Acknowledgements: This story was submitted via the Contact Form on the Minnesota Hockey Magazine’s website by Jessa Preimesberger, a regional manager with Flag International, a global student exchange organization.  Additional information was provided by Maggie Vekich, a local coordinator with the same organization living in Minnesota and Jamie Nielsen, mom of the host family. Photos courtesy of  Jamie Nielsen.

It started with a love of hockey and ended with a moment that felt like fate.

My name is Jessa Preimesberger, and I am a Regional Manager with FLAG International, a nonprofit student exchange organization. Last year, we received an application from a student named Henri, a teenager from Germany. What made Henri unique was his passion for hockey, a sport not commonly played in his home country, but one he loved deeply.

As we learned more about his family, we discovered something interesting: Henri’s father had been an exchange student himself 38 years ago somewhere in northern Minnesota. The exact town was unclear, and the host family he had lived with had since passed away. There were no remaining ties to that event. Just memories.

One of our Local Coordinators, Maggie Vekich, who lives in the small Iron Range town of Bovey, felt strongly compelled to find Henri a host family in the area. She searched tirelessly across her region, driven by nothing more than intuition and hope.

Eventually, she found the Nielsen family in Bovey, MN.  The family immediately opened their home, excited to share their sport, their school, and their community. They had twin boys Henri’s age, Brayden and Bryce, and like Henri, hockey was their life. Henri was thrilled.

But nothing could have prepared him for what came next. When Henri received his school placement, he froze. He stared at the school name in disbelief.

It was Greenway High School. This was the exact same small, rural high school his father had attended as an exchange student 38 years earlier.

The same tiny school. The same tiny town. Two different host families. Two different generations. One incredible coincidence.

Without planning it. Without knowing it. Without any remaining connections tying them there, this small northern Minnesota community had welcomed both a father and his son, decades apart.

For Henri, it wasn’t just an exchange year anymore. It was a continuation of his father’s story.

Henri on his way with his dad to his first hockey game in Germany

Maggie continues – When placing Henri, all we knew was that his dad spent his exchange year in a small town of under a thousand people somewhere in Northern Minnesota. We didn’t know that it was Greenway until AFTER placing him with the Nielsen family!  

Henri reached out to Jamie (his host mom) and sent a picture of his dad’s letterman jacket from Greenway High School years ago – so you can imagine all of our shock and excitement when we realized he has been placed in the same exact small school as his father… not on purpose!

Henri arrived in Greenway on August 29^th, 2025.  He joined the football team in the fall (his dad had joined the football team and was the kicker while he was here at Greenway as well).

He was most excited to join the hockey team and indicated that it was quite a bit different from back home as he was in inline hockey there vs. ice hockey here. He said he was really excited to be part of a hockey enthusiastic family. 

His host mom, Jamie, adds that having twin host brothers share their love of the game really helped – we were able to make it to a couple of UMD Bulldog games, a couple World Junior games (USA against Germany being one of them and USA against Finland the other). They also attended the 7A & 7AA section finals games as well as the HS State games this year. You can ask him…but he may or may not say he’s “hockey’d out” for a bit, lol.

Henri, #35, same number as his dad when he played football for Greenway

Jamie continues that Henri has had a lot of firsts here.  Pretty much all the outdoor activities have been the first time for him: started out with his first day here on the pontoon, jet skiing and his try at water skiing.  Although hunting and fishing are not his favorite, he has participated and has experienced all these northland activities.

Maggie concludes that Henri became a GNK Titan when he first joined the football team as stated above. He then continued to play for the Raiders during hockey season – which was his childhood dream that came true because of the Nielsen’s. He truly got the best family to give him that MN experience

When I talk with Henri, all he talks about is how much he loves this community. He is truly so happy to be part of the Greenway community and wear the Titans/Raider gear. 

Final note: Henri is currently set to fly home to his family in Cologne, Germany on June 6^th.  He plans to attend college when he returns.  Truly a remarkable adventure Henri will remember fondly.

For more information on Flag International, check out their website at: 
https://www.flag-intl.org/

The post From Germany to the Iron Range: A Story 38 Years in the Making appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The St. Cloud Cathedral Crusaders have their first state championship, defeating the Greenway Raiders 5-2 in the Class A title game.

St. Paul — In a back and forth affair, the Crusaders finally have their state title. Led by Jackson Savoie, the senior delivered when it mattered most, scoring the game-wining goal at the 1:52 mark of the second period and the Crusaders never looked back.

