It’s a place where kids have flirted with frostbite and battled their best friends over the past 23 years, and the Slukynsky name is well-known in Warroad, known to some as Hockeytown USA.

As Hockey Day Minnesota took place this past weekend in Shakopee, it’s been a year since Warroad hosted the same event, as all eyes focused on the town of 1,900 and its rich hockey history.

However, a pair of Warroad kids are still receiving plenty of attention, as Grant and Hampton Slukynsky are enjoying a tremendous season at Western Michigan.

“Grant and Hammer have meant so much to our town and specifically our hockey program, and the example they set and the way they conduct themselves is second to none,” said Hardwick, who coached both brothers in high school. “Obviously, they’re both talented hockey players, but they’re awesome leaders and they both set a great example for their teammates and future players.

“They were raised right and in everything they did growing up – They did it the right way and they showed up with a purpose. They’ve really helped set the standard here the last few years, and you don’t find many kids like them. So, we were super fortunate to have both of them come through our program.”

Grant (right) and Hampton (middle) Slukynsky grew up skating on their family’s backyard rink, which their father, Tim (left), has maintained since 2002. “I still make it every year and clean it off, and even this year Grant came home over Christmas break and skated,” Tim said. “It’s a family tradition and our nieces and nephews come over to skate, and I just remember the boys always begging to skate growing up. There were so many good memories made out there as kids.” (Photo courtesy of the Slukynsky Family)

Grant, 22, played three seasons with the Warriors and the left-shot forward captained the team twice, putting up 101 points (39-62-101) in 2019-20.

Hampton, 19, followed soon after, tending the Warroad crease for three seasons before heading to the USHL. Hampton won the Frank Brimsek Award in 2023 as the state’s top goaltender and led the Warriors to back-to-back Class 1A championship games and runner-up finishes. The success has followed both out of Warroad, too.

Grant won a Clark Cup with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers in 2021-22 and spent last season at Northern Michigan before transferring to WMU in June. Hampton was named the USHL Goaltender of the Year and back-stopped the Fargo Force to an Anderson and Clark Cup last spring. He flipped his commitment to WMU at the same time.

Hampton, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2023 NHL Draft (fourth round, 118th overall), has continued to excel this winter, too, as one of the nation’s top freshmen goaltenders.

He’s currently 5-3-1 with a .946 save percentage and 1.55 GAA for the Broncos, and Grant has 15 points (4-11-15) through 22 games. WMU has won six straight, is ranked third in the country and sits atop the NCHC standings with 30 points.

“You grow up wanting to play for the high school team and make the state tournament, and then you want to play at this level and in a conference like the NCHC, and it’s been great so far,” Hampton said. “Going back to this summer, we honestly didn’t know a ton about Western. But we were looking for a spot that would be a good fit for both of us and a place we could win.

“We knew they had a successful program and the staff was highly-regarded, and everyone here has been great to us. I think we have a really good team and can hang with anybody in the country.”

Hampton Slukynsky is sharing the crease with Cameron Rowe this season, who has been “huge’” for Slukynsky’s development. WMU allows 1.8 goals per game, tied for third in the NCAA. Slukynsky earned his first NCAA shutout on Jan. 25 against Miami. (Photo courtesy of Western Michigan Athletics)

Reunited
This season has been an adjustment for both brothers, in a good way.

It’s their first year living in Kalamazoo and attending a new school, and the first at the college level in Hampton’s case. The two are sharing an apartment and living together and they even share a few classes, which has helped ease the adjustment.

However, it’s also their first time playing on the same team.

“It’s been unbelievable and definitely something we’ve been looking forward to,” Grant said. “From the moment we got here, we’ve loved every minute and it’s been a ton of fun going to the rink every single day and working to get better. We’re just taking it one day at a time, and I think that’s part of why we’ve had so much success. But I know for us personally, it’s been really special to finally play together and the off-ice part and living together has been fun too.”

Hampton added: “It’s been really cool. Obviously, he’s three years older, so we never got the chance to play together in youth hockey or high school, but I know both of us and our family have really enjoyed it so far. Playing at this level is special as it is, but to do it with your brother is something both of us will cherish forever.”

