Career
He attended Eveleth High School in Eveleth, Minnesota and participated in a number of sports. During his high school hockey career he set many individual records and helped his team achieve additional team records that stand even today. Among those records are the 46 total points he recorded at numerous state tournament games and helping his team win four consecutive state championships from 1948-51.
John was a member of the 1956 Winter Olympics team that won the silver medal and the 1960 Olympic team that won the gold medal. Mayasich played on both the 1956 Olympic silver medal team in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy and the 1960 Olympic Gold Medal team in Squaw Valley, California.
The Eveleth, Minn., native is the Gophers' all-time leading scorer with 144 goals and 154 assists in 111 games played. That comes out to an average of about 1.3 goals per game. Mayasich is a hockey legend—and an inventor. He was the first to use what's become the most recognizable staple of hockey: the slapshot. "I really can't remember the first time I used it," Mayasich said. "It was a big advantage for me, and it wasn't too long until others in the league began to use it. It was the equivalent to the jump shot in basketball." Not only did Mayasich destroy records in the college ranks—he still owns all Minnesota scoring records—he was equally lethal in the high school ranks. Mayasich still holds most state tournament records, but a pair of Gophers, Dave Spehar and John Pohl, have since broken his all-time career scoring mark. But as coach Doug Woog says, it still takes nothing away from Mayasich's accomplishments. "We drew the parallel with Dave Spehar," Woog said. "He (Spehar) was the most contemporary state tournament phenom; he had three hat tricks. John had seven. His numbers are phenomenal."
Mayasich briefly pursued a professional hockey career, playing some minor league hockey for the Green Bay Bobcats and Minneapolis Millers. It is possible that his American citizenship, coupled with the "old boys club" environment fostered in the National Hockey League's Original Six era, caused him to be blacklisted from the NHL.
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