The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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The Dier File

Age: 56
Education: BS English, Mankato State University, March 1993.
MS Education, University of Wisconsin Green Bay, December 2007.
Employer: Senior Education Outreach Specialist at the Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Personal: Married to Michelina Manzi Dier, a professor of literacy at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Vinny, a black lab adopted in December 2008, runs his home.
Background: Grew up in a hockey family — his father played semi-professional hockey with the Green Bay Bobcats — and his second cousin, Danny Joe Dilworth, played on the 1964 United States Olympic hockey team. Roger played youth hockey in Green Bay, junior college hockey in his birth place of International Falls, and in 1977-78 he began a coaching career that touched five decades.
More background: A “Master’s Level” USA Hockey certified coach, Dier has written articles for USA Hockey Magazine and wrote his master’s thesis on a study of determinants that contribute to quality scoring chances in hockey. As an undergraduate student at Mankato State University, he won the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s first prize for college sports writing in the early 1990s. He covered hockey for The Free Press of Mankato between 1990 and 1995.

If You Go: 'Scarlet Ice' book signing

What
A book signing of “Scarlet Ice” by author Roger Dier.
Where
Scheel’s All Sports at Mankato’s River Hills Mall.
When
Saturday, Jan. 21.
Time
11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Miscellaneous
Books are on sale at Scheels and Play it Again Sports in Mankato.

Related Photos

  • From bottom to top: Author Roger Dier, the cover of “Scarlet Ice,” and former Mankato West hockey player John Janavaras. Illustration by Jenny Malmanger

    scarlet ice cover copy.jpg

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January 1, 2012

Sixteen-years in the making, ‘Scarlet Ice’ well worth the wait

Author says life gave story perspective

By Jim Rueda Free Press Sports Editor

MANKATO — When first-time author Roger Dier started working on “Scarlet Ice” in 1995, he never imagined it would take 16 years to complete. Looking back, he knows exactly why it took so long.

“Life got in the way,” he said.

“I moved out of the south-central Minnesota area to Green Bay (Wis.), I got divorced in 1998, I started a new career with a medical insurance company. These things happen.”

Dier worked doggedly on interviews and research from 1995-97, took another whack at it in 2003 and then picked it up again three years ago. It’s not the ideal method for writing a book but, in retrospect, Dier is glad it worked out that way.

“It’s funny how perspective affected some of the players’ memories as they got older,” he said. “But guys like Jamie Como and Tim DeSutter and Shayne Ratcliff gave me details in 1996-97 that I’m sure they wouldn’t have remembered in 2010 or 2011. I think having both viewpoints gives the book more depth.”

Dier said he first had an inkling the 1994-95 season of the West hockey team might make a good story shortly after the Scarlets’ playoff game with New Ulm. He contacted the Janavaras parents — Basil and Linda — by phone in May of 1996 and they seemed excited about the possibility of a book about their son.

At the end of June, he sat with Linda and Basil in their living room and began some extensive interviewing.

“There were tears shed,” Dier said. “There were three people involved and we all took turns crying.

“I had just buried my dad who died of lung cancer in February of 1996. I think that enabled me to sympathize more with them. I had a sense of their emotional loss.”

The Janavaras family released the doctors and nurses at Immanuel-St. Joe’s to talk to Roger about John’s case. West head coach Mike Carroll was also fine with talking about it, and so were most of the players.

“That’s when I knew there was a book here, and that I was going to write it,” Dier said. “I was happy that Basil and Linda decided to partner with me in the book.”

Dier said he ran into a few surprises along the way that helped enrich the book. Before he started he was unaware of the dissension in the West locker room between the sophomore class and the team captains. Likewise, he didn’t know there was such a disconnect on the section rival New Ulm team between the Big 4 (the team’s top four players) and the rest of the squad.

One interesting aspect of “Scarlet Ice” is that Dier, who was working as a sports reporter for The Free Press when the 1994-95 season unfolded, made the decision to include himself in the book. Doing so was not his first choice.

“When I finished and submitted the first draft to my editor I was not mentioned in the book at all,” he said. “My editor came back to me and said you have to put yourself in this book. He reminded me that I’m not a journalist anymore — it’s OK to do this.”

“So I did a rewrite, which was a very long and arduous task. I inserted myself in and I’m glad I did. I think it gives it a more personal perspective.”

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