Warroad Girls Take down Dodge County 5-2 to take 3rd Straight 1A title.

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Brock Nelson likes to head back to Warroad whenever he gets a chance.

Even though he now lives in the Twin Cities when he’s not playing for the New York Islanders, Warroad will always be home.

“My parents are still up there, so I try to go back up there a few times, hang out with them, check it out, see everybody back in town,” he said the other day.

From his place in Wayzata to Warroad six hours away is no quick drive, he admitted.

“It’s a long one, but it goes by quick,” Nelson said during the Islanders’ lone stop of the season in St. Paul to play the Wild in October. “You have your pit stops along the way. I see some family in Bemidji to break it up, and once you start to get up where there’s a lot of space between towns, I start reminiscing about the drives and hockey games here and there. Then you pass through Baudette and I’m home.”

Home.

Nelson, who turned 26 on Oct. 15, is well known as a product of Warroad who played in the state tournament for the high school team and later at the University of North Dakota before turning pro. Not so well known is the fact that he was born in Minneapolis and first laced on skates at about age 2 when the family lived in New Brighton. His mom took him to the Roseville Oval to skate, and found a kid hockey team in the Centennial system where Brock could get some very early game action.

The family soon moved back to Warroad, the hockey hotbed of less than 1,800 where Brock’s grandfather, Billy Christian, joined brother Roger to launch the Christian Brothers hockey stick company in 1964 — four years after the two helped the United States win a gold medal in the 1960 Winter Olympics.

Brock remembers growing up playing pond hockey on shoveled patches of the Warroad River and finding ice time at the Warroad Gardens or at the outdoor rink adjacent to the arena,as well as working and hanging out at the stick factory, amid half-made or freshly sawed wooden sticks.

“I still remember the smell,” he recalled with a smile. “It brings back a lot of good memories.”

The NHL in those early days was not even on his radar.

“When you’re that young, you’re just out having fun, playing with the boys you grew up with,” he said.

(Photo by Jeff Wegge)

That changed during his trips with Warroad to the state high school hockey tournament, and Nelson was picked 30th overall by the Islanders in the 2010 draft. He became a regular with the Islanders three years later, and through 10 games this season he had 85 goals in 328 NHL games.

“For a Minnesota kid,” Islanders coach Doug Weight said with a laugh in St. Paul, “he’s doing pretty well.”

Start with Nelson’s exceptional defensive play as a centerman, Weight noted. “And sees the game really well.” Issuing one of a coach’s ultimate compliments, Weight added: “I trust him.”

Nelson reached the NHL via Warroad.

“Thinking back to those days, a long road,” he said. “A lot of people helped along the way, and obviously I was blessed to have a couple of family members before me kind of set the path.”

For sure.

Great uncle Gordon Christian played on the 1956 U.S. Olympic team that won a silver medal. Then came Roger and Billy collecting gold four years later.

“I skated a lot with my grandpa when I was younger,” Brock recalled.

Billy’s son, who is Brock’s uncle David, was of course a key ingredient on the 1980 U.S. Olympic team that famously won gold in the Miracle on Ice. David Christian went on to a successful NHL career, and he and his nephew still talk hockey whenever they get the chance.

Brock not only has hockey in his blood, he has hockey in his name: Brock Christian Nelson.

With Minnesota also in his background, the 6-foot-3 Nelson relishes trips to St. Paul for games against the Wild.

“It’s fun just being so close to home and having all the family come down and watch you, maybe you don’t get to see them throughout the year,” he said before the game in St. Paul. “It’s definitely special to hang out with them; I got to see some family last night and I’ll get to see some after.

“It’s always fun to come back here and play hard and kind of show them what, over the years, they’ve helped me accomplish.”

It started as a youth in Warroad, a period he labeled “awesome” because of the place’s camaraderie, positivity and spirit. “The whole town surrounds you, watches all the games. It’s just something that’s part of the heritage and the background there.”

And, for Nelson and T.J. Oshie of the Washington Caps, Warroad’s other NHL player, Warroad will always be home.

