It was the eighth runner-up finish – with zero state titles – in Moorhead program history.

“The toughest thing of anything,” Ammerman said that night, as he spoke between long pauses and offered his words through tears, “is now that team’s done. I’m not much of an emotional guy. But tonight was going to be sad either way.

“I’m glad our kids got the opportunity. They deserve it.”

Jump ahead to the 2025, and Ammerman was back at that same table in a similar moment on Saturday. But this time, the mood was celebratory as he sat with players Mason Kraft, Brooks Cullen and Brandon Mickelson after they defeated Stillwater 7-6 to win the Class 2A state championship.

What were Ammerman’s emotions this time around once the final horn sounded?

“Relief,” Ammerman quipped. “We’ll enjoy it as it comes here. This isn’t something that I did. I thought our coaching staff did a phenomenal job this week of preparing these kids.”

Ammerman was calm and humble as he answered questions after one of the biggest moments in program history. He offered praise to the team, coaches and others in the community.

“I’ll have time to reflect as a coach, but we’re excited for them to go celebrate with our families,” Ammerman said. “This isn’t about something that I did, or isn’t about something that one individual did. It was a collective effort.”

The Class 2A championship game ended in victorious fashion for the Spuds (28-2-1), though there was danger in it becoming an epic collapse had Stillwater (24-7-0) completed its comeback effort after being down by multiple goals for most of the night.

From the jump, the Spuds were pumped
The announced record crowd of 20,491 at Xcel Energy Center was treated to three periods of momentum-turning, goal-scoring excitement to finish off the high school season.

The game included record-tying efforts, both head coaches using their timeouts prior to the third period to calm their teams down, highlight-reel goals and ultimate resiliency from players on each bench.

Mason Kraft scored four goals in the first period. The celebration of his fourth goal was more subdued than the first three.(MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Where to begin? Two words: Mason Kraft.

The senior and Minnesota State commit scored on the first shots of the game for Moorhead, tallying goals 12 seconds apart less than two minutes into the game. Senior Brooks Cullen made it 3-0 only 2 minutes, 24 seconds into the game, so Stillwater coach Greg Zanon called a timeout and told his team to “calm down.”

“It’s a big game,” Zanon said. “When has a high school kid played in front of 20,000 people?”

Kraft had a hat trick 12 minutes in – at least one hat made it onto the ice from the stands – before adding his fourth goal with 40.6 seconds left in the first period to make it a 5-1 lead. He skated to the bench, where Moorhead players mob each other for their goal celebrations, with body language that seemed to say: “What else is new?”  

Four goals in a period ties a tournament record with John Mayasich, who scored four in the 1951 quarterfinal first period against Williams. Kraft’s performance was also reminiscent of three years ago when Prior Lake’s Alex Bump pumped in five goals in the state quarterfinals, though he only scored three in a period. Kraft nearly had a fifth goal in the game later, but his shot hit the pipe.

‘It’s not over’
Stillwater’s Trey Fredenberg made it a 5-2 game with 9:51 left in the second period just after a TV timeout. About 30 seconds later, the Stillwater student section led a “It’s not over!” cheer. That generated a “Yes, it is!” response from another section of fans, though not the main Moorhead student section at the other end of the arena.

The Stillwater students were onto something, because less than a minute after their encouraging words, the Ponies scored again on a top-shelf snipe from Luca Jarvis for a 5-3 game. That caused Moorhead to burn its timeout, after allowing two goals in 1:30 of game time.

It must have been a motivating discussion at the bench, because Mickelson scored 20 seconds later to regain the three-goal lead, and the Spuds led 6-3 through two periods.

Matthew Volkman scored a pair of third-period goals to cut Stillwater’s deficit to 7-6. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

The Ponies kept galloping and wouldn’t let these three-goal deficits stand. Fredenberg tallied his second of the game early in the third period. But sophomore Zac Zimmerman had an absolute snipe of a shot on the power play to make it 7-4. Stillwater’s Matthew Volkman scored a pair of goals later in the period, eventually getting the contest to a one-goal game with 3:20 to play.

The entire lower bowl of fans stood for the final minute as the Ponies tried to tie the game with the extra attacker. But they couldn’t complete the comeback, and once the horn sounded, the Spuds celebrated one more time. Although this celebration might go on for a while.

Kraft, who had a five-point game and finished the season with 46 goals and 95 points, was poised and articulate in the postgame press conference. He said the reaction to winning the championship was “like a sensation that I’ve honestly never felt,” adding that he felt on top of the world.

“It’s the greatest feeling ever,” said Kraft, who was crowned Mr. Hockey on Sunday. “And I just want to say, if you ever have the option to stay or leave, I think you should always come back and play high school hockey and play one more year with your buddies.

