2017 Hockey Day Minnesota

Today is the eleventh annual Hockey Day in Minnesota, an annual event run in cooperation between Fox Sports North and the Minnesota Wild. FS North will feature over 16 hours of hockey related programming, beginning at 9 AM central time.

Stillwater, 20 miles northeast of St. Paul, has been chosen as the host site. Several outdoor games will be played there in Lowell Park on the St. Croix River under the shadow of the picturesque Stillwater Lift Bridge which connects Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The forecast looks marginal though,with a high of 40º and a 50-60% chance of rain throughout the day, but a cooling system should help keep the ice in good condition.

The Stillwater Lift Bridge which spans the St. Croix River

The day begins with a pair of boys high school hockey games starting at 10 AM with Thief River Falls from the far northwest corner of the state taking on Mahtomedi from the northeast part of the Twin Cities metro area (7 miles west of Stillwater), who are ranked #5 in the smaller Class A.

That game will be followed by #6 AA Eden Prarie (9-4-2), also from the Twin Cities metro area, facing hosts Stillwater (13-1-0), who are the #1 ranked Class AA team in the state at 1:00

The player to watch in that game is Casey Mittlestadt, who has already played on the US National U18 Team, been written about in the New York Times, has committed to play at the University of Minnesota next season and is a consensus top five pick for this year's NHL draft.

Casey Mittlestadt

Following the second high school game, FSN will have plenty of feature programming on various hockey topics around Minnesota at all levels until the excitement builds at 5 PM when the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers visit the University of Wisconsin Badgers in a Big Ten Hockey Conference matchup in an intense rivalry that dates back over 50 years.

The Golden Gophers and Badgers will
renew their rivalry in Madison

Following the college game, it's finally time for the pros to take center stage when the red-hot Minnesota Wild host the Anaheim Ducks. The Wild are led by forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter. The Wild lead the Western Conference with a 29-10-5 record under new head coach Bruce Boudreau and will be facing his former team the Ducks, who are leading the Pacific Division with a 26-13-9 record, just 2 points back of the Wild.

Ryan Suter and Zach Parise

Over 18,000 fans will be on hand at the Xcel Energy Center with many more taking in the festivities in Stillwater as well as all the other 47 boys high school games scheduled to take place around the state today.

Also, at 3:00 on the sister Fox Sports North Plus channel, the Minnesota State Mavericks will face the St. Cloud State Huskies in a WCHA women's college matchup.

Following the Wild game, Hockey Day in Minnesota will conclude with a tape delayed broadcast at 11 PM of the Minnetonka vs. Stillwater girls high school outdoor game from Lowell Park.

It's going to be a fantastic, fun filled day of hockey, hockey and more hockey and a great way to to spend your Saturday if you can access FSN.

Today's video section begins with a look at the preparations for Hockey Day Minnesota in Stillwater.

Next, a look at Mittlestadt and the Eden Prarie Eagles.

2013 Hockey Day in Minnesota

The timing of the return of the NHL could not have been better, as today is the seventh annual Hockey Day in Minnesota.

The event is run in cooperation between Fox Sports North and the Minnesota Wild. FS North will feature over 21 hours of hockey related programming, beginning at 9 AM central time.

Grand Rapids has been chosen as the site for several outdoor games to be played on Lake Pokegama. The forecast looks good, with a high of 17º and a 50% chance of snow, but winds of 20 mph will test the players and spectators as the wind chill factor reaches 0º.

The rink being prepped at Lake Pokegama

The day begins with a pair of boys high school hockey games starting at 10 AM with #4 AA ranked Eagan from the Twin Cities metro area taking on Hibbing from the north, who are ranked #14 in he smaller Class A. That game will be followed by #13 AA Grand Rapids hosting the defending state champions #6 AA Benilde-St. Margaret's at 1:30. Benilde-St. Margaret's is the school of paralyzed player Jack Jablonski, who is currently an assistant coach for Benilde-St. Margaret's, and he will be featured during one of the feature stories FS North will be airing between games.

Jack Jablonski

The excitement of the day will really become electric at 5 PM when the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers host the University of North Dakota in their final WCHA matchup of this historic, intense rivalry, which dates back to the 1940's. As we covered yesterday, both schools will be leaving the WCHA next season, with Minnesota heading to the new Big 10 Hockey Conference, while North Dakota will be one the founding members of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, making this the final meeting between the long-time conference rivals. Minnesota is currently ranked #1 in the nation, while North Dakota comes in to Mariucci Arena ranked 5th.

Following the college game, it's finally time to drop the puck on the NHL season when the Minnesota Wild will host the Colorado Avalanche in a highly anticipated game which will see the debut of the Wild's blockbuster twin signings of hometown talent and forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter.