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The Glory Years of Laker Hockey

Winning the Allan Cup is a big deal.  To understand senior A hockey in Canada, it is nearly impossible for someone south of the border to get the impact and difficulty, as hockey is the national game and is treated like a religion in Canada.  

The Allan Cup goes to the winner of a series of tournaments that are played throughout Canada, with teams from every province competing for a trophy that is awarded annually to the national senior amateur men’s ice hockey champion of Canada.  

The Cup was donated by Sir Montague Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal and has been competed for since 1909.   The tournament is televised by TSN and is treated like the NHL’s Stanley Cup, passed by champion to champion by league championship or challenge.

In 1915, the challenge system was replaced with a series of national playoffs.  From 1920 to 1960, the winner of the Allan Cup would represent Canada in the Olympics and in World Championships.  

The Cup has been won by teams from every province and from the Yukon, as well as by two teams from the United States.

The original Cup has been retired to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, and a replica is now presented to the champions.

It has been said that there is more to life than hockey, not in Canada or Warroad.

Like Father, Like Son –Player-Coach  David “Izzy” Marvin

David Marvin was No. 11 of 12 Children by Beth and Cal and grew up with hockey.  

Like his father, David would go on to play for the University of North Dakota and then coach the Lakers.

“We had very few conversations that didn’t revolve around hockey or maybe the particular business that dad had at that time,” David Marvin said.  

David and Cal Marvin with Allan Cup

Growing up as a stick boy for the Lakers, he was in the locker room with the legends of Lakers hockey including Olympians Roger and Billy Christian.  His own game was developed by Laker players like Bob Storey, Peter Waselovich, Scott Marvin, Blaine Comstock, his brother Mike Marvin and Billy Christian.  

In Bantams, under Christian, the team would be disciplined and conditioned as Billy worked them hard.  The team would qualify for the state tournament.  

With coaching like that the players developed and, by their high school years under Tom King, and with players like Larry Olimb and Danny Lambert, the team would go undefeated in Marvin’s junior season.  For the next 2 years, the team would make the trip to the state tourney, with 16 players from that group going on to play either college or pro hockey.

With high school behind him, it was now time for the University of North Dakota where he played for Gino Gasparini.

“Gino didn’t have to recruit me very hard,” Marvin said. “I wanted to play where my dad played.”

Billy Christian then helped David get a tryout with the Winnipeg Jets.  With the tryout and his wedding fast approaching, David was very excited, but soon would be hit with a tragedy that would change the direction of his life.  As his  future wife was heading back from Grand Forks with her little sister, a drunk driver hit them, killing David’s fiancé’s sister.

The funeral was on Wednesday and the wedding followed on Saturday, After the tryout with the Jets, David was sent to the farm team at Moncton, New Brunswick and was offered a minimum professional contract, which wasn’t much.  

The person who killed David’s would-be sister-in-law had now plead not guilty, and with a trial looming, David knew in his heart it was time to go back home to Warroad.  

“If you’ve ever lost someone, you know there’s nothing worse,” Marvin said. “I asked myself ‘What are you doing out here in New Brunswick?’”

He headed back home in November, played with the Lakers, started into business and did the best to take care of his wife.

David would play for the Lakers in the team’s final six seasons, the last five as player-coach.

Lakers Come of Age

The Warroad Lakers team in the 90’s was the best senior men’s hockey club to ever play the game.

Not to say the Canadians didn’t make it difficult, the tournament in itself is grueling, but throw in the US/Canada sentiment and their feat is even more amazing.

John Hanson said playing in the Allan Cup finals in Quesnel British Columbia wasn’t just playing against the other team, but it was also playing against other factors, including suspect officiating.

“Our team was so good that they just had it in for us,” Hanson said.  

With the officiating less than desirable, and the host team winning to advance to the finals, Hanson would find himself in some hot water with the officials.

