Hockey Day In Minnesota

Ahhhh Warroad Minnesota where cold weather goes to get colder. If you have never heard of Warroad Minnesota that’s quite all right most people haven’t… Warroad is a place that you usually have to grab your grandpas coke bottle reading glasses to see on a map, a place that is nestled on the banks of Lake of The Woods in Muskeg Bay near the Canadian border, a place usually known for having some of the best Walleye fishing in the state, a place that is known for being the original Hockey Town USA. Speaking of Hockey Town USA, Warroad is hosting an annual tradition in Minnesota more important than fall apple picking. I’m speaking of Hockey Day in Minnesota of course; Hockey Day in Minnesota is one of the great annual traditions that takes place in the frozen pond heaven of Minnesota or also known as the State of Hockey. It bounces around from great city we can’t pronounce to great city we can’t pronounce and this year its Warroad’s opportunity to host the gathering of Tuckbags. “Hey Mr. Brett, what’s a tuck bag?” “Well, that’s great question little Billy… a tuck bag is someone who tucks his or her jersey in while skating in hockey.” “But Mr. Brett why do we care if someone tucks in their jersey…?” “Well, you see Billy whenever some tucks in their jersey it usually means they are a giant (cover your ears) douchebag… I don’t know why a simple jersey tuck causes people to turn into tuckbags but something just takes control of their body and they just feel the need; to do wrap arounds, do lacrosse style cradles over your goalies head, do a poke check every chance they get, take your mom out to dinner and eventually become your step dad. It’s like the jersey makes them do these things.” “Well, that sounds horrible Mr. Brett I don’t want to be a tuck bag.” “I’m glad to hear that Billy, now go along and play, your team needs a goaltender to get pelted with pucks.”

So, what is Hockey Day in Minnesota? Well, it’s a day where all ages of hockey programs gather around to enjoy the sport they love, from Bantam, to JV, to High School varsity, to college, to the pros, everyone participates in this tradition. Us Minnesotans take pride in our frozen lakes, we take pride in the fact that we can lace up the skates, grab our favorite stick, shovel off a rectangle of ice, drop a puck and the whole neighborhood comes outside to participate. From city to city across this great land you can hear skates slicing through the ice, pucks being barred in the back of nets and the occasional F-bomb being spat out at your neighbor Todd when someone gets checked clear across the pond. There is a sense of community in the hockey world and Hockey Day in Minnesota just brings all our little Minnesota ponds and lakes together to form one giant community pond. Hockey Day In Minnesota started all the way back in 2007 in the small town of Baudette where the two High School teams by the name of Lake of The Woods and St. Paul Johnson played outside on a lake in Baudette Bay. Lake of The Woods ended up beating St. Paul Johnson in the inaugural game. But it didn’t stop there, The University of Minnesota beat The University of Denver by score of 5-4… oh and you think were done, no The Minnesota Wild ended up beating the Dallas Stars 2-1 in a shootout and thus Hockey Day in Minnesota was born.

It has only grown since then with there now being 4 days of festivities with multiple high schools that travel from all over the state to compete on an outdoor sheet of ice for nothing more than a little pride. What’s cool about hockey day in Minnesota… “HEY Billy! Don’t you listen to them, you untuck that jersey right now, I’m warning you mister!” Sorry just had to yell at Billy quick, the older kids were trying to talk Billy into becoming a Tuck Bag… Where was I… Oh yeah what makes Hockey Day in Minnesota so cool besides the temperatures, is the fact that you get small towns mixed with big city, look at this year’s teams for example, Warroad, Wayzata, Moorhead, Lakeville North, Waseca, Thief River Falls, Roseau, Lake of The Woods, Kittson County Central… I bet you could only pronounce half of those cities, try it again with a Minnesotan accent I bet they become easier to pronounce, yes you can use Frances McDormand’s accent from the movie Fargo, everyone already does… But these schools and cities couldn’t be more different and that’s what makes it great. I spent some time in the northland when I was in my early twenties and the people up there are not too fond of the people from the Twin Cities. In fact, they have a nickname for us down here, they call us Citidiots. I can’t imagine why… But this just adds high-octane fuel to the already burning campfire. When you have preppy kids who wear a beanie above their ears just to look cool, with daddy’s Black Amex credit card from the giant suburb of Wayzata, going up against farm raised kids from the plains of Moorhead who know how to wear a beanie over their ears, it just makes for some interesting dynamics and television. I mean who doesn’t want to watch David chop the uncovered ears off Goliath.

If you’re not from Minnesota, none of this probably makes any sense to you at all.. Someone from Texas probably says, "you mean to tell me you guys willingly go out in negative degree temperatures to skate around on a frozen pond?" "Yeah... is that weird?...you guys walk around in deserts full of rattlesnakes and I don't judge you..." But if I can encourage you to tune in and learn a little bit about us up here and why we endure these could temperatures to live here, why so many NHL pros come from our frozen ponds, why we have 6 Division I college hockey teams in our state, do it, you won't regret watching a little hockey. This week is always a great time to celebrate being Minnesotan and our love for hockey. It brings the state together for at least one week a year. From the deep forest of Lake of The Woods to the plains of Moorhead to the black card-carrying suburbs of Wayzata, we are all Minnesotan in our own special way… Even though sometimes we don’t want to admit we are all from the same state, based on location, politics, the way we wear are beanies, the way we tuck our jersey's but we are… What makes us different is what makes us great, and no matter our differences there are two things I think we can all agree on, our love for hockey and our hatred for Edina…