As Minnesotans we suffer through hard winters, for several reasons 4 million people seem to stick around. One of those reasons for me is this thing called the State Hockey Tournament. As a youth, my Mom would let me come home from school early to watch the games starting in Kindergarten all the way through high school. From my earliest memories as a child, this tournament has always been very special to a lot of people in this state. Neal Broten, former Gopher Hockey star, Hobey Baker winner, NHL Great, 1980 Olympian, and Stanley Cup winner once said winning the State Tournament would have been more exciting than winning the Olympics (his best finish was 3rd).
To put things in perspective on Saturday night 40 High School kids from Minnesota outdrew every pro and college team in the world (SRO 19,000 fans). And this has been going on for decades here. The tournament always draws over 100,000 people and the games are always very exciting.
The section tournaments to get to state are sometimes even more exciting with a ton of geographic rivals facing off in the section finals for a shot at the tournament. Of the 16 section finals, 5 were decided in overtime (Lakeville North, Duluth East, Eden Prairie, White Bear Lake, and Breck all advanced in miraculous fashion) and 7 were decided by 1 goal.
My personal highlights this year:
* Edina losing (actually didn't see it).
* My nephew David scoring the game winning goal in overtime in both the Section Semifinal game and Section Final to send his team Breck to the Big Dance. Couldn't have happened to a nicer kid.
* Watching a great kid like AJ Reid win a state championship and then win the Herb Brooks Award for being a credit to his school, peers, and community. I'll bet his dad is proud.
* My nephew David during his player introductions on TV, greets my son Jake with a "Happy Birthday Jake, " to which my cell phone goes bonkers!!!
*5 championship round games decided in OT, including all 3 for Duluth East and both Title games.
*My nephew David places #2 on the All Hockey Hair team.....check this video out, it is hilarious. Yeah, he's kind of a big deal.
One more highlight....this one borders on odd:
At the conclusion of each medal ceremony, the High School League hands out the Herb Brooks Award (see above). For the Girls winner, Herb Brooks' daughter presents the award and for the boys his son presents the award. To set the scene, I'm watching the girl's final and Herbie's daughter comes out to present and she's wearing a very revealing red sweater. To which my wife Debi says, "what is SHE wearing?" Two weeks later, Herbie's son shows up to the AA award ceremony in a black leather jacket he must have stolen from one of the Pet Shop Boys...to which I replied, "what is HE wearing?"
I can only conclude that Herbie had those two doing pushups, stairs and "Herbies" their whole life. This is their way of getting back at him, while he sits up in Hockey Heaven.
Congratulations to St. Thomas and Eden Prairie. By all accounts this EP team won a PeeWee State Championship, 2 Bantam State Championships and 2 state Championships. An amazing run.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
SunMart Arena
My son's hockey team had the pleasure of traveling to the Fargo Flyers International hockey tournament in Fargo, ND this past weekend. It was North American youth hockey at it's finest.
Over a thousand kids from all over the place playing their guts out for 4 straight days. On top of the hockey, the kids come equipped with their team pins to exchange at face-off and to trade in between games. On top of the trading the kids enjoy time with their teammates and make new friends from other teams.
Upon arrival home Sunday night, my son Jake says to me, "Dad, I just wish life were like FARGO all the time..." Don't we both young man, don't we both.
As we winded between rinks and games all weekend we happened across one of the most unique rinks I've ever seen. In all my years of hockey I've seen hundreds of rinks. You've seen one, you've seen 'em all. Some are cold (Minnehaha), some are new (Dakota), and some are oozing with tradition (Braemar and Wakota). Some I love (Richfield), some I hate (Bloomington 2), and some are filled with childhood memories (Parade and Augsburg). But for the most part, every hockey rink has 4 similarities: ice that is resurfaced by a zamboni, chilled by underground refrigeration, enclosed by fiberglass boards and plexiglass, and the rink size is usually 200' X 80'.
On Saturday afternoon, my life forever changed when I stepped into SunMart Arena. I knew this rink was special even before we got there -- as we approached the rink somewhere deep in the bowels of the Fargo warehouse district, Jake said to me, "where are you taking us dad?" As if to say, rinks aren't made out of single level warehouses.
After parking 5 blocks from the arena, I finally arrived. As I stepped into this old warehouse, I'm not sure if my first memory will be the smell (imagine outhouse combined with diesel fuel) or the sight of a hockey game played in the dark -- almost as if I was at a back alley dog fight, sans the rif-raf. The lighting and smell were just the beginning. The single sided stands held possibly 125 people comfortably, the rest of the patrons were asked to stand wherever you could find a view. The opposite side of the rink broke all rules of decor....no plexiglass, just some more white fiberglass and an occasional local business sponsorship (I was surprised to find there wasn't a local manure salesmen sponsoring the rink). Not to mention, the rink was 160' X 70' making the neutral zone about the size of a walk-in closet.
