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2016 Hockey Day Minnesota - Duluth February 6

Hockey Day Minnesota would travel back up North, this time taking place at picturesque Bayfront Park in Duluth.  With Lake Superior as a backdrop, the boys of Duluth-Denfeld would get the best of Eveleth-Gilbert by a 5-2 margin.  Next up was a battle between a couple powerhouses as the boys of Lakeville North brought their road game and outlasted Duluth East in a 3-2 game by the lake.

Things would not fair the best for the college and professional teams this go around though.  Penn State, known for a million things over hockey, would put the screws to the Gophers and win 5-3.  The Wild would fall short in their bid to get the Minnesota split, losing to the St. Louis Blues 4-1 in their game.

With just 1 goal being scored for the Wild, and it being last year, we don't have a lot of shocking names you might have forgotten in this one.  Matt Dumba scored the lone Wild goal with assists coming from Zach Parise and Charlie Coyle.  Jarret Stoll getting a roughing penalty is about as interesting as the box score gets.

On the cusp of the 11th iteration of Hockey Day Minnesota, set in front of another famous bridge as a backdrop HDM moved to Stillwater, on the banks of the St. Croix River.  Lifelong memories were created for a bunch of kids on the Duluth ice this weekend, and just maybe you all took something special away from the event too.  This year FSN broadcast a Girls High School game live, as well as the Gophers Women’s team, although they were relegated to Fox Sports Plus.

Vintage Minnesota Hockey Take:

The 10th Anniversary edition of HDM moved to shores of Lake Superior in Duluth, MN scenic Bayfront Park - the self proclaimed and rightful moniker of USA's Outdoor Hockey Capital, where Duluth maintains some of the most community and association run rinks in the City at 37, which makes up the rich hockey legacy of Duluth hockey history dating back to the 1890's.  In 2014 alone, more than 800 youth played hockey, equating to 10% of all students.  The long list of collegiate and professional players, coaches and hockey professionals with roots in the Zenith City continues to grow.  It was only fitting that the 10th HDM be in Duluth, with the historic picturesque Duluth Aerial lift bridge in the background.  The first ever U.S. born player in the NHL started his career at Lower Chester, and Duluth's Hobey Baker award winners laced their skates at Piedmont and Duluth Heights, and former NHL players and Olympians learned to cross over at Glen Avon.

Bayfront Park and Duluth event organizers assembled quite a spectacle on HDM, including the first ever Hockey Festival Park including numerous local merchants selling products, etc. that has carried onto future cities following.  For the event, they pulled out the old style propane Zambonis, and hired the old DECC Zam operator for the day.

The afternoon marquee game between home-town Greyhounds of Duluth East vs. the visiting Panthers of Lakeville North began with Duluth hockey legends Jerry & Bob Fryberger dropping the ceremonial puck-drop.  The game was quite the hard fought close game, between two Class AA powerful schools - both in striking red and black uniforms against the white ice - made for great images on the sunny day.  Visiting Lakeville edged East by a close 3-2 regulation win.  One thing that was quite odd and rather upsetting about HDM was the long LOUD hovering helicopter with camera man shooting footage through an open side door over the rink and crowd, it was so nousy on-site, spectators and players alike on the ice had a hard time hearing the referee whistles (fans on TV also had a hard time hearing the broadcast as the chopper blades were resonating through the microphones as well).  Another quite upsetting thing, that led to collegiate changes going forward was - Duluth UMD Bulldogs Hockey team had a slated HOME game that afternoon - which Amsoil Arena was literally within eye site, and a few paces away by foot of the Duluth Bayfront Park, but were not apart of HDM.  Fans at this time on social media started to gripe that this wasn't a Hockey Day Minnesota for all teams across the State - but was merely a Gophers Hockey Day, as the University of Minnesota had participated in every HDM to date.  Things were about to change going forward in future years, to showcase ALL of the states Collegiate programs.

The HDM event at Duluth to us was quite impressive and to date, was one of our top 5 HDM locations as well - who doesn't love Duluth and all that beautiful canal parkway has to offer?!