Ryan Suter and Zach Parise

Wild fans have been anticipating this game since the pair signed on July 4th, and were forced to wait three and a half months for this new era in Wild hockey to finally begin. How excited were the fans in Minnesota? Over 15,000 turned out for Wednesday night's scrimmage at the Xcel Energy Center! Attendance today at just the Gophers and Wild games combined is likely to reach nearly 30,000 fans, with many more taking in the festivities in Grand Rapids as well as all the other 50 boys high school games scheduled to take place around the state today.

Following the Wild game, Hockey Day in Minnesota will conclude with a tape delayed broadcast at 11 PM of the Hibbing vs. Grand Rapids girls high school outdoor game from Lake Pokegama.

Aside from the feature on Jablonski, there will be other feature programming about Grand Rapids and it's hockey tradition, Wild goaltender Josh Harding and his diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis this summer and a story on Caitlin Tate, a varsity goaltender for Park High School, who was born without one of her hands.

Josh Harding

In addition to the FS North programming, also currently taking place is the U. S. Pond Hockey Championships from Lake Nokomis in south Minneapolis, which will certainly receive some coverage during the Hockey Day programming.

It's going to be a fantastic, fun filled day of hockey, hockey and more hockey and a great way to kick off the return of the NHL. 

Hockey Day Minnesota 2012

Today is the sixth annual Hockey Day Minnesota, a celebration of the game in the state of Minnesota during which Fox Sports North runs non-stop hockey programming for an entire day.

The first Hockey Day Minnesota was held back in 2007, which featured two high school games played outdoors on Baudette Bay.

At the conclusion of the broadcast of the first game, FSN ran feature programming on various hockey related topics, such as backyard rinks and pond hockey. Later in the day the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers hosted the Denver Pioneers at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis followed by the Minnesota Wild hosting the Dallas Stars in an NHL contest over in St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center.

Xcel Energy Center

So successful was the event that it became an instant tradition and led to an expanded schedule of games for 2008. The day began with a return to Baudette in temperatures which plunged to -25º F. Two high school games were held, with storied Eveleth (home of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame) taking on Lake of the Woods High School followed by Blaine from the Twin Cities suburbs battling Roseau. Meanwhile, down in St. Paul, hockey powers Hill-Murray and St. Thomas Academy played at the Xcel Energy Center followed by the New York Islanders taking on the Wild. Later that night, the Gophers game from Denver was broadcast.

Since then, outdoor games for the high schoolers have been held in Phalen Park in St. Paul in 2009, Hermantown (just west of Duluth) in 2010 and Moorhead (across the river from Fargo, North Dakota) in 2011, featuring not only the boys, but now with girls added to the schedule.

Action from Phalen Park

photo courtesy of VintageHockeyMinnesota

St. Cloud was included in the event when they hosted the Gophers in the day's college portion of the event in 2009 before they travelled to Minneapolis to face the Gophers the following year. Denver returned as the Gophers opponent for 2011. (At this point we must ask why the defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs have yet to be included in Hockey Day Minnesota, especially as hosts for the Gophers in their brand new Amsoil Arena?)

While the high school games move from location to location, and the college games have as well, one constant has been the Wild, without whose support and cooperation the event would not be possible, hosting a game in St. Paul. The remainder of their opponents have been the Anaheim Ducks in 2009, the Columbus Blue Jackets on 2010 and the St. Louis Blues in 2011.

The Wild hosted the Blues on Hockey Day Minnesota in 2011

This year's schedule begins with White Bear Lake taking on Grand Rapids followed by the #1 and 2 rated teams in the state, as Minnetonka faces off against Duluth East in boys high school hockey followed by the Minnetonka girls playing against Hopkins' girls. The games were originally scheduled to be held outdoors on Lake Minnetonka, but due to the unseasonably warm temperatures a safe and playable surface would not be ready in time, forcing the high school games indoors for the first time in the history of the event.

The Gophers will host the Colorado College Tigers at 5 PM followed by the Wild taking on the Dallas Stars at 8 PM. Additionally, the Golden Gophers women's team's game against Bemidji State will be shown on the Big Ten Network at 4 PM.

With the high school games being held in the Twin Cities metro area for only the second time, those with a hearty appetite for the game can take in as many as four live games at three different locations in one day. For those of you craving your outdoor hockey, there is always the option of a trip to Lake Nokomis in south Minneapolis for the 2012 U. S. Pond Hockey Championships, which would fit nicely in between the early high school games in the west metro area and the early evening college game just 10 miles up the freeway to the north.

Mariucci Arena

Including a stop at the pond hockey championships, all four venues are located within 35 miles of each other, easily doable for the devoted hockey faithful, rather nicely laid out with no backtracking!

View Larger Map

A - Pagel Activity Center, Minnetonka

B - Lake Nokomis, Minneapolis

C - Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis

D - Xcel Engery Center, St. Paul

Special for this year is that the over 16 hours of programming on FSN will feature a telethon to raise money for the Jack Jablonkski Trust Fund for the player recently paralyzed from a broken neck resulting from a check from behind in a recent junior varsity high school game. If you would like to make a donation to the fund, please click on the logo below.

Please click on the logo to donate to the Jack Jablonski Fund