Savoie, who scored 28 points – 14 goals and 14 assists – in 25 games in the regular season was just as good in the playoffs, with four goals in three sections games and four more goals in the state tournament.

Savoie’s goal was the turning point for the Crusaders.

“That was big momentum changer,” said teammate Jack Smith. “That was a great shot by Savoie and the guys kind of calmed down on the bench and we were like guys, we’re up by one. We just got to calm down and play our game and that was big change.”

The senior finished the game with three points in the win, with two of them being goals.

It’s also the first time the city of St. Cloud has won a state hockey championship. 

“Our region of the state doesn’t get the credit it deserves,” said head coach Derrick Brown. “There’s a lot of good hockey players in central Minnesota and it’s great for the St. Cloud youth hockey program and it’s great for everybody in 6A and it’s great for central Minnesota. This is a big heavy burden off of our area. We’ve come so close and Alexandria was right there last year. But to have a state championship trophy on the bus with us going home to St. Cloud today, I don’t think there’s anything more special than that.”

After an action-packed first period where both teams held the lead, things were tied 2-2 heading into the first intermission.

During the second period, a golden opportunity presented itself for the Raiders as they received a five-minute major power play. Despite scoring two power-play goals earlier in the game, Greenway went silent on the man-advantage and only registered a few shots on goal as the Crusaders killed off the penalty, preserving their 3-2 lead.

With the Raiders not being able to convert the lengthy power play, it was a turning point in the game.

“Yeah, I mean the five minute penalty, not being able to score on that was, was kind of, you know, wind out of the sails,” said head coach Grant Clafton. “But I don’t think we quit the entire game and, you know, I thought, you know given up shorthanded goals, you know, doesn’t help the guys, either.”

Greenway wouldn’t find the net the rest of the way as the Crusaders scored two more goals in route to their win.

Raiders senior, Donte Lawson, who received the Herb Brooks Award for Class A, was well deserving. Lawson put up 20 points – 10 goals, 10 assists – in six games dating back to sections.

“Playing with these group of kids growing up, that’s awesome,” said Lawson after his team’s runner-up finish. “With our families and our parents and our friends always come to the games and seeing from out of town people coming and the whole community really getting together and having a good time it’s awesome to see.”

 Photo Gallery by Tim Kolehmainen of Breakdown Sports USA for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Tim on Twitter at @BreakdownUSA.

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They had the lead, they lost the lead, they regained the lead and now they’re headed to the Class A title game.

With their season on the line with less three minutes to go, the Raiders capitalized on the power play with a rocket of a shot from senior Ben Troumbly, sending the game into overtime.

Twenty-three seconds into the extra period, once again, Troumbly was the hero, scoring the game-winning goal.

“There was a battle out front,” said Troumbly. “Loose puck came my way and I kind of just went around and I just put it in. I wasn’t even thinking at the time until after it kicked in and going to the championship.”

Even when they blew a 1-0 lead and found themselves down 2-1 late in the third, head coach Grant Clafton didn’t have to say too much to his group.

“Very limited coaching,” said Clafton. “When you believe you believe and these guys believe in themselves and we’re calm. It’s a calm, cool, collected, mature group of kids. It’s a unique deal and they don’t panic. I mean I’ve seen them do it since they’ve been in pee-wee’s. So yeah, (very) confident.”

Assisting on the game-winning goal was Donte Lawson, another senior who’s been playing out of his mind since sections.

He had 11 points – six goals, five assists – in three section games. Then he followed that up with four points – two goals and two assists – in the quarterfinal game. So obviously he put up four more points – 1 goal, 3 assists – including assisting on the game-tying and game-winning goal.

“I like playing on the big stage with my family over here,” said Lawson. “And bringing the whole community down is awesome and it’s special to us.”

For the No. 1 seeded Zephyrs, it’s a tough end to their season considering how close they were to getting to the state championship game.

“I thought this was the group that would push us over the top,” said Mahtomedi head coach, Jeff Poeschl. “They certainly have the talent and it’s obviously disappointing.”

With Greenway’s win, they head to the state title game to face St. Cloud Cathedral in Class A on Saturday, with puck drop at 12 PM.

Photo Gallery by Tim Kolehmainen of Breakdown Sports USA for Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Follow Tim on Twitter at @BreakdownUSA.

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