“The officiating was just awful.  It was very apparent they wanted the host team in the championship game.  After the game, and with me being so upset, I told the ref what I thought and he kept skating away from me.  The referee bumped legs with me and fell, taking a huge dive.  He then wrote me up for abusing an official, where I was suspended from playing in Canada until the following year.  This type of refereeing was typical for the games we played in Canada.”

Starting with “final four” appearances in the Allan Cup in both the 1991-92 and the 1992-93 seasons, the team was poised for something special.  With Cal as manager and led by his son Player-Coach David “Izzy” Marvin, the team was ready to take home the Cup.

Over the years, 62 former University of North Dakota players would wear the Laker Jersey.  

Joined by Former Sioux players Shane Mcfarlane and John Hanson, along with adding Roseau guys like Greg Lund, Jamie Byfuglien, Mike and Steve Ross and Billy Lund, the makings of a strong core was set for what would soon be the glory years of Laker hockey.  

The Lund Brothers from Roseau

Cal had the team ready and with the help of guys like All-Americans Steve Johnson and Warroad native, and Minnesota Mr. Hockey winner, Larry Olimb, the pieces were there for a great run.  

McFarlane and the guys loved being around Cal and said, “Cal loved telling stories; he had all these hockey stories, starting with UND, the early Lakers, about Henry Boucha, just great hockey stories.”

Scott Knutson, a 1982 All-State player for Warroad before his Laker days, said Cal was one of a kind. “Cal really enjoyed it, he loved being around the guys, he had a great sense of humor, and would always have a smile on his face.”

Cal was always on the lookout for players who were in the area who could help the Lakers.  Sometimes Cal would miss on the talent of a player.

“Cal and Spencer Estling went down to Bemidji to look at Joel Otto,”  Knutson said. “And after seeing Joel skate, Cal thought Joel really couldn’t help the Lakers, as he wasn’t a good enough skater.”

Otto would go on to play 14 years in the NHL as a shut-down center, winning a Stanley Cup with Calgary in 1989. Otto also played on two U.S. Canada Cup teams and was a member of Team USA for the inaugural World Cup of Hockey and the 1998 Olympics games in Nagano, Japan.

Having been to these Allan Cup finals in Quesnel, Cal knew Warroad would be a good host and the club knew how to put in a bid to host for the 1994 Allan Cup.

In a show of respect, the 1994 Cup was awarded to Cal Marvin and the Warroad community.  With the games played in Warroad, the story was made much better for the Lakers and for Cal Marvin, winning the first Allan Cup in their beloved “Garden”.

The bid would only be the second time that the tournaments finals would be played on U.S. soil, having been played in Spokane Washington decades earlier.  Warroad was also the least populated city to ever host the championship round.

The story would get even better.  The Laker club from 1994 through 1996 was the only team to ever win the Allan Cup three straight seasons.

Fighting Sioux, Rams and Warriors unite – Allan Cup comes to Warroad

Warroad and Roseau have one of the greatest rivalries in Minnesota.  From Mites to the High School level, that game was circled on every calendar.   Roseau player Jamie Byfuglien noted,  “Cal would rarely miss any games particularly the Warroad – Roseau games and, looking back as far as squirts, I remember him wearing the long trench coat smoking a cigar.”  

Merging these two hockey powers into one force was the work of Cal.  Cal knew that if the Lakers were going to win it all, he needed the help of their neighbors.

“I grew up watching the Lakers and I always wanted to play for them,” Byfuglien said. That was the closest thing to professional hockey as there was up here.

Playing Laker hockey was second only to my youth and high school hockey in Roseau, where we won the state peewee, bantam and then the high school tournament.  I was fortunate to play on some great teams, including the three Allan Cups.”

According to Byfuglien, it was Greg Lund who was the guy who broke the ice, and started skating for the Lakers from Roseau.  

“I didn’t know what to expect, but my D partner was also from Roseau, with Greg Lund, who was about 4 years older than I,” Byfuglien said. Once we joined the Lakers, there was no rivalry that I know for the guys from the late 80’s and on as we were a team.

