Steve Mulholland writes about Hockey Day Minnesota and its unique location in 2025: Valleyfair.

This story was originally published in the MHM February 2025 HDM Shakopee Recap.

The post HDM 2025 Rides Into Valleyfair appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

For 50 years, the St. Paul Capitals Hockey Association has provided generations of players – from mini-mites to Bantams – the opportunity to learn, compete and enjoy the sport on hometown rinks in their own community.

The organization has evolved from its inception as the Highland Hockey Association, which, in 1973, was one of many organizations supporting neighborhood and local park teams.

Highland joined forces with the Midway neighborhood of St. Paul in 1987, eventually becoming the Highland Central Capitals. In 2014, its current incarnation, the St. Paul Capitals as it is known today, became permanent.

Much has changed since the early days of the organization, but much has stayed the same, according to Capitals board president Julie Bustos, who’s been involved for years as a board member as well as a parent, having three kids participate in the program.

In the buildup to the 50th anniversary celebration, Bustos connected with a number of people involved in the early years of the association and heard first-hand how their shared experiences forged lasting bonds.

“There’s a lot of pride built into that,” Bustos said. “It was amazing to hear their stories about how much hockey meant to players both on the ice, as well as skills and things that they applied in their life off the ice, the friendships that they made that they still have.”

Matt Funk is the athletic director and boys hockey coach at Cretin-Derham Hall and knows the value the Capitals provide not just the community, but his program as well. Funk’s grandfather, Bill, coached at the University of St. Thomas, and in 1973, was one of the founders of the association, creating opportunities for three generations of Funks who went to play and coach in St. Paul high schools and colleges.

The St. Paul Capitals Hockey Association started as the Highland Hockey Association. (Photo courtesy of St. Paul Capitals Hockey Association)

“We’re rooted in St. Paul hockey. It’s not just a game. It’s about the lifelong skills you learn and the memories and friends you make,” Funk said. “The history here is remarkable and we need to keep that going for generations to come.”

Mike Vannelli also knows all about hockey friendships and lasting traditions. The Vannelli family is synonymous with hockey in St. Paul. Mike’s father, Tom Vannelli, played for Herb Brooks at the University of Minnesota, and was a freshman in 1974 when the Gophers won their first national championship. As a sophomore, the elder Vannelli was second in scoring for the WCHA champion Gophers.

Tom was head coach at Cretin-Derham Hall and co-head coach with his brother, Greg, at St. Thomas Academy. Mike played his high school hockey for his father at Cretin; and he played four years for the Gophers under Don Lucia, where he won a national championship before several seasons in Europe.

But prior to skating at Mariucci – or for the perennially powerful Raiders – Mike Vannelli came of age with the Highland Central Capitals.

“There’s a phenomenal sense of community,” Mike Vannelli said. “There’s a lot of kids that are playing in the association that are second, third, some are even fourth generation. And so, it’s pretty special in that regard. And it’s a very tight knit community.”

Today, Mike Vannelli’s son and daughter play in the Capitals program, where he is doing double time as vice president of boys hockey, as well as coach of his son’s squirt team.

“There’s so many things that as a parent and coach that you see that they’re able to get out of it,” Mike Vannelli said. “First and foremost, it seems like they’ve built some amazing friendships that they’ll be able to carry with them the rest of their lives.”

Mike Vannelli points to the fun he sees his kids having with teammates – in practices and in games, both structured and unstructured, inside arenas and outdoors in parks – as invaluable experiences, providing not just enjoyment, but lifetime lessons.

“The qualities that they begin to get instilled in them through competition, accountability, just learning to be a good teammate; what that means, essentially translates to being a good person on and off the ice,” he said.

How can the Capitals keep moving forward? 
After decades of creating those experiences for thousands of St. Paul kids, the Capitals are now faced with an existential challenge: how to keep the organization vital and thriving for the next 50 years and beyond. Ice time has grown scarce, and expensive, while participation costs continue to increase.

During the 2023-24 season, fees for squirt and 10U were $1,220; and that number only rises for older players.

The Capitals are working to keep the program viable for future generations. (Photo courtesy of St. Paul Capitals Hockey Association)

“We’re challenged with finding ways to try and keep that cost as manageable as possible,” Mike Vannelli said. “And there’s some folks within our association that have done an amazing job with some fundraising efforts that they’ve kicked off.”

