A U.S. Olympian and former college hockey player, Jim Westby is now a player, coach and general manager of the Minnesota Old Timers, an adult hockey team in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. In 1987, a team called the Minnesota Madness started playing in a California adult hockey tournament, and that squad eventually led to a spin-off team, the Minnesota Old Timers, in 2002. Since then, Westby and the Old Timers have regularly competed in adult tournaments around the country. They’ve played at USA Hockey’s Adult National Championships every year since 2007, winning six out of 10 national titles despite competing in a younger age bracket for the majority of those years. The team currently competes in the 70+ age bracket. Westby and his team meet year-round for regular ice sessions, skating twice a week during the spring and summer and three times a week in the fall and winter. In his role, Westby handles scheduling and finances, as well as ensuring the team has a full complement of players available for games and practice scrimmages. Westby spent four seasons playing hockey at the University of Minnesota (1955-57, 1961-63) and in that span, played on two U.S. Men’s National Teams (1959, 1961) at the International Ice Hockey Federation Men’s World Championship and one U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team (1964). As a high schooler in 1955, Westby also scored a widely known state title-clinching goal in an 11-overtime championship game.

The Adult Player of the Year Award, presented by Labatt Blue, is presented annually to an individual who performed exceptionally during the past year as a member of a U.S. adult hockey team or as a participant at an adult hockey event in the United States.