Hockey Day Minnesota Results & Rosters:

Game Results

Home Away Winner Score Time Location
Duluth Denfeld Eveleth-Gilbert Duluth Denfeld 5-2 10:00 a.m. Bayfront Park
Duluth East Lakeville North Lakeville North 3-2 1:00 Bayfront Park
University of Minnesota Penn State Penn State 5-3 4:00 Mariucci Arena
St. Louis Blues Minnesota Wild St. Louis Blues 4-1 7:00 Scottrade Center

Duluth Denfeld - Boys

Roster Position Number
Jake Herold D 3
Jacob Marciniak F 6
Ben Kidd D 7
Dylan Skorich F 8
Tanner Richey F 9
Austin Hanson F 10
Nate Regas D 12
Adam Shykes F 14
Zane Peterson F 15
Easton Stenson F 16
Sean Killorin D 19
Brady Bastyr F 21
Logan Parzych F 22
Joe Rukavina D 23
Zach Thompson F 24
Luke Eilefson F 25
Adam Reynolds D 26
Kadin Ferguson F 28
Brandon Johnson G 31
River Alander G 35
Cayson Behm Manager
Keng Vang Manager
Kevin Smalley Head Coach
Bryant Lent Assistant Coach
Jeff Dieryck Assistant Coach
Ron Tomassoni Assistant Coach
Adam Shykes Assistant Coach

Eveleth/Gilbert - Boys

Roster Position Number
Payton Gregorich C 2
Richie Erickson C 4
Nick Przbylski W 5
Jeremy Johnston D 6
Aaron Koivunen C 9
Kyle Hirsch C 10
Cody Hendrickson C 11
Cooper Dosan D 12
Evan Hendrickson D 14
Jon Day D 16
Jared Oakman D 17
Josh Houdek D 19
Zach Graves D 20
Levi Skelton D 26
Dakota Jacka W 27
Thomas Koskela G 33
Danny Niemi G 34
Samantha Haas Manager
Sydney Hoag Manager
Jeff Torrel Head Coach
Mark Karpen Assistant Coach
Mitchell Huffman Assistant Coach
Paul Coombe Assistant Coach
Steve Troutwine Assistant Coach

Duluth East - Boys

Roster Position Number
John Orrey G 1
Marcus Skoog D 2
Alex Spencer D 3
Will Fisher D 4
Garrett Worth F 5
Sam Kucera D 6
Andy Ness F 9
Reid Hill D 10
Nick Lanigan F 11
Nathaniel Benson D 15
Hunter Paine D 17
Auston Crist F 18
Carson Cochran D 20
Luke Dow F 21
Ryder Donovan F 22
Ian Mageau F 23
Ryan Peterson F 24
Luke LaMaster D 25
Ash Altmann F 26
Braydin Larson F 27
Shay Donovan D 28
Kirk Meierhoff G 31
Brendan Baker F 37
David Kidd Manager
Joey Cummings Manager
Tyler Gronseth Manager
Mike Randolph Head Coach
Brendan Brooks Assistant Coach
Dylan Mills Assistant Coach
Louie Krenzen Assistant Coach
Mike Renier Assistant Coach
Jake Boese Assistant Coach
Tim Cortes Assistant Coach

Lakeville North - Boys

Roster Position Number
Tommy Klans F 3
Ryan Poehling F 4
Reed Smith F 5
Max Johnson F 6
Blake Brandt F 7
Max McGlade F 8
Taylor Schneider F 9
Adam Duchon D 10
Keaton Pehrson D 11
Charles Dufon F 12
Spencer Schneider F 14
Logan Kappes F 15
Garrett Daly D 16
Brock Draeger D 17
Logan Severson D 19
Robby Gale D 20
Henry Enebak F 21
Jack Parks F 25
Buzz Eigner G 29
Will Kuhn Manager
Alex Hobbs Manager
Zach Ramsey Manager
Trent Eigner Head Coach
Bob Altavilla Assistant Coach
Brent Okeson Assistant Coach
Jake Enebak Assistant Coach
Jake Taylor Assistant Coach