With rising costs and dwindling numbers already having claimed most of St. Paul’s youth programs, the Capitals are working in-season and out to keep their program viable for future generations.

“It’s a little bittersweet to be honest with you,” said Jim Runyon, director of fundraising for the Capitals and a lifelong St. Paul resident who grew up playing in the Central Hockey Association.

Runyon can’t help but think of the thriving programs in the parks and recreation system when he was growing up. Associations like Battle Creek, Phalen and Conway, among numerous others, no longer exist.

“There were probably 25 organizations in St. Paul that offered really good, quality competitive hockey,” Runyon said. “So, to celebrate our 50th was great because you feel like ‘Wow, this is a long time that kids have been playing hockey here,’ but you also look at who’s still around and it’s kind of sad to see.”

But Runyon is quick to call out the silver lining the Capitals have sought: New fundraising efforts which are now the lifeblood of the program.

Kelly Rand, the association’s gambling coordinator, has set the course for the Capitals to raise funds as suburban programs like Woodbury, White Bear Lake, Eagan and Edina have through legalized gambling or, more specifically, pull-tabs and Bingo, through exclusive agreements with local establishments.

“A year and a half ago, we became licensed. We started with one bar, and a bar and restaurant,” Runyon said. “We now have two up and running and we’re trying to play catch up.”

Creating financial stability as hockey costs rise
The goal is to generate more than just fast funding – which is needed – but to create generational stability for the association.

“The costs of hockey are going up too fast,” Runyon said. “And in order to sustain it, we had to put on the brakes, and the only way to do that was to set up some sort of endowment.”

The growing need inspired the St. Paul Capital’s Legacy Fund, which will maintain proceeds for investment, with a small percentage coming out each year to fund the program.

“We have to work a little bit harder, but more importantly, we have to be smarter about what we do with our money,” Runyon said. ‘That money is dedicated and restricted so that for the next 50 years, kids in St. Paul will have an opportunity to play hockey.”

The results are encouraging for coaches, parents and their kids. And for leaders like Bustos, who’s seen hockey evolve since her playing days, before girls hockey was ever a thought.

Bustos competed exclusively with boys in the Tartan Area youth league until Bantams. So for her, the focus is always about providing opportunities for kids to participate – now and well into the future.

“How do we keep this association and the service that it brings to the community alive and vibrant?” she asked, rhetorically. “We want to produce the same kind of emotional connections and life connections and athletic development that we’ve been providing for the last 50 years.

“My dad coached me and now I’m coaching my kid and I want to make sure that my kid has a chance to coach their kids.”

The post 50 Years And Counting appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

William Howard Taft had just been elected President of the United States.

The Titanic was three years away from its ill-fated voyage in the Atlantic; and the University of Minnesota, which had been playing its hockey games on frozen Como Lake in St. Paul, was amid a nearly 20-year hiatus from competition.

But just a stone’s throw from the Canadian border, high school hockey teams from Warroad and Roseau were squaring off against one another for the very first time.

So, the origins of one of Minnesota’s greatest sports rivalries commenced long before official record-keeping began in the mid-1940s.

“Why would people say it’s the best rivalry? I think because everybody has something in the game,” said Larry Olimb, Warroad native and 1988 Mr. Hockey Award recipient. “In Warroad, everyone’s part of the hockey community, and Roseau is the same way. Then just being so close to each other, and being so competitive over the years.”

The U.S. Olympic team, as well as the NHL, have reaped the benefits of this far-north region of Minnesota.

But both hockey havens have perhaps shined brightest in youth and high school competition, regardless of the era.

“In 1999, my senior year, we won a double-A state championship,” Mike Klema said, looking back on the rivalry.

Klema, a Roseau native, went on to play four years at Yale, and is now vice president in the Roseau Youth League and coaching his two Mite-aged sons.

“I just looked back at it from my experience thinking what a great, great run of teams that Roseau and Warroad produced in the 90s,” he said. “And that’s not to shortchange any other decade, because obviously, going back to the 40s, Roseau and Warroad have had really strong histories.”

Past and present, the names are synonymous with Minnesota hockey: Marvin and Christian; Oshie and Nelson; Bjorkman, Boucha and Broten.

Both communities have consistently produced great players and even greater play on the ice.