“You never get this time back ever. There’s no better place in the country to play than Minnesota.”

Finally, Moorhead
Moorhead’s storyline was well known heading into the tournament; it came in as the top seed this year. Before Saturday’s game, Ammerman referred to the history as “the elephant in the room” and said it’s been addressed with the team. They all knew the history, even if it wasn’t this year’s roster who’s responsible for that 0-8 state championship-game streak.

Moorhead goaltender Charlie Stenehjem tosses his helmet and celebrates after the game was over. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Moorhead finished as state runner-up eight times starting more than 30 years ago: 1992 (Tier I), 1994, 1995, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2017. Ammerman, a 2005 Moorhead graduate, played on the 2004 and 2005 teams.

“As a coach, part of your job is to set your kids up for hopefully some success, to put things in place for them to reach their goals and dreams,” Ammerman said. “I think that these guys had everything in place. And that doesn’t mean that it was going to work out.

“I’m happy that they got to experience something that I didn’t. I’m just happy for them.”

This year was the first time since 2017 that the Spuds reached the state title game, despite making the state tournament five times from 2019-23. But the Spuds went 0-5 in those state quarterfinals, losing in double overtime in 2022 and 2023 to dash any championship hopes. Last season, the Spuds failed to reach its Section 8 title game for the first time in 23 years.

But the 2024-25 team responded well. The Spuds were undefeated in regulation this season, with its two overtime losses bookending the regular season to Wayzata 3-2 and No. 1-ranked Hill-Murray 8-7 in a battle between the top-two ranked teams in the state, according to Let’s Play Hockey.

The state championship obviously means a lot to the Moorhead community, too. Brooks Cullen, who’s dad Matt Cullen, Stanley Cup Champion and a Spud alum who’s now an assistant coach, talked about the tight-knit hockey community.

“It’s unbelievable to get the first championship for this town,” Brooks said.

Added Kraft: “You could see their emotion on all the parents tonight after the game. It’s something that you can’t really put into words.”

Assistant coach Matt Cullen celebrates the state championship for Moorhead that eluded him as a player for the Spuds. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Kraft’s dad, Ryan, and Matt Cullen played for the Spuds in the early 1990s.

This year’s Spuds wrote their own chapter in tournament history, though the road wasn’t easy.

First, they had to weather the storm against No. 8-seed Lakeville South in the quarterfinals. The Cougars scored only 1 minute, 37 seconds into the game and took 3-1 and 4-2 leads in the game before the Spuds rattled off five unanswered goals for a 7-4 win.

The semifinals set up a meeting with defending champion, 5-seed Edina. The Hornets can never be counted out at the state tournament, regardless of seeding. Edina’s Mason West tallied a hat trick in the first period for a 3-2 lead at intermission. With the game 3-3 late in regulation, Zimmerman scored a power-play goal with under a minute remaining to send Moorhead to the state title game.

The championship game included a record-tying 13 combined goals in the 7-6 game. The only other boys’ hockey state championship game with that many goals was in 1996 when Warroad defeated Red Wing 10-3 in the Class 1A final.

The Stillwater team embraces following the state championship loss to Moorhead. (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Unfortunately for Stillwater, six goals also marked the most ever scored by a losing team in a championship game. But the attitude on the Stillwater bench never faltered, Zanon said.

“The never-quit, never-die type mentality,” Zanon said. “Being down 5-1 wasn’t ideal, but going in after that first period, there was just no doubt in my mind that we were going to claw back some way.

“We could easily have quit and fold up the tent and it could’ve been 12-1, especially with the way they can score goals. We put our foot down and tried to claw back.”

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(Image courtesy of Vintage Minnesota Hockey)

The memories remain vivid to all those who have ever played hockey outdoors, but Ikola points out that being able to escape the cold and play in one of the state’s first indoor hockey arenas was a huge influence. “It was a tremendous advantage to be able to play indoors,” Ikola said. “I don’t remember ever losing a game at the Hip.”

Ikola grew up in Eveleth in the 1940s, and even today he looks back fondly of being a kid, playing in the Eveleth Hippodrome. It has endured through decades of historic teams and memorable games.

There are a lot of good reasons why hockey history books read a lot like “Eveleth, and Everybody Else.” A small but wealthy mining town on the Iron Range, Eveleth had iron ore mines right within the city limits, luring workers from all over the country, and world, for the good-paying jobs in the open-pit mines. If some of them were invited because they were good hockey players, or had sons who were, so much the better to bolster the area’s semi-pro teams to entertain the miners in post-World War II Eveleth.