Make no mistake, the rest of the family is enjoying it too.

“I think when they were committed to Northern we just took it for granted and kinda expected it was gonna happen, but it’s been surreal seeing it come to fruition and Western has been an amazing fit for both of them,” said Tim Slukynsky, who doubles as their dad and the backyard rink’s maintenance manager. “I don’t know if you want to call it fate or hockey karma, but it’s been amazing how everything has worked out over the past few months. Obviously their team has been playing lights out on top of it too, and I know they’re really happy with where they’re at.”

Grant (left) and Hampton (right) Slukynsky have played in nine games together this season. “You would’ve thought given our numbers in our small town there would’ve been a little bit of overlap, but it’s just never happened,” said their father Tim. “It’s been amazing to watch them this year, and it’s really special for our family.” (Photo courtesy of the Slukynsky Family)

Family Affair
Tim and his wife, Jenny, have attended nearly every WMU game this season. They’ve missed three games total – two of which they were in Ottawa watching Hampton at the World Junior Championships.

Having both kids under one roof has “been a game-changer” Tim quipped, especially after they racked up thousands of miles in recent years. At times driving through the night after Northern Michigan’s games in the upper peninsula to watch Hampton in Des Moines, Omaha or Sioux City – among other locations.

“We wouldn’t be where we are today without them, and I know they’re loving watching us on the same team, and it’s been awesome sharing it with them,” Grant said. “It’s hard enough to play college hockey at this level as it is, but to go through it with your best friend makes it that much more special, and I know we’re not taking it for granted.

“Just being there to support each other in practice, or working together on a project has been awesome, and obviously Hammer’s handled this season tremendously well. At the end of the day, we’re each other’s biggest supporters and we’re just hoping to keep it going.”

Grant Slukynsky has played in all 22 games this season, including two in Grand Forks earlier this month. WMU swept North Dakota and the Slukynskys had roughly 25 friends and family in attendance from Warroad. “We love Warroad and are super proud that we grew up there,” Grant said. “We know a lot of people back home are always pulling for us and that’s pretty special, and we love representing the community.” (Photo courtesy of Western Michigan Athletics)

It’s been quite the year for the Slukynsky brothers, and the Broncos look poised for a deep run in the spring. Hampton also helped the U.S. win a gold medal earlier this month at the above-mentioned WJC in Ottawa, where he won a pair of games.

They both have promising careers ahead of them and have found a good home in Kalamazoo, and they’re making everyone back home in Warroad proud in the process.

“When you know how much hockey means to their family and how professional and caring they are every single day, it’s not a surprise at all to see them having the success they are,” Hardwick said. “They’re both extremely driven and passionate kids, and that’s been evident from a young age, and they’re just winners.

“I’m sure they’ve spent thousands of hours skating in their backyard and during the summer together, but to see them playing together now and being big contributors on one of the country’s top teams – it’s incredible. I know it means so much to both of them and for them to be representing our community in the process, I know everyone here in Warroad is super proud of them and they deserve it.”

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Warroad had jumped ahead early and went on to win the game 6-2, avenging a game two weeks earlier when Roseau won 3-2 in overtime in Roseau. As I sat there, looking at this enormous video screen 20 feet away, a fellow stepped in front of me, looked out from under a knit cap and over a graying goatee and said: “John Gilbert. Do you remember me?”

I had to admit that I didn’t recognize him.

“Neal,” he said. “Neal Broten.”

You’ve got to be kidding! Here was one of my favorite hockey players ever, and I didn’t recognize him. We had a nice conversation. He came up from the Twin Cities area to visit his dad and mom, Newell and Carol, who still live in Roseau.

That was one of many conversations I had, including one with David Christian, who also drove up from the Twin Cities for Hockey Day Minnesota. The crowds for the event were very good, as the temperature hovered in the mid-20s. My wife, Joan, and I drove up Friday, hoping to arrive in time to see the Roseau-Warroad alumni game, which would hinge on which side could round up the most alums. Roseau alums whipped Warroad alums, 6-2.

