Peewee Tournaments (Part 3)
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:40 pm
For those who have read my posts before, you know that I go to peewee A games and write about them, the arenas, and the associations. This week I have planned a four day venture to the north, from the 24th to the 27th. But the first day write-up is not about a peewee A team. It is about something I wanted to see, and that is a potential storm of interest in hockey in an area that has not been known for hockey, Park Rapids.
Only in Minnesota can you find people who think a +5 temperature is a nice day for driving somewhere. It is a nice drive because it is usually bright and sunny and the roads are dry. Thursday was such a day, although my wife was wondering why I would drive a few hundred miles to a place that was guaranteed to be a -10 to watch a hockey game. If it weren’t me, I would share the same feeling.
Park Rapids has had hockey going for a number of years and started playing at the high school level about 10 years ago. They never had much success, but the arena they built on the high school complex reflected the thought that they could achieve success. On the outside, it looked like any rectangle building made of perform concrete walls, the kind you see being hauled by a semi down the freeway trailed by a small truck with amber lights flashing. The entrance was inauspicious. Set to the far corner of the building and away from the parking lot, it took me three guesses to find it. And at 7:00 in the evening it was below zero, so each wrong guess made me colder.
Once inside and through the second doors the arena opens up and one realizes how large the building is. Tonight the Panthers would be playing Thief River Falls, the Prowlers. The outcome would impact the Section 8A seedings. TRF was a known quantity, having been to the State Tourney a number of times. This year, they were a .500 team, but one to be respected. The Panthers were undefeated on the season and an unknown quantity. They had to gain respect.
I climbed to the top row on the blue line with heaters overhead and sat down, back to the wall. People had warned me to be early saying they expected a crowd. I was. The JV game was being played and the third period had just started. Except for a small group of fathers standing on their seats to one side, few people were there.
The Panthers would be entering tonight’s game shorthanded. I was told that two players were out and they were down to two lines. Thief River Falls, I knew little about. One Panther, #26, was touted as being a Division 1 player. And he has that potential, but more importantly, he has a supporting cast.
High School banners were strung across the arena above the benches. To the left was a combination of D15 and D16 teams (youth hockey) and to the right a combination of D11 and D12 teams. The boys competition and the girls competition is all that I could think of. On the far end was one lonely peewee championship banner.
The JV game ended, ice was cleaned and a few more fans showed up, all adults, all preceded to find a seat in front of me and stand on it. Trying to keep warm was my guess. But it’s not that cold in here. The two teams warm-ups were over, the ice re-surfaced again and the stands were now full and people were eying my seat thinking are you going to stand on it? Nobody was sitting, they all took their seat and stood on it-moms, dads, grandpas and grandmas. They were excited about the game. Standing is how they saw the game. That became apparent when the National Anthem was played. They removed their hats, nobody had to stand.
By now I claimed my seat and stood on it. The puck was dropped and action became fast and furious. Both teams locked each other up and both teams were going with two lines. Park Rapids was moving two extra wings around with the centers, #26 and #15 alternating shifts. Thief River Falls was going with two lines also and the first period flew by. The refs called a single penalty and had a relaxed interpretation of offside and icing, but equally applied to both teams. Their attitude added to the game.
I enjoyed the period immensely especially when the Park Rapids goalie won a race to the blue to clear a puck in front of a couple of charging Prowler wings. With about two minutes left in the period, Park Rapids scored on nifty three way passing play with the last pass setting up a forward in the front of the net for a tip-in over the goalie’s shoulder. The period ended 1-0. Half the people in the stands sat down on the seats. The others remained standing on their seats.
The second period started as the sitters and the popcorn goers in the crowded stands scrambled to their seat to stand on it. It had become a large crowd. The second period opened the way the first ended and for the first ten minutes of the period it was an intense game with both teams having their opportunities to score. But the Prowlers were starting to slow and the Panthers were maintaining their intensity. At the 5 minute mark, it paid off with a second goal from the slot. The Panthers were up 2-0.
Two minutes later the Prowlers blinked. With the face off in the Park Rapids zone, a Prowler third line took the ice, lost the face off and tried to defend as the Panthers skated though and scored on a break away to go up 3-0. Staggered, Thief River Falls pushed themselves to make something happened in the remaining minutes of the period, but with six seconds left, Park Rapids scored their fourth goal on another breakaway. The period ended 4-0 and the game was essentially over. I was happy to actually sit in my seat again.
As the scored had mounted for the Rapids, the fans cheering got louder and louder and the fan support for the team became more intense. It was a happy crowd that stood on their seats for the third period. The period had some moments for both teams, but no goals were added and the game ended 4-0. It was quite an atmosphere and with the win, it was a happy crowd that left the arena.
