Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

It is almost impossible to have played or coached hockey in the last 30 years without touching something that Charlie Graves created, improved, or influenced in some way. Charlie is the consummate “hockey guy” and can be found during all seasons working for the youth and high school players across Minnesota.

Growing up in the western New York town of Niagara Falls, the only hockey Charlie saw was that on the Canadian television channels.  But, after the arrival of the Buffalo Sabres in 1970, he became hooked on the game.  After relocating to Minnesota and starting a family, Graves enrolled his son in youth hockey.  Not one to just sit at the rink and watch, Charlie decided to get involved.  He chose the administrative side because most people tended to avoid it.  36 years later he is still going strong.

Charlie got his start as an administrator in 1979 when he became Mite Commissioner for the Rosemount Hockey Association, a position he maintained for two years.  He then moved on to the Apple Valley Hockey Association in 1982 where he served as a board member, ice coordinator, equipment manager, age level coordinator, team manager and association president at various times over the next   sixteen years.  He also served on the Apple Valley High School Boosters Club board for three years.

Since 1992, Charlie has also, at various times, served as a director for Hockey Night in Minnesota (Project Prep), the Gopher State Spring High School Hockey Festival, and the Minnesota Elite Prep Development Leagues.  Through these endeavors, Charlie has exposed hundreds, even thousands, of Minnesota High School hockey players to junior and college scouts.  Charlie is an integral part of the Minnesota Hockey High Performance program.  He has been the team general manager in the southeast metro HP-16, HP-17, and Great 8 programs for the past 15 years.  Since 2010 Charlie has been Tournament Director and General Manager for the HP-18 tournament as well as the subsequent National Invitational Tournament.

Despite all these duties Charlie has also served as a scout for a number of different junior teams including the Danville Wings, Texas Tornado, and Wenatchee Wild of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) and the Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League (USHL) helping to move dozens of Minnesota kids on to junior programs as they pursue their hockey dreams.

Charlie has been a senior accountant at Ceridian Corporation for 36 years. He and his wife Susan have two adult sons Charlie and Sean.