On the 4 and a 1/2-hour drive up from Duluth to Warroad, we tuned in KDAL radio to hear Bruce Ciskie’s broadcast of the UMD-Wisconsin women’s WCHA game at AMSOIL Arena. Wisconsin won a close game, but I was astounded to notice that Ciskie has adopted a style in which he gives the time on the clock — “11:30 of the second period” — as the official time of the game. He didn’t say time remaining, which would have legitimized it, but he just gives a time and the period, which is totally disconcerting to a listener like me, who wants to know the score and the remaining time. (When I got back, I asked Ciskie when he started doing that, and he said, “I hate doing math.” Huh?)

We got to Warroad and checked in, making friends with the beautiful little owner’s dog, Bentley. After trying, but failing, to get over to the end of the alumni game, Joan and I went over to Izzy’s, which used to be owned by Izzy Marvin, but which still sells the best hamburger in town. Like every other establishment in town, Izzy’s was jammed.

A group of young players periodically cleared ice buildup from the outdoor rink. (MHM Photo / John Gilbert)

Picture-perfect Hockey Day
It was a nearly perfect three days in Warroad last weekend, which was the ideal time for moderate temperatures and the lack of the usual January snowing, blowing and freezing in this little Canadian border town on the Southwest tip of Lake of the Woods. The organizers did a fantastic job of laying out the outdoor rink on the high school football field, which had one end zone right up against the Marvin Event Center. That center became our gathering spot for everything from watching hockey games to eating a steady flow of different foods supplied throughout all three days for anyone fortunate enough to have a VIP or media pass.

As a long-term resident of the pampered life of a sportswriter, I’ve grown to appreciate all the various press boxes I normally visit while watching games. No such luxury this time, so I spent much of it standing outside to shoot photos from in front of the windows of the event center. That was where I watched the very impressive Warroad girls high school team, ranked No. 2 in Class 1A, lose 4-3 to big and powerful Class 2A-foe Lakeville North, a team that has a good shot at making the state tournament.

The Warroad teams paid tribute to their heritage, and to the achievement of gaining the continued use of the term “Warriors” after numerous politicians had tried to get them to drop the name. Saturday started with the indigenous drum band playing an opening tribute that was quite an emotional attraction. And the Warroad players wore jerseys that had “Kaabekanong Ogichidaag” emblazoned on their chests. That, in Oglala Sioux, means “Warroad Warriors,” somebody said.

Another person said it was a modernized term for “War in the Road,” which dates back to the 1800s, when the warring factions of different tribes fought their battles on the road leading into Warroad. Probably for the rights to the many huge walleyes waiting for fishermen out on Lake of the Woods. The area tribe made a deal with the city of Warroad to give them the land on which to build their new school back in the early 1900s, and the agreement included a deal that assured the school would keep the name “Warriors” as a tribute to the Native Americans.

There were games for all age groups, from youth to college, and included some high school attractions. One of those attractions came in men’s hockey when Concordia College (Moorhead) came from behind to beat a strong St. Olaf team 4-2 with three third-period goals in a Division III classic.

There were also video tributes to Henry Boucha, who died in September, and continuing tributes to the Marvin family, which runs various industries, including the huge window-building plant that is the area’s largest employer.

Wayzata skated past Moorhead 5-2 in a boys high school feature. (MHM Photo / John Gilbert)

The Warroad girls high school team is coached by David (Izzy) Marvin, who has brought them to prominence and state championships. Izzy’s dad is the late Cal Marvin, who owned a resort and was general manager and coach of the Warroad Lakers, who won Canada’s Allen Cup for Senior Men’s teams.

“Other small towns that start girls programs need to do what Warroad has done,” Izzy said. “And that is to get behind the girls program. When we started, Cal got behind the girls program, and when Cal was behind something, not many people chose the other side.”

Perfect explanation for Cal’s influence and for the Warroad girls’ success.

Wrapping up the weekend
After watching and shooting photos at games such as the Wayzata boys powerhouse whipping Moorhead 5-2 in one of several other high school games, it was time for the Warroad-Roseau boys high school weekend highlight. I was prepared to head back outside to get a spot for shooting photos. However, the two rows of standing sites ahead of the event center were elbow to elbow, with the grandstands on both sides of the football stadium also jammed, as a crowd possibly approaching 5,000 filled every spot.

