Coordinator until 2018 and is now the school’s Activities Director.
John smiles about being inducted into the M Club Hall of Fame in September 2022, —equaling one of Krissy’s accomplishments. John concludes, saying, “I feel fortunate to have grown up on when I did. There was no Facebook or Instagram distracting us. Sports were pure—just playing with friends.”
John Pohl played on the 2002 University of Minnesota men’s hockey team which won the NCAA Division I championship
John and Krissy (Wendell) Pohl with their three active daughters: Emily, Anna, and Lucy
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