I had the pleasure of walking into the rink when it was jam packed (a local team was playing a hated team from the Cities)...which made it seem like I had just walked onto the movie set of Hoosiers. The passion, the excitement and the energy was remarkable. Editor's Note: The team from the Cities won 12-0....sending the local faithful to their cars parked 4 Blocks or less after the second period.
The clincher for me to write this blog had to be my visit to the bathroom....a scary proposition. Before I entered the abiss....it was difficult to decipher Male/Female because whichever 6 year old they let paint the door and the frame decided to paint over the Male/Female sign. Upon arrival to the Men's room I found possibly the worst smell known to man (combine 77 years of non flushed urine with a dash of odor of a minty urinal puck)...you know the kind of smell that forced me to hold it.
As I put the finishing touches on this blog....I'm still not sure if I loved this place or hated it. So I asked Jake if he liked it, to which he replied, "it was awesome -- I just wouldn't want to play there everyday." True that brother, it was the microcosm of our visit last weekend to Fargo -- an awesome experience, but not a place I'd want to live everyday.
Congratulations to the Edina Squirt A team for their impressive run through the tournament (outscoring their opponents some 59-2). Editors Note: Jake does not play for Edina.
Over a thousand kids from all over the place playing their guts out for 4 straight days. On top of the hockey, the kids come equipped with their team pins to exchange at face-off and to trade in between games. On top of the trading the kids enjoy time with their teammates and make new friends from other teams.
Upon arrival home Sunday night, my son Jake says to me, "Dad, I just wish life were like FARGO all the time..." Don't we both young man, don't we both.
As we winded between rinks and games all weekend we happened across one of the most unique rinks I've ever seen. In all my years of hockey I've seen hundreds of rinks. You've seen one, you've seen 'em all. Some are cold (Minnehaha), some are new (Dakota), and some are oozing with tradition (Braemar and Wakota). Some I love (Richfield), some I hate (Bloomington 2), and some are filled with childhood memories (Parade and Augsburg). But for the most part, every hockey rink has 4 similarities: ice that is resurfaced by a zamboni, chilled by underground refrigeration, enclosed by fiberglass boards and plexiglass, and the rink size is usually 200' X 80'.
On Saturday afternoon, my life forever changed when I stepped into SunMart Arena. I knew this rink was special even before we got there -- as we approached the rink somewhere deep in the bowels of the Fargo warehouse district, Jake said to me, "where are you taking us dad?" As if to say, rinks aren't made out of single level warehouses.
After parking 5 blocks from the arena, I finally arrived. As I stepped into this old warehouse, I'm not sure if my first memory will be the smell (imagine outhouse combined with diesel fuel) or the sight of a hockey game played in the dark -- almost as if I was at a back alley dog fight, sans the rif-raf. The lighting and smell were just the beginning. The single sided stands held possibly 125 people comfortably, the rest of the patrons were asked to stand wherever you could find a view. The opposite side of the rink broke all rules of decor....no plexiglass, just some more white fiberglass and an occasional local business sponsorship (I was surprised to find there wasn't a local manure salesmen sponsoring the rink). Not to mention, the rink was 160' X 70' making the neutral zone about the size of a walk-in closet.
I had the pleasure of walking into the rink when it was jam packed (a local team was playing a hated team from the Cities)...which made it seem like I had just walked onto the movie set of Hoosiers. The passion, the excitement and the energy was remarkable. Editor's Note: The team from the Cities won 12-0....sending the local faithful to their cars parked 4 Blocks or less after the second period.
The clincher for me to write this blog had to be my visit to the bathroom....a scary proposition. Before I entered the abiss....it was difficult to decipher Male/Female because whichever 6 year old they let paint the door and the frame decided to paint over the Male/Female sign. Upon arrival to the Men's room I found possibly the worst smell known to man (combine 77 years of non flushed urine with a dash of odor of a minty urinal puck)...you know the kind of smell that forced me to hold it.
As I put the finishing touches on this blog....I'm still not sure if I loved this place or hated it. So I asked Jake if he liked it, to which he replied, "it was awesome -- I just wouldn't want to play there everyday." True that brother, it was the microcosm of our visit last weekend to Fargo -- an awesome experience, but not a place I'd want to live everyday.
Congratulations to the Edina Squirt A team for their impressive run through the tournament (outscoring their opponents some 59-2). Editors Note: Jake does not play for Edina.
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