That’s what sent Joan and me back inside and over to the huge video screen for the Bally Sports North telecast.

As the second period ended, the sun was going down and it felt a little chillier, and I suggested to Joan that since we were watching on the big screen, we could hustle back to the hotel and catch the third period and maybe the Wild-Anaheim finale on BSN in our room. So we took off.

We got to the hotel in time to see the third period of the Warroad-Roseau game. But for some unknown reason, the connection between BSN and the motel had quit and despite scrolling through every station in the guide, we never found the end of the game. Nor did we find the Wild game, although we tried hard enough that we were too tired to go out seeking a late dinner, and we settled for crackers and cheese that we had brought with us.

When we were through with our snack/dinner, I tried scrolling through one last time — and there we found the Wild-Anaheim game! Just in time to see the Wild collapse into their bye-week swoon.

We slept well, got up Sunday morning and started our return trip in the test-drive Prius I was driving for my automotive column. We wanted to get back in time for the NFL championship games in the AFC and NFC, so we thought a quick breakfast at McDonald’s would be best, grabbing a couple bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwiches. We pulled into the drive through and were informed they quit selling those at 10:30 a.m., and it was already 10:40 a.m.

So we took off, heading east on Hwy. 11 for Baudette, another Lake of the Woods town. Passing through, we saw Alice’s Restaurant, where an impressive waitress named Ashley took care of our orders for Denver omelettes, whole wheat toast and… some of the worst coffee this side of instant.

But it got us home, after a fantastic Hockey Day Minnesota weekend in Warroad. Next year, the extravaganza will be in Shakopee. The following year, it will move to Hastings. Both of those cities will have a major challenge trying to live up to the high-bar setting of Warroad, which remains “Hockeytown, USA.”

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“I said, ‘you know what? When we go home, we should check out starting girls’ hockey,’” Tveit said. “I said, ‘girls’ hockey is going to explode with this Olympic win.’”

Things moved quickly, as Warroad’s arena manager set up Tveit with ice time the following week so he could gauge interest. Forty to 50 girls showed up initially. A $13,500 Mighty Kids Grant to the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission helped get the girls’ program up and running with a 15U team, two 12U teams and a house-league 10U team by the fall of 1998.

The first year, the 15U team nearly went undefeated, minus a late-season tournament game in Cloquet against Thunder Bay.

“So, we realized we could compete,” Tveit said. “And so, we jumped and made the move to varsity at that time.”

Twenty-five years later, Warroad girls’ hockey is one of the powerhouse programs in Minnesota. It’s won four Class 1A state championships, each in back-to-back fashion under current head coach David Marvin in 2010-11 and 2022-23. The Lady Warriors have appeared in 14 state tournaments and nine state title games. They’ve missed the state tournament only twice since 2009, losing to the Class 1A runner-up East Grand Forks in the section semifinal in 2014 and falling to 2015 Class 1A champion Thief River Falls in the section final that season.

Tveit led a group of girls with varying hockey abilities for four seasons, starting in 1998-99; they had six players who played squirts or peewees with the boys’ teams for a good nucleus. The rest of the team included players just sticking their skates on the hockey ice for the first time, though most players had brothers who played hockey at some level at the time. The team joined the Minnesota State High School League ranks in its second season.

One of Warroad’s standout moments was in the 2000-01 season when it played Moorhead, an opponent that was “a good measuring stick for us,” Tveit said. The Spuds were on a 19-game winning streak when Warroad went into their barn and shut them out 3-0, Tveit recalled.

“That was a huge deal for our kids,” Tveit said. “That was a big boost.”

Bruce Elson took over for two seasons before Scott Knutson was behind the bench for Warroad’s first state tournament trip in 2006.

Warroad did it right
When girls’ hockey got started in other communities, Tveit said it’s “fair to say that girls had an uphill battle, uphill struggle.” A common refrain in those early days was likely that girls’ teams took ice time away from the boys. Not so in Warroad, where the girls had “open-arm treatment,” which is an important part of the story, Tveit said.

From ice time to equipment to travel, everything was pretty much equal between the boys’ and girls’ Warroad teams.

