Hockey is part of the Minnesota experience.  To live in Minnesota, one will inevitably encounter the sport in some way at some point during the year.  Some are surprised when they find kids playing hockey on trip to the local rec center for a swim in mid-July.  Most Minnesota don’t care; when they do  they are usually cheering for a player they know, grandchild, family friend, high school , junior A team, college or pro.  For those that do, the winter season just flies by.  Some that grumble will shiver their way through to April.

Over the past hundred years in this state, the sport has grown in fits and starts with bumps along the way; but hockey has become embedded in the Minnesota culture and communities and has helped, as most hometown, home grown, sports do.  Sports are everywhere in the USA and hockey is everywhere in Minnesota, from kids on outdoor rink in the evening, to moms and dads cheering their player on at a local tourney.

The Smithsonian Institution has a traveling exhibition called Museum on Main Street that will features local teams that have accomplish something significant in their 2014 traveling exhibition.  The exhibit, “Hometown Teams,” explores explore the origins of popular community sports in America and its evolution.  One of the teams they chose to feature in 2014’s traveling exhibit is the 1994-1995 Apple Valley Girls Hockey team that won the first Minnesota and first ever state high school hockey title in 1995.  The Eagles beat South St. Paul 2-0 in the championship game played at Aldrich Arena.  Smithsonian’s have scheduled their 2014 Hometown traveling exhibition to be in St. Paul next year from July 13 through Aug. 9 at the St. Paul Library.

On a cold Monday morning, two days before Christmas, the 2013-2014 version of the Apple Valley Girls High School hockey team faced their old coach Chuck Scanlon.  Scanlon, the coach of the 1995 state champs, brought back his old players as the Alumi.  They played a game against Eagles from past years including Betsey Kukowski, a member of the 1995 state champs.  It was an alumni game; but put on and played in the way that fit the Christmas spirit.  It was less about winning and more about kindling old memories and new friendships.  At one point, Kukowski banged into an Eagle at center ice driving the young Eagle backwards.  Rather than letting her fall, she gave her a big hug stabilizing her until she gained her balance and then took off beating the defense to the puck and attacking the Eagles goal.

The alumi came to play.  The first 22 minute half was even until the Alumni tired and the Eagles took over.  Goals were posted on the scoreboard at first, but few paid attention.  Most of the fans just cheered the good plays and gave the “raspberries” to the alums when they had a miscue.  Some of the “raspberries” came from the dads watching their better half skating.   The dads standing at the glass were fixated with the mom’s skating.  

At halftime, nobody went to the locker.  Both teams sat on the ice.  The alums sat in a semicircle facing the grads to be and each one talked about what they were doing after high school.  Then the two teams socialized with their fans in arena while the ice was cleaned.  It was play hard on the ice; have fun off the ice as the two teams mingled with their fans.

The action picked up in the second half of the game.  The alums found some of their timing and moved the puck well against the Eagle varsity.

The game ended with nobody paying attention to the scores, scores were not even being posted as the clock went to zero.  Still the play on the ice was real when the bell sounded ending the game with both teams fighting for possession of the puck.

Monday morning, two days before Christmas, seemed odd for a game.  The wind the night before had picked up the light show and covered the area around the arena turning it all white in the morning sun.  Despite the cold, it was the start of a beautiful day.  The arena was busy with a modest crowd of fans who could escape work and shopping to attend.  That fit for the game was more about the alums and the Eagles and how they played the game and interacted with one another.

After the game had ended, the two teams sat in the stands and had lunch from a buffet furnished by the boosters.  No angst among the players or the crowd, just sort of a pride that the alums had proving they could do it again and the pride the Eagle players had in playing varsity hockey.  One little girl watching her mother hang up the alumni jersey she wore was obviously curious and proud of her mother and perhaps an Eagle player in the future.  The fans, especially the dads there, were the proudest of them all.  It fit with the good feelings of Christmas.

Suddenly the Smithsonian Exhibition didn’t matter, it was all about Eagle hockey, the day, and the Holiday season.

From YHH, we wish you a Merry Christmas.