“Cal took us Roseau guys in with open arms. Every practice we had he was up watching, chewing on the cigar, arms crossed.  He knew it was also important for the wives and girlfriends of the players to feel welcomed, and that is what made it special.  Without Cal, the Lakers would not have had the success they enjoyed.

“Our practices were intense, we would scrimmage and play black on white, with Izzy taking a run at me and I would make sure he would get the brunt of the hit.  But at the end of practice, we would just go in, and BS in the locker room with everything that had just happened being left on the ice,  It was great fun.”

On the long road trips, the players were cared for by Cal.

“Cal would have the pre-game meal at McDonalds where every player got seven bucks, although some guys got envelopes that had more cash after the games,” Byfuglien said.  “What was paid was a secret for years.  On the road trip home he would always have a boxed lunch for all the players.  He took his time out during the day to make sure the guys were taken care of on the way home.”

Greg Lund recalled the respect the team had for Cal while playing for him.  

“He just loved the game, he would sit up watching us every practice,” Lund said. “Afterwards, he would come down to the locker room, and we would flip him crap and he would give it right back.”  

Lund looks back at the Laker practices with fondness.  “Our practices were like playing for the Allan Cup every night. The practices were intense; we would shoot on the goalies for 5 minutes and then go to war playing a best of 5 series up to 5.”  

The team and the community of Warroad went all out in their efforts to host the 94 Allan Cup.  One of the most important activities, fundraising, was headed up by Conway Marvin.

The community was able to raise the $40,000 needed to host the Allan Cup. The five-day round-robin tournament featured teams from across Canada with the travel expenses for these teams picked up by the Lakers.

Hanson said the 94 squad that brought in Chris Imes right off the Olympic team was really strong.

“Imes was a very good player, but was just another piece,” Hanson said. “He wasn’t even our best player, we were just that good.”

That team featured 2 All Americans and 13 Division 1 hockey players.

Wyatt Smith, a high school star, joined the club.  He would be on two Allan Cup championship teams before he graduated from high school.  Smith would later go on to star for the Gophers and play in the NHL for the Wild, among other teams.

The result was well worth the efforts as Warroad would take the Allan Cup on its home ice in dramatic fashion by winning the tournament in five games.  The team would need every player to get through the grind, and energy guys like Bruce Elson, Roger Lien, John Gillie, Wayne Bartley, Donny Riendeau and Jared Baines would make this vision a reality.  

Solid goaltending wins championships.  Without it, you will not win as it is almost impossible to hide poor goaltending in a long tournament.  The Lakers were blessed with Todd Kriebich providing a steady influence between the pipes, with Kriebich being awarded all-tournament honors on a consistent basis.

After the tournament, Player-Coach David Marvin summed it up best saying, “I can’t begin to tell you how much it means to me just because of my father.  I saw him get a little emotional there at the end.  None of us would be here if it weren’t for him.  He’s the ultimate team player.  This whole thing is for him as far as I’m concerned.”

1994 Lakers Allan Cup Champions

The Lakers were just starting their dominance of the Allan Cup.  

The 1994-95 squad was not as talented as the year before, but what they lost in talent, they made up for in chemistry.  The team found a new league playing in the Southeastern Manitoba league and filled out its schedule by playing strong teams like the St. Paul Parkers, Minneapolis Bucks and the Sun Valley, Idaho Suns.

In the playoffs, the team cruised to its fourth straight Manitoba title defeating Thompson 12-1, Notre Dame, 6-2 and St. Anne 6-3, and defeating Notre Dame in the championship by a 10-4 score.  

The Lakers would catch a big break in the next round, as the were to play the Cupar Canucks for the Manitoba Saskatchewan championship.  Cupar would jump out to a 2-0 lead in the best of 5 series, but after the Lakers defeated them 3-2 back in Warroad, the Cupar team forfeited the remaining 2 games giving the Lakers the title.  

