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HDM venue started being used Sat. As every ERYHA team is playing games on site. HS games this week and a junior hockey league Game next weekend. The historic pit has really been transformed into a great site and the weather forecast looks good. Congrats to the people of Elk River on their hard work, over 2,000 tickets sold and should be a lot of game day tickets sold. Best of luck.

What's HDM?

Hockey Day Minnesota ??

I see it now - Thanks for clarification

alcloseshaver wrote:Congrats to the people of Elk River on their hard work, over 2,000 tickets sold and should be a lot of game day tickets sold.

Excellent, especially considering that this year the Hockey City Classic is going on these two weekends.

MNHockeyFan wrote:

alcloseshaver wrote:Congrats to the people of Elk River on their hard work, over 2,000 tickets sold and should be a lot of game day tickets sold.

Excellent, especially considering that this year the Hockey City Classic is going on these two weekends.

They might have sold 2000 tickets this past Saturday at TCF, if you combine the gate from all five games.

Those games might have been a great experience for the players, but for the spectators? Not so much. It was like watching a game at Coliseum, only colder and with a wider moat. And if it wasn't for the jumbotron, we wouldn't have been able to watch much of anything during the 8pm game...the glass was badly fogged-up, and they only had 1 guy out there with a squeegee fighting a hopeless battle.

This kind of thing wasn't an issue at HDM last year...the throwback rink they had up on Lake Pokegama had only boards on the side, and chain-link fence behind the goals.

The Handke Pit rink in Elk River has full glass, Fogging shouldn't be problem with the weather forecast and they appear to have an army of workers to clean glass. 7-8 sets of bleachers and hillside seating plus great views from the street should allow everyone to enjoy the games.

alcloseshaver wrote:The Handke Pit rink in Elk River has full glass, Fogging shouldn't be problem with the weather forecast and they appear to have an army of workers to clean glass. 7-8 sets of bleachers and hillside seating plus great views from the street should allow everyone to enjoy the games.

Was through Elk River last night, the ice sheet appears to be holding up, good to have a number of games all week to maintain it. Rogers girls played there last night.

Ticket sales have topped the 3,000 mark. Fox is bringing in some dignitaries since this is their first time going national with the HDM broadcast.

alcloseshaver wrote:Ticket sales have topped the 3,000 mark. Fox is bringing in some dignitaries since this is their first time going national with the HDM broadcast.

Tony Sarsland, Marly Glines and Dave Taus?

Pretty sure SARS won't be there, admin that ousted him is still in charge. Marly will be there I'm sure. Taus whereabouts unknown.

Who picks these teams? Why can't they pick rival teams like East vs. Cloquet? Would make it a hell of a lot more interesting...

Slammer wrote:Who picks these teams? Why can't they pick rival teams like East vs. Cloquet? Would make it a hell of a lot more interesting...

Well, they decide these things long in advance. At the time they picked the teams, Cloquet still had Kuhlman and the Michauds, and Stillwater was still coached by Housley, which would've made for a match-up of ex-NHL player coaches. And I do think it's a good idea to have games between teams from different parts of the state, since that generates more interest, and we also don't really want key section seeding games to be at the mercy of the weather.

Lourdes is a bit of an awkward choice this year; I'm guessing it's a combination of trying to get the southern part of the state in on the action and not doing research on which southern teams were going to be good this year. (Over the past few years, Lourdes would've been a fine choice, but this drop-off was predictable.)

Slammer wrote:Who picks these teams? Why can't they pick rival teams like East vs. Cloquet? Would make it a hell of a lot more interesting...

Even though I do agree that a game between rivals would draw more interest. I wouldn't want to see section rankings decided by a game on an outdoor rink.

I do like the idea of a metro team vs north team each year.

WBL - Hill = Awesome!

Rapids - East + snow storm might just give Rapids a very rare win.

Perfect Hockey day!!

Good to see some other programs in the mix. Up or down it's high school hockey not the NHL.

[quote="karl(east)"][quote="Slammer"]Who picks these teams? Why can't they pick rival teams like East vs. Cloquet? Would make it a hell of a lot more interesting...[/quote]

Well, they decide these things long in advance. At the time they picked the teams, Cloquet still had Kuhlman and the Michauds, and Stillwater was still coached by Housley, which would've made for a match-up of ex-NHL player coaches. And I do think it's a good idea to have games between teams from different parts of the state, since that generates more interest, and we also don't really want key section seeding games to be at the mercy of the weather.

Lourdes is a bit of an awkward choice this year; I'm guessing it's a combination of trying to get the southern part of the state in on the action and not doing research on which southern teams were going to be good this year. (Over the past few years, Lourdes would've been a fine choice, but this drop-off was predictable.)[/quote]

It seems to me that HDM, in order to completely diversify, tries for this criteria:
Location (diff parts of the state)
Include both class A and AA
Include both public and private schools

This may explain the Lourdes decision, being both private and Class A

HDM was a success and Elk River supported all events with class. True hockey MN style.

Gopher win, Wild win, and good high school games. Solid HDM.

now that was a fun day

It would be nice to see something centered around Lake Minnetonka next year, Wayzata and Tonka?? And some A teams around the lake?

MegaMan wrote:It would be nice to see something centered around Lake Minnetonka next year, Wayzata and Tonka?? And some A teams around the lake?

They tried Lake Minnetonka two years ago. Had to cancel due to warm weather. And while that same warm weather would have probably sunk Elk River's HDM as well, Hanke Pit did have the advantages of being (a) in a sheltered topographic bowl, and (b) not over standing water. Wouldn't want to see the Zamboni fall through the ice, would we?

Ice conditions and weather are key in these events. Conditions in Elk River were perfect and the ice was in great shape. The Wild owner and the Gov even showed up. Good luck to the next host of HDM, Elk River has set the bar at a high level.

alcloseshaver wrote:Ice conditions and weather are key in these events. Conditions in Elk River were perfect and the ice was in great shape. The Wild owner and the Gov even showed up. Good luck to the next host of HDM, Elk River has set the bar at a high level.

I just had a killer idea for next years HDM.......Why not try and set something up in the Duluth Harbor....Now that would be an epic backdrop!

[quote="SEMNHOCKEYFAN"][quote="alcloseshaver"]Ice conditions and weather are key in these events. Conditions in Elk River were perfect and the ice was in great shape. The Wild owner and the Gov even showed up. Good luck to the next host of HDM, Elk River has set the bar at a high level.[/quote]

I just had a killer idea for next years HDM.......Why not try and set something up in the Duluth Harbor....Now that would be an epic backdrop![/quote]

Maybe a Duluth East vs Duluth Marshall game in the duluth harbor for HDM? HA we wish.

TheInsider wrote:

SEMNHOCKEYFAN wrote:

alcloseshaver wrote:Ice conditions and weather are key in these events. Conditions in Elk River were perfect and the ice was in great shape. The Wild owner and the Gov even showed up. Good luck to the next host of HDM, Elk River has set the bar at a high level.

I just had a killer idea for next years HDM.......Why not try and set something up in the Duluth Harbor....Now that would be an epic backdrop!

Maybe a Duluth East vs Duluth Marshall game in the duluth harbor for HDM? HA we wish.

And while were at it lets renew the Hermantown/STA rivalry!