At the local diner next morning, the game was being talked about. A crowd of 2600 had stood on their seats for that nearly two hour game. I hope it is the start of something big and bigger in Park Rapids. It would be great for hockey. It was a fun thing to do, but the game is not for the faint heart that can’t stand. If you sit, you see little.
Only in Minnesota can you find people who think a +5 temperature is a nice day for driving somewhere. It is a nice drive because it is usually bright and sunny and the roads are dry. Thursday was such a day, although my wife was wondering why I would drive a few hundred miles to a place that was guaranteed to be a -10 to watch a hockey game. If it weren’t me, I would share the same feeling.
Park Rapids has had hockey going for a number of years and started playing at the high school level about 10 years ago. They never had much success, but the arena they built on the high school complex reflected the thought that they could achieve success. On the outside, it looked like any rectangle building made of perform concrete walls, the kind you see being hauled by a semi down the freeway trailed by a small truck with amber lights flashing. The entrance was inauspicious. Set to the far corner of the building and away from the parking lot, it took me three guesses to find it. And at 7:00 in the evening it was below zero, so each wrong guess made me colder.
Once inside and through the second doors the arena opens up and one realizes how large the building is. Tonight the Panthers would be playing Thief River Falls, the Prowlers. The outcome would impact the Section 8A seedings. TRF was a known quantity, having been to the State Tourney a number of times. This year, they were a .500 team, but one to be respected. The Panthers were undefeated on the season and an unknown quantity. They had to gain respect.
I climbed to the top row on the blue line with heaters overhead and sat down, back to the wall. People had warned me to be early saying they expected a crowd. I was. The JV game was being played and the third period had just started. Except for a small group of fathers standing on their seats to one side, few people were there.
The Panthers would be entering tonight’s game shorthanded. I was told that two players were out and they were down to two lines. Thief River Falls, I knew little about. One Panther, #26, was touted as being a Division 1 player. And he has that potential, but more importantly, he has a supporting cast.
High School banners were strung across the arena above the benches. To the left was a combination of D15 and D16 teams (youth hockey) and to the right a combination of D11 and D12 teams. The boys competition and the girls competition is all that I could think of. On the far end was one lonely peewee championship banner.
The JV game ended, ice was cleaned and a few more fans showed up, all adults, all preceded to find a seat in front of me and stand on it. Trying to keep warm was my guess. But it’s not that cold in here. The two teams warm-ups were over, the ice re-surfaced again and the stands were now full and people were eying my seat thinking are you going to stand on it? Nobody was sitting, they all took their seat and stood on it-moms, dads, grandpas and grandmas. They were excited about the game. Standing is how they saw the game. That became apparent when the National Anthem was played. They removed their hats, nobody had to stand.
By now I claimed my seat and stood on it. The puck was dropped and action became fast and furious. Both teams locked each other up and both teams were going with two lines. Park Rapids was moving two extra wings around with the centers, #26 and #15 alternating shifts. Thief River Falls was going with two lines also and the first period flew by. The refs called a single penalty and had a relaxed interpretation of offside and icing, but equally applied to both teams. Their attitude added to the game.
I enjoyed the period immensely especially when the Park Rapids goalie won a race to the blue to clear a puck in front of a couple of charging Prowler wings. With about two minutes left in the period, Park Rapids scored on nifty three way passing play with the last pass setting up a forward in the front of the net for a tip-in over the goalie’s shoulder. The period ended 1-0. Half the people in the stands sat down on the seats. The others remained standing on their seats.
The second period started as the sitters and the popcorn goers in the crowded stands scrambled to their seat to stand on it. It had become a large crowd. The second period opened the way the first ended and for the first ten minutes of the period it was an intense game with both teams having their opportunities to score. But the Prowlers were starting to slow and the Panthers were maintaining their intensity. At the 5 minute mark, it paid off with a second goal from the slot. The Panthers were up 2-0.
Two minutes later the Prowlers blinked. With the face off in the Park Rapids zone, a Prowler third line took the ice, lost the face off and tried to defend as the Panthers skated though and scored on a break away to go up 3-0. Staggered, Thief River Falls pushed themselves to make something happened in the remaining minutes of the period, but with six seconds left, Park Rapids scored their fourth goal on another breakaway. The period ended 4-0 and the game was essentially over. I was happy to actually sit in my seat again.
As the scored had mounted for the Rapids, the fans cheering got louder and louder and the fan support for the team became more intense. It was a happy crowd that stood on their seats for the third period. The period had some moments for both teams, but no goals were added and the game ended 4-0. It was quite an atmosphere and with the win, it was a happy crowd that left the arena.
At the local diner next morning, the game was being talked about. A crowd of 2600 had stood on their seats for that nearly two hour game. I hope it is the start of something big and bigger in Park Rapids. It would be great for hockey. It was a fun thing to do, but the game is not for the faint heart that can’t stand. If you sit, you see little.