Two Southern Minnesota hockey coaching legends met on the ice at the City Arena Tuesday, each fresh off earning career victory No. 600.

Albert Lea head coach Roy Nystrom won No. 600 last Tuesday in a 6-2 win over John Marshall and Rochester Mayo head coach Lorne Grosso won No. 600 against the Tigers Saturday in Rochester. The two are the fourth and fifth winningest coaches in boys’ high school hockey.

The two coaches have known each other since they both played for the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team in the 1960s. They played on the same line during college and have been linked ever since.

Nystrom earned No. 601 Tuesday as Albert Lea knocked off the Spartans 5-2 at City Arena, but before the game the two coaches and their teams got together for a picture to commemorate their achievements.

Grosso has coached the Spartans for 42 years, while Nystrom has been with Albert Lea for the past 36 years.

“I thought that was really neat,” Nystrom said of the picture. “I didn’t really know anything about that until maybe 15 minutes before it happened.”

The victories are staggering, but if you ask either one of them 600 is just a number to them.

“This was something that we never even thought about,” Grosso said. “We weren’t thinking about 600 wins. Our main goal is to prepare for every single game.”

Though that doesn’t mean they don’t kid around about No. 700.

“I said, ‘Roy, you know what? I’m going for 700, how about you? He said I think I will, too,” Grosso said. “Seven hundred, my god, my wife said, ‘Are you kidding me, it will take 10 years for you to get there.’”