The St. Paul Civic Center, with its iconic ceiling that looked like a starburst exploding from the center-hung scoreboard, is like a holy place to a generation of Minnesota hockey fans who saw the Minnesota Fighting Saints and watched more than two decades of Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournaments there. But it is unlikely that many of those fans knew that a well-known Twin Cities hockey player was involved in the design of the arena, which was torn down in the late 1990s to make way for Xcel Energy Center. Len Lilyholm, who died last week at 83 in a car accident, got his architecture degree at the University of Minnesota and played on the 1968 U.S. Olympic Team before retiring and spending years working in the field on Twin Cities projects including the Civic Center. Lilyholm and his wife Carol, 82, were killed on Saturday morning, Dec. 28, while traveling from Minnesota to their winter home in Florida. According to published reports, a 2014 Volkswagen Eos driven by Lilyholm was southbound on Interstate 35, just past the Minnesota borderline in northern Iowa when the vehicle crossed the median into the freeway’s northbound lanes and struck a 2013 Chevrolet Silverado head on. The 41-year-old driver of the northbound vehicle was also killed and three others were hospitalized from injuries sustained in the crash. Originally from Robbinsdale, Minn., Lilyholm played three seasons for the Minnesota Gophers (at a time when freshmen were ineligible to play varsity college sports) and played senior hockey for the Rochester (Minn.) Mustangs after college. He also played some pro hockey in Austria and was a member of Team USA at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. “He was a great teammate and a great friend,” said Minnesota hockey icon Lou Nanne, who was Lilyholm’s teammate with the Gophers, in Rochester and on the 1968 Olympic Team. “He was an extremely hard worker  …and played the same every night, hard and fast.” While working in architecture, Lilyholm played one season for the Fighting Saints in 1972-73 (when the team at midseason moved from Roy Wilkins Auditorium to the then-new Civic Center), putting up eight goals and 13 assists in 77 regular-season games for the World Hockey Association team. Nanne said that as recently as last winter, Lilyholm was playing in old timers hockey leagues and regularly traveled to Florida to participate in the national tournament for players age 75 and older. “Lenny was a good architect. He was involved in a lot of stuff in downtown St. Paul,” Nanne said. “He was really gifted and always a very kind guy. He was just a wonderful human being.” Funeral information had not been released as of Tuesday. Related Articles College Sports | World Juniors 2026 tickets go on sale Dec. 26 College Sports | Men’s hockey: Gophers allow four goals in third in 5-3 loss to Michigan State College Sports | Men’s hockey: No. 1 Gophers and No. 2 Spartans skate to 3-3 tie College Sports | Men’s hockey: Gophers blank Michigan once again College Sports | Gophers overwhelm Wolverines in 6-0 win