But the biggest reason for Eveleth’s early hockey success was that solid, substantial building known as “The Hip,” a brick fortress that is the Eveleth Hippodrome, built just a block down the hill from the bars and businesses of downtown Eveleth. It opened its doors for the city’s skaters and hockey players exactly 100 years ago — Jan. 1, 1922 — and links Eveleth’s rich hockey history from what is an entirely different world in January of 2022.

“The Hip was just down the street from the high school, and I lived about three blocks up the hill,” Ikola recalled. “Every elementary school had a real nice outdoor rink. But when we had the chance to play at the Hip, almost everybody else was playing their games outdoors.”

Championship banners fill the rafters of the Eveleth Hippodrome. (Image courtesy of Vintage Minnesota Hockey)

If you doubt that an indoor rink could have that much influence on a high school program, consider that the first Minnesota state high school hockey tournament was in 1945, and Eveleth earned the right to represent Region 7 in all of the first 12 years of the tournament. Eveleth High School won the first tournament, in 1945, with an 11-0 record, climaxed by a 4-3 championship game victory over Thief River Falls at the St. Paul Auditorium.  Eveleth took third place in the second tournament, in 1946, and two years later the Golden Bears won the first of four consecutive undefeated state championships — in 1948, ’49, ’50, and ’51. Advancing to play in the first 12 state tournaments, winning five of the first seven — that’s domination.

After that, other towns, communities and suburbs started building arenas and striving to catch up to the standard that Eveleth set in those first dozen state tournaments.

Those years also were a magical time for Willard Ikola to come along as a goaltender, too, because while John Mariucci had gone from Eveleth to the University of Minnesota and on to the Chicago Blackhawks, Eveleth was turning out a stream of legendary goaltenders. Frankie Brimsek, Mike Karakas and Sam LoPresti all made it from Eveleth to the NHL at about the same time. Imagine only six teams in the NHL, and three of them — half the league — had goaltenders from Eveleth.

“Frankie Brimsek was known as ‘Mr. Zero’ and I idolized him. I had a big picture of him in my room,” Ikola said. “He and Karakas played against each other, and Sam LoPresti joined Mariucci with the Blackhawks, so they were all in the NHL at the same time.”

Maybe as important to Ike was that his older brother, Roy, also played ahead of him.

“My brother Roy was a goalie too and he played on the 1945 Eveleth team that won the first state tournament,” Ikola said. “He later played goalie at Colorado College for the team that won the first NCAA tournament.”

For Ike, an older brother who was a goaltender also meant access to his big brother’s hand-me-down goalie equipment.

“I played for the Jackson Street Wildcats,” Ike said. “Every neighborhood had an outdoor rink and a youth team. There were no coaches, we didn’t have jerseys, and there weren’t many hockey gloves. But every Saturday morning, they let the youth teams play in the Hip. It was colder than hell, and natural ice, of course, but the lobby was warm.

(Image courtesy of Vintage Minnesota Hockey)

“When we were playing Saturday at the Hip, we’d look up and see a guy sitting up in the corner. It was Cliff Thompson, who had come to town to be a phy-ed teacher, and to coach baseball. He ended up coaching the hockey team, too, in boots. When we saw him, somebody would say, ‘Coach is here,’ and everybody picked up the pace, the passes were all tape-to-tape. We all wanted to make a good impression.”

Ikola also was blessed with exceptional teammates during his high school years. John Matchefts was a year older, and the legendary John Mayasich was a year younger. And after the long string of great goaltenders, Ike got another break when Ron Drobnik, who played with Ike’s older brother on the team that won the first state tournament, was followed by followed a gap down to Ike, who was an eighth-grader.

“Cliff Thompson asked me if I’d practice with the team,” said Ikola. “It helped me a lot to get to play with and against older players. I did that on those Saturday mornings at the Hip too. I had the goalie equipment, so if I got into the rink, I could play against the older guys. I’d bring a sandwich and play from morning until dark.”

Ikola also remembers focusing a little extra in practices and warm-ups to not allow his teammates to score on him. “I always thought that since we had a lot of one-sided games, I might not have many important saves, so it might impress somebody if I could keep Matchefts and Mayasich from scoring on me,” he said.

The likes of state tournament and Gopher record-holder John Mayasich, and former Michigan standout John Matchefts, highlighted those Eveleth teams in the early state tournament years, right up through the late Mark Pavelich, who was an All-America at UMD and a star for the 1980 Miracle on Ice Team USA that won the gold medal at the Lake Placid Olympics, plus Doug Palazarri, who became an /All-America at Colorado College and later was an executive at USA Hockey and the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. Others included Wally Grant, Pat Finnegan, and brothers Dave and Gus Hendrickson, who went off to play for Amo Bessone at Michigan State before retiring to coach high school hockey on the Range. Craig Homola was captain at Vermont before coming home to coach the Golden Bears.