“I have no memories of being like, ‘wow, we didn’t get this or we didn’t get that,’” Gigi Marvin said. “It was very much equal, I would say. We had as much ice as you could want.”

Added Maureen Hardwick Greiner, a member of the first Warroad team: “The boys got first-class stuff, and we got first-class stuff. From day one it was like that.”

That included Sunday nights with ice time first for the Warroad girls’ hockey team, then the boy’s team. No coaches, just shinny hockey, Gigi said.

“Until 10, 11 at night,” Gigi said. “Shutting the rink down. That’s probably the best way to explain it is you have girls and guys high school age skating together and sharing the ice and not having any issues whatsoever.”

Goaltender Amber Hasbargen Nelson, Hardwick Greiner and Gigi Marvin were some of the players who came into those first Warroad girls’ high school teams with hockey experience. They all played on boys’ teams growing up. Whether girls played hockey, everyone skates in Warroad, either in gym class, figure skating etc., Hasbargen said.

Starting a girls’ hockey team, “it wasn’t like we were starting from scratch like a lot of teams maybe were,” Hasbargen said. “Because we had girls that had played, and we had girls that had skated before and been around the game. That made for a good start for our program.”

Hasbargen was the team’s main goaltender. She was named Goaltender of the Year in Minnesota her senior season in 2002. She went on to play four seasons with North Dakota, back when it had a women’s hockey program.
In those early Warroad girls’ games, Hasbargen stood on her head and kept the team in a lot of those contests, Hardwick Greiner said.

“You could win high school girls’ hockey games back then with one or two studs and a good goalie,” Hardwick Greiner said. “You can’t do that anymore. Teams now are just too deep, and the hockey has just come so far and teams play systems.”

Then there was 2005 Ms. Hockey Gigi Marvin, who turned into a well-known name nationally and internationally, winning Olympic medals, for one thing. She played peewee hockey with the boys through seventh grade before moving to Warroad girls’ varsity.

Gigi also “had a deke move that would get me most of the time,” Hasbargen said, noting Gigi’s talent on breakaways.

Equal ice time leads to strong hockey program
From early on to the present, it’s that access to ice time and community support that separats the Lady Warriors from other programs. The open-door policy to skate with a variety of teams helped, too. Gigi remembers skating with not only her high school team but also had dad’s peewee team and her grandpa’s senior men’s program.

“We just have that ability to practice our skills, develop insanely good hockey IQ and on-ice vision because you’re at the rink all the time in so many different scenarios,” Gigi said. “In one practice you might be the best player out there and can really work on your stickhandling and some creative moves. And maybe the next ice session you go to… with a bunch of older kids that you’re skating with, you’re forced to think the game at a high level.”

That’s how you develop and get ahead of the curve, she added.

It’s the ice time, plus the support of the community when it comes to fundraisers and state tournament trips that’s helped the program, Hasbargen said.

“I think the dedication that the players put into it also is a big part of why the teams are so successful,” Hasbargen said. “The success has grown, and so the older girls make sure the younger girls know what it takes to continue to be successful, and I think that tradition just kind of continues.”

The former players love watching the program thrive, too. Early on, the team was lucky if they had three full lines, Gigi said. Those first seasons, the girls also convinced Hardwick Greiner’s sister, Meaghan, to step away from her role as a boys’ hockey cheerleader and come play girls’ hockey for her senior year.

“’Meaghan, we need bodies, you’ve gotta come and play,’” Maureen said. “We had 13 people, only 12 skaters on our high school team. So, we had a few like Meaghan who couldn’t catch a pass or handle a puck. It was a little dicey. But we just needed bodies, we needed people to field a team.”

A couple of decades into the program’s history, and the roster is not only full but full of college-level talent. Last year’s line chart for the state championship game against Orono included seven players committed to play college hockey, including a top line of DI-committed athletes in Talya Hendrickson and Kate Johnson at the wings headed to Bemidji State and center Rylee Bartz with a St. Thomas commitment.

“It speaks to the level of commitment and type of player that Warroad has right now and have been able to develop,” Gigi said.

There’s also a sense of pride for hockey players coming out of Warroad’s program, hailing from Hockeytown, USA. As Gigi said: “There’s no place like it on the planet.”

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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.”

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