Feature Story

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Why I love hockey

By Kevin Kurtt

Let’s Play Hockey Editor

Here in Minnesota, hockey is strongly woven into our fabric of life. Our state high school tournament regularly sells out. College hockey gets higher television ratings than some college or pro basketball broadcasts. The Minnesota Wild is yet to go a game without announcing a sellout. Indoor and outdoor rinks dot the landscape of the North Star State. Learning to skate, shoot and stickhandle is a rite of passage for countless Minnesota kids every winter. The Let’s Play Hockey Expo in St. Paul during the state tournament is the largest consumer hockey show in the world (shameless plug).

But why does this sport have such a stranglehold in Minnesota? I don’t have a clue, but I do know what has drawn me to the sport of blue lines, power plays, saucer passes and Zambonis.

What better way to explain this than by compiling a not-quite-exhaustive list of why I love hockey as much as I do.

In an effort of full disclosure, I grew up in the cake-eater hotbed of Edina, played youth hockey in both Edina and Darmstadt, Germany, enjoyed a three-year “career” as Goldy Gopher for the men’s hockey team at the University of Minnesota, worked for four years at the ‘U’ as the men’s hockey team’s sports information director and am currently as season ticket holder at Mariucci Arena.

Without further ado, may I present, in no particular order, 101 reasons why I love hockey:

1. The clear boards at the old St. Paul Civic Center.

2. Hockey hair

3. Playoff beards

4. Toothless smiles

5. A Derek Boogaard dust-up

6. Mariucci Arena (old and new)

7. Hockey moms and dads

8. The pre-game introductions at the Minnesota State High School Tournament

9. Skating cheerleaders

10. The sieve chant with special mention of the crowd at the Kohl Center

11. Goldy Gopher

12. Bucky Badger

13. The Maroon Loon

14. Willard Ikola’s hat

15. Tom Saterdalen’s sweaters

16. Gump Worsley

17. Glen Sonmor

18. Goal celebrations with special mention to the “Goldy Shuffle”

19. The cool look of goalie equipment

20. Fan reactions to goals/big hits/bad calls

21. TV Interviews of hockey players - no matter what age, these interviews always seem the same

22. The skill involved to skate, stickhandle, shoot/pass all while someone is trying to knock you off the puck

23. The Miracle on Ice

24. Slap shots

25. Slap Shot

26. Big goals

27. The X

28. The Ralph (old and new)

29. The DECC

30. The National Hockey Center

31. Yost Arena

32. Ridder Arena

33. The St. Paul Civic Center

34. Parade Ice Garden

35. Bloomington Ice Garden

36. The Gardens/Olympic Arena

37. Mascot hockey games

38. Team pictures

39. Team celebration pictures around the trophy

40. Hot apple cider in the stands

41. The horn after a goal at a Wild game

42. Dropping banners

43. The Minnesota Rouser

44. Team USA vs. Team Canada

45. NHL players on Olympic-size ice

46. Goalie masks

47. The way players rip off their helmets and gloves after winning a championship game

48. The Stanley Cup

49. The MacNaughton Cup

50. The way Wally Shaver says “again” or “about”

51. Frank Mazzocco

52. Doug Woog

53. The rivalries – there are just too many to list

54. The hockey culture – humble, hard- working, tough

55. The speed of the game

56. Goalie fights

57. Penalty kills

58. Penalty shots

59. Power plays

60. The captaincy

61. The hat trick

62. Street hockey

63. Winter hockey at the park

64. Shinny

65. Knee hockey

66. Barry Melrose’s hair

67. Barry Melrose’s suits

68. Don Cherry

69. Using a baseball glove when playing goalie in street hockey

70. Al Shaver

71. Wally Shaver

72. “He shoots! He scores!”

73. Herb Brooks

74. Stacking the pads

75. A wraparound goal

76. Getting chippy

77. The five hole

78. The hip check

79. The Frozen Four

80. The Stanley Cup Playoffs

81. The WCHA Final Five

82. Michigan Tech’s hockey band

83. Wisconsin’s hockey band

84. A lengthy cycling of the puck

85. Killing off a five-minute major

86. Getting a five-minute power play

87. One-timers

88. Lou Nanne

89. Seee-cord, Seee-cord, Seee-cord!

90. Dino Ciccarelli

91. Smart hockey fans

92. The sound made when a puck hits a pipe

93. The sound of the blades on the ice

94. The stick salute – special mention to the Golden Gopher stick salute following a two-game home sweep

95. The Battle Hymn of the Republic

96. The Wild’s flag bearer

97. The smell of mini donuts that used to fill the Mariucci Arena concourse

98. Open-ice hits

99. The Great One

100. Mite games during Wild or Gopher intermissions

101. Let’s! Play! Hockey!

Let’s Play Hockey wants to publish your hockey stories. From tournament reports, to feature stories on teams, players or coaches, to opinion pieces on the game of hockey, Let’s Play Hockey accepts submissions from readers throughout the hockey community. To submit your hockey story and/or photo(s), e-mail us at editor@letsplayhockey.com.