Then there was the unending string of exceptional goaltenders, including Pete LoPresti, son of Sam, who went on to star at Denver University and then played several years with the home state Minnesota North Stars.

They all went their separate ways, but they all had one thing in common — playing their most formative years at the Hip, which became the citadel for hockey in the state, and the entire country. It stands as solid and secure as ever, just down the hill a block from what used to be Mitch’s Bar, and Tuna’s, where the most intense fans might run up between periods for a couple beers and to analyze if the Golden Bears coach was doing OK, before returning to the Hip.

(Image courtesy of Vintage Minnesota Hockey)

In most arenas, the boards are fastened at the bottom so when somebody gets checked into them, the boards can flex up to a foot or so to absorb the impact. At the Hippodrome, those boards were sunk into concrete and were as solid as running into the  brick wall itself. The huge photos reproduced on the walls of the lobby are reminiscent of the classic old facilities like the Montreal Forum and Maple Leaf Gardens, but the biggest difference is that the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs have moved into flashy new arenas. The Hippodrome stands alone, still in use, although the Eveleth and Virginia schools and athletic programs have merged, along with the various smaller towns around, to form the Rock Ridge Wolverines. Quite a change for the kids from such storied rivals as Eveleth and Virginia, as time and enrollment numbers have changed with the times.

“Hibbing was about the only team we played in high school that had an indoor rink,” Ikola said. “We’d play Virginia, Grand Rapids, International Falls and other Range teams, and we’d go up to play Roseau and Warroad. None of them had arenas, so they liked to come to Eveleth and play at the Hip. Up at Roseau and Warroad, it was so cold the referees couldn’t use whistles because they’d freeze up, so they had little bells they’d ring for an offside or penalty.”

Ikola set the state tournament record for shutouts with five, recording one in 1947, two in 1949 and two in 1950, during those undefeated state title seasons.That showed a different kind of domination for Eveleth goalies, because Ike’s predecessor, Ron Drobnick, is assured of retaining the all-time tournament record he set in the first tournament, in 1945, of fewest saves in a period, none. And he did it twice in the same game, during which he set the record for fewest saves in a game, one.

(Image courtesy of Vintage Minnesota Hockey)

Years later, Ikola turned down a chance to play for John Mariucci at Minnesota because the Gophers didn’t offer scholarships and Ikola said his family couldn’t afford to send him there. Vic Heiliger became the new coach at Michigan and recruited Johnny Matchefts from Eveleth, which led to him also recruiting Ikola, who became a two-time All-America and won two championships for the Wolverines in 1952 and 1953 — the formative years of the NCAA tournament. Mariucci held no grudge, and put Ikola on the 1956 U.S. team he coached at the Winter Olympics in Cortina, Italy, and later helped Ikola get the coaching job at Edina.

But after all his travels led Ikola back to coach at Edina, he never forgot his Iron Range roots.

“I always loved to take my Edina teams back up there to play,” Ikola said. “We didn’t have any Lake Conference games over Christmas vacation, so I’d take the team, and the JV, and the Bantams and Peewees and we’d all go up there and play.”

Maybe being exposed to games in the Hip, where they could see how important hockey was to the Eveleth kids, wore off in a positive direction for the Edina Hornets, too.

Laurie Ikola, Willard’s wife since the two were students at the University of Michigan, would go on those trips, of course, and she remembered after the game going to visit Ike’s mother at the home where he grew up. “We won the game, and we were so excited,” Laurie said. “Ike’s mom said, ‘Did you see, after the game, when Pastor Rohaniemi went down and shook Willard’s hand, right in front of everybody?’ She thought that was more important than the game.”

Maybe the Rock Ridge Wolverines will work their way up to deserving a similar place in hockey history. But as legends go, nothing but possibly the Forum and Maple Leaf Gardens can approach the stature of the Eveleth Hippodrome.

The post The Magically Hipp appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

MHM Exclusive Interview

John Mayasich & Scott Tiffany, photo by Rick Olson

MHM’s Scott Tiffany and Rick Olson met with Minnesota hockey legend, John Mayasich, this winter and captured his memories of leading Eveleth HS to the State Tournament in 1948-51 and playing for the U of MN.

Mayasich is recognized as the best player in tournament history and continues to hold most of the high school hockey records. 

In this segment, Mayasich talks about the team traveling to St. Paul for the State Tournament and not losing a game in his four years of high school hockey.

This is the first of several segments in the interview.  Stay tuned for more!

The post Mayasich Speaks on His Tournament Years appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

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