“No matter if one program has a lot more talent than the other a certain year it doesn’t matter,” said Gigi Marvin, a Warroad native and three-time Olympian for Team USA. “It seems like everything goes out the window and you just play on character and heart and passion and so it’s a lot of fun.”

Rivalry by number
The towns are just 26 miles apart, with the population of Roseau eclipsing that of Warroad, 2,712 to 1,810 respectively.

By the numbers, as they pertain to hockey, Roseau holds the edge as well, with a series record of 107-71-5 since 1945. The two schools battled on 30 occasions throughout the 1960s, the most of any decade.

Roseau has 34 appearances in the boys’ state high school tournament, with seven championships. Two of those titles were won in Class 2A, after the advent of the two-class brackets.

Warroad has made it to the tourney 24 times, bringing home four Class 1A titles.

In the years before the 1991-92 season, schools competed in the single-class system. For Roseau and Warroad, that meant only one team would emerge from the Section 8 region and head to the state tournament.

“By the time we’re done playing each other in high school, we’ve probably played each other 30, 40 times,” said Bill Lund, a Roseau native who was part of the Rams’ 1990 state championship team.

Lund played his college hockey at St. Cloud State and later skated four seasons for Lake Charles in the Western Professional Hockey League.

“Back when we were squirts, we’d play them four times every year, all the way through,” Lund recalled. “And then obviously, in summer hockey, they used to come over to our camp.

“For a couple of weeks in the summer we got along. In the winter, we didn’t get along so well.”

The animosity was tempered for Lund after college when he played on Cal Marvin’s storied Warroad Lakers Senior A team.

“It was Roseau and Warroad guys along with a bunch of other guys playing for the Allan Cup up in Canada,” Lund recalled fondly. “It was one of the best memories ever, playing those two years with the Warroad Lakers.”

Talent throughout the decades
One common theme – regardless of era – rises above the battles: Players who competed in the rivalry still carry an appreciation for the level of competition and how it only raised their game.

“The thing about that rivalry is both teams are usually really good every year. So, that’s what makes it even better,” said Hampton Slukynsky, Warroad’s 2023 Goalie of the Year who now plays with the Fargo Force of the United States Hockey League.

“I think with having two really good teams in northern Minnesota, it makes it a lot more competitive. You want to be better than Roseau, if you’re from Warroad. Or if from Roseau, you want to be better than Warroad.”

Last season, Warroad had the unique distinction of not only having the Goalie of the Year in Slukynsky, but also Mr. Hockey Award recipient Jayson Shaugabay on their roster as well. The pair led the Warriors to Class 1A runner-up finishes the past two seasons.

For Shaugabay, the rivalry ranks as the pinnacle in his accomplished amateur career.

“Leading up to the Roseau-Warroad game has always been the most exciting time in my life,” Shaugabay said. “Even when I was 5 years old watching or, until I got to play in it, it was the most anticipated two games of the year.

“It’s pretty much just like playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the high school version and it’s just so fun.”

Ready for Hockey Day
Warroad is primed for the three-day event, which has far surpassed earlier incarnations in size and scope.

That excitement is no doubt taken up several notches this January when Hockeytown USA hosts Hockey Day Minnesota.

“Back when it started in Baudette, Minnesota, it was mainly just a game,” said Tad Palmquist, Hockey Day Minnesota co-chair. “Now it’s an entire village. So, it’s everything. We added everything from a big snow hill for the kids to sled down. We’ve added a mini version of the skate path we have on the river.”

The village will also feature exhibits honoring Warroad’s rich hockey history and that of the region. A tribute to Cal Marvin and his Warroad Lakers legacy will highlight the event, as will a ceremonial puck drop in tribute to Henry Boucha, who died on Sept. 18, 2023.

But Palmquist is quick to point out that the weekend will highlight not only Warroad but the entire region, including Hockeytown’s favorite rival.

“We know it’s hard to get the Hockey Day way up north like this, especially in a rural town like Warroad,” he said. “So we want to celebrate all the local towns and obviously Roseau being a key part of that.”

While Warroad will travel to Roseau for their first meeting of the season at the historic Roseau Memorial Arena on Jan. 9, the main event will face off on Jan. 27, for a Hockey Day Minnesota showdown no one will soon forget.

“One thing about our rivalry is it’s not always bitter,” Palmquist said. “On the ice, it’s bitter, maybe. But it’s also built on respect.

“And a lot of these people end up being friends along the way.”

The post The Rivalry appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.