Many of the Cupar players hadn’t planned on losing, and when they did, the guys needed to be back at work by Tuesday, having planned most of their vacation time for the Allan Cup.  Cupar Manager Kelly Findling said his guys had taken time off through Monday, and, “since we all came over in one bus, we decided to play the Sunday game.  If we had won, we’d go to the Allan Cup.  If we lost, we’d be done, our players are professional workers, not professional hockey players”.

Cal Marvin was not pleased stating, “I don’t understand it.  In 48 years of amateur hockey, I’ve never seen anything like this.  You play all year to get to the championship and pull out one win away from the finals.”

Why Cal couldn’t understand this was obvious.  Nothing like that would have ever crossed his mind.  The Laker commitment to hockey, which was Cal’s commitment to hockey, would never have allowed for such thinking.

In the Allan Cup playoffs at Stony Plain (located just west of Edmonton) the Lakers posted wins over Powell River British Columbia 9-2, and Stony Plain 3-2 and dumped the Truro Nova Scotia Bearcats 5-2.  Stony Plain would win the play in game and the Lakers would defeat them 3-2 with goals by Knutson, Donnie Riendeau and Wyatt Smith.  The Lakers would finish the year with a 35-8-1 record and the Allan Cup.

That summer, the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States gave its Hall of Fame Heritage Award to Cal Marvin.  The award is based on outstanding service and significant contributions to American hockey.

The Laker team was not finished, and would soon make history, becoming the first team ever to win back to back to back Allan Cup titles.

The following year the Allan Cup finals were hosted in Unity Saskatchewan.  In the first game, Knutson’s hat trick helped defeat Stony Plain 6-2.  The next night, Roseau native Billy Lund would get  four goals, while Donny Riendeau added three as the Lakers destroyed the Truro, Nova Scotia Bearcats 11-3.  The Lakers then rallied from behind to defeat the Unity Miners 4-2.  The Lakers would defend their title beating Stony Plain by a 6-1 score to earn their third consecutive Allan Cup.  The team would finish the year 35-1.

The three-peat is the only such performance in the history of the Allan Cup.

The team under David Marvin as player-coach had an amazing run, winning five straight Pattison Cups (the Manitoba championship), Three straight Patton Cups (the Western Canada championship, and three straight Allan Cups (the Canadian AAA senior amateur championship).

One problem that the Lakers had was they were too good and in the end, after a 50 year run, that would be the killer.  They were not wanted in the Manitoba Senior League, after posting a 70-14-1 record over the previous two years, the team was told they were no longer welcome in the Southeast Manitoba Hockey League.  

With no league to play in, and no team wanting to play in Warroad unless they were paid to come in and play, Cal made an announcement that the 50th season would be the last of Laker hockey.  

With an amazing half-century run, a 50th reunion was planned to be held in Warroad on the day of Game 3 of the Manitoba playoffs.

The Manitoba champion would be decided by a best-of-five series between the Lakers and an Ille des Chenes team, which had added two former NHLers to its roster.  The Lakers would win that series 3 games to 1 setting up a series with the Kindersley Klippers, a town of 5,000 on the Saskatchewan border.

Sweeping that series in three games proved costly, however, as injuries to key players would decimate the Lakers. Injuries would knock out Billy Lund (knee) and captain Scott Knutson, who would take a vicious cross check to the back, along with Jared Baines (knee) Hanson (shoulder) and Riedeau (leg bruise).   

The Lakers would go out in style in the Allan Cup Finals. They defeated Stony Plain 6-5 before falling 4-1 to a loaded Powell River squad and lost to Truro 4-3 to end the round robin. The Lakers eked into the semi final game behind the sensational goaltending of Todd Kriebich, who shut out Turo 3-0 setting up a dramatic last Laker game.

The battered Lakers would do their best playing for a four-peat in the championship of the Allan Cup but the Lakers were beat up having played five games in five nights and the injuries had taken their toll.

They led the host Powell River team 2-1 after the first period, but the Lakers would eventually come up on the short end of a 7-3 decision.

The 50 year reunion had 422 mailing addresses to all of the former players that were known.  With 570 players having donned the Laker jersey, not all the players were found.

Cal Marvin – led Lakers for 50 years-as a player, coach and GM

“It was quite a party,” Cal said at the time. “Unbelievable. With guys coming from Florida, British Columbia and Calgary.  David worked hard putting that together.  He wrote a lot of letters and made a lot of telephone calls.  There gets to be quite a bond between the guys when they play together like we did.  When you come from Winnipeg when it’s 30 below, you don’t do it for the $25 … you don’t leave home with your wife chewing you out at the door unless it is for something that you believe in, that you want to do and to be with your teammates.  The game really has to mean something to you.”

Cal Marvin and his weekly column for the Warroad Pioneer and Commonwealth newspapers would no longer feature the Lakers.

On this 20th anniversary of the last season of Laker hockey, and with 50 years of Laker hockey now in the books, the last chapter on the Lakers now has been written.  They may be gone, but hardly forgotten, as they are the reason Warroad is HOCKEYTOWN USA.

The post Warroad Lakers – Senior Hockey at it’s Best appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Warroad is HOCKEYTOWN USA because of Cal Marvin.  Cal Marvin and his Warroad Lakers Senior Men’s Hockey Club were the cornerstone of modern day hockey in Warroad.  Cal was the guy who made it all happen.

Cal Marvin was born August 29, 1924, the youngest of the five boys and second youngest child of George and Almina Marvin.  George Marvin had arrived in Warroad from Canada, after learning the grain business, and came to manage the Canadian Grain Company’s elevator, lumber and fuel interests.  When the expected shipping center didn’t materialize, Marvin stayed and bought a lumber business. Through many innovations this is now a highly successful business, known as Marvin Windows, which now employs over 5,000 people worldwide.

While his three brothers Bill, Jack, and Tut worked to build the Marvin Company, Cal took a different route.

The early years, Cal Marvin, Wes Cole and Les Lightning

In the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” George Bailey is given the opportunity to see what would have happened if he was not around in his local community. Similarly, Warroad certainly would not be the same without Cal.  

Dick Roberts, who grew up just a few houses from Cal, knew him well.  “Cal Marvin was full of energy, a go to guy, full of ideas; his mind was always working and for his whole life Cal would get things done.  He didn’t like to take no for an answer.”

Cal enjoyed his youth and loved sports. After graduating from Warroad High, Cal went off to Carleton College where he soon discovered that college was not his calling.  

With the war in full force, he felt led to join the Marine Corps and went off to San Diego for training.  He then served in the South Pacific fighting against the Japanese in Saipan.  When the war ended, Cal came back to his hometown; where instead of going into the family business he became a successful businessman in the resort and hospitality industry.  This gave him time in the winter, and soon Cal became a fixture in the Warroad hockey fabric.  

When Cal came back from the war, he wanted to help the community as it had no rink.  The Warroad Pioneer reported on March 8, 1945 that, “Marine Private Cal Marvin revived the sport here this winter while home on furlough from active duty in the South Pacific.”

Cal and a few helpers flooded a rink on the schoolyard, and with the rink now in place, and Max Oshie as a star player, he was able to start up the Warroad High School team.

Warroad gets an Arena – the building of the Castle on the Corner

In Cal’s mind, what Warroad needed more than anything else, was a place to play hockey indoors.  Dead or alive, he was committed to seeing this through.  While serving in WWII, his love for the game was off the charts, and if he had not made it back from the war, he had named the Warroad Arena Fund as the beneficiary of his $10,000 life insurance policy.

Cal was now ready to begin to put together the group that would plan and start the work needed to make his dream come true.  With his good friend Dick Roberts, Cal and Dick called a meeting to put together a small group that would become the members of the Warroad Memorial Arena Association.

On the invitation list was 35 business owners from Warroad.  It was not an easy sell.  Warroad had few sidewalks, no library, and the roads were in poor shape.  Many in the community felt the ice arena was not where the funds should go.  

Cal led the way for a fundraising effort to build the first indoor rink, his “Castle on the Corner.”  Cal was able to raise the funds through bingo nights, benefit auction sales, variety shows, raffles and other fundraisers, and by 1947, he had raised $9500.00 in the Warroad Arena fund.  

Cal proved his critics wrong, as this money that was spent to create an arena was one of the seeds in the ground that put Warroad on the map, not just locally and in Canada, but throughout the hockey world.

With the support of the community, the blueprints from the University of North Dakota rink and a volunteer force ready to go, the plans for the arena were now in motion.  With local carpenter Ed Christian scaling back the plans, it was now time to get the building started.  Christian would later see his three boys Gordon, Roger and Bill play in this building, and in time all three would represent the USA as Olympians.

Ginny, Bill and Roger Christian all wearing the USA Jersey

Cal would miss only a short bit of the entire project, but he had a good excuse.  His marriage to Beth took place that summer.  He flew to his wedding and, after honeymooning for two days, returned to his project.  This lifestyle didn’t stop Cal and Beth from enjoying each other’s company, as winters are cold and long in Warroad, and they somehow managed to have 12 children.

With the arena built, it was now time to fill it up with hockey players, with practices and games for all ages. Mike Marvin saw firsthand his father’s devotion to the game.

“Dad wasn’t one of those who just loved hockey at the level that he was at, but he wished success for everyone, at every level,” Mike Marvin said. “That is evidenced by his 40-some years as president of our youth hockey organization; with all the countless meetings that he sat through.  Dad fought to build the arena and he fought to make the hockey programs successful.”

In the Beginning- the birth of the Warroad Laker hockey

Warroad Lakers First Hockey Team

In the summer of 1946, Cal wanted to get a senior hockey team in Warroad.  In order to do so they needed to have uniforms.

“Cal and I planned a dance in a local seed house,” Roberts said. “The dance was very well attended by the people in town.  We raised $1300.00 that night which at that time, was a lot of money for the complete uniforms”.   

With uniforms now in hand from the fundraising dance in the summer of ‘46 by Cal and Roberts, it was time to organize.

The Warroad Lakers Hockey Club started in 1946 -1947 when Warroad pharmacist E.J. Holland called a meeting to organize a men’s team that would play in the States-Dominion League against teams from Northwest Minnesota, including teams from Hallock, Crookston, Roseau and Thief River Falls.

Led by Cal Marvin, this group of hockey players from Warroad would take their game to Grand Forks and started the University of North Dakota program.

The Birth of UND Varsity Hockey

The following year, with Cal Marvin leading the charge, they would bring the University of North Dakota varsity program to life.  Marvin felt strongly he could make a solid college team and asked Red Jarrett, the UND Athletic Director, to give them a chance to bring players into the University of North Dakota and start a varsity program.  Marvin followed through, getting the players and, with the help of Jarrett scheduling games, started the varsity hockey program at UND.

In the first year as a UND varsity team, they traveled by train out to play mighty Michigan, defeating them in front of few fans by a 6-5 score.  The Wolverines would rebound the next night, and in front of a full house, beat UND sending them back for the long train ride home.  

When the team arrived back in Grand Forks, at 7:30 a.m., in well below zero weather, they were greeted by Jarret and the university band, after becoming the first UND sports team to ever beat a Big 10 team in any sport.

With a limited college schedule, the players would often head home for the weekend to play for the Lakers, against the local competition from around the Northwest.

Cal Marvin and the Lakers

The Warroad Lakers may have been the greatest amateur club to ever play the game of hockey.  The Lakers dominated the sport.  Showcasing talent with speed, skill and toughness, the Lakers would beat national and Olympic teams.

The Lakers didn’t start hockey in Warroad, but hockey in Warroad would not be the same without them.   The club has not played a game in 20 years, but it is during the 50 years they played that Warroad became known as HOCKEYTOWN USA.  

Cal Marvin’s name was synonymