Vintage Minnesota Hockey - History

Vintage Minnesota Hockey Take:

For our second straight trip to Baudette, in the 2nd HDM,  I was able to convince a good friend Chad H. to join me on the trip to northern Minnesota with: - "it was so fun last year you should come with me".  He was sold hook, line and sinker to join me.  It was also this convincing that we heard about while in Baudette the morning of HDM from the FSN admin team to Roseau hockey coaches that almost decided to NOT make the frigid drive to Baudette to play that morning, as it was "dangerously cold if the bus broke down".  It must have taken a lot of convincing, as the team showed up to play on Baudette Bay.  While pulling again into the hotel the night before the first game - with car plug-ins I again thought to myself, it must get cold here for people to plug their head-bolt heaters in.  It was so cold on HDM, that the late afternoon slated Old Timers game was cancelled due to frigid temps, with Aaron Broten and others relegating to singing autographs within the local VFW after Broten dropped the ceremonial puck for Roseau vs. Blaine game.  Later that night, the extremely large fire-pit on the Baudette Bay was almost cold standing next too on the frozen river.  I personally walked into the heated tent between periods and my camera lens FROZE, taking almost half of the 3rd period to unfreeze.  We shot a iconic photo of FSN member ice fishing directly alongside the rink boards on the bay.  Chad and I braved the elements that day, and my photo I shot of Eveleth arriving to the Bay was later used in Minnesota Wild programs, and is on our website header.  I recall speaking to Kevin Gorg on the river late that night around the fire-pit, and Gorg said verbatim:  "It's so darn cold here, even the ice won't melt with a fire underneath it".  If memory recalls correctly, this is also the year the Anthony Lapanta and Kevin Gorg of FSN were in a car accident on the way home from Baudette.  In addition to car issues, my car was frozen and wouldn't start when departing Baudette.  After speaking with the Hotel owner - who happened to be University of Minnesota Hockey Dad of National Champion Johnny Waibel - and him saying "don't worry, I have a guy who will get this car started in no time for you, but you may need to pay him cash".

We (Chad and I) were elated, tired, and obviously COLD and any amount of $ would have sufficed - a local gentleman that Mr. Waibel called showed up to our hotel that looked like Davy Crockett full on with a beaver tailed hat, and literally with a blowtorch, some nice bent metal tubing, and time - heated my car under the oil pan, and had it running in under 15 minutes....Best $100 ever spent.

On the way way home, I was able to capture images of Roseau Memorial Arena, Warroad Gardens, and Olympic Arena that morning on our venture to Twin Cities home after Davy Crockett heated up my car & led us the way.  Needless to say, each stop on the way home to Monticello, we didn't stop the car...

The first three years of HDM were all sponsored by fast food chains.  2007 by McDonald's, Dairy Queen in 2008, and 2009 by Burger King fast food restaurants.  FSN on-air coverage the first three years increased every year: 11 hours in 2007, 16 hours in 2008, and 20 hours in 2009.

Hockey Day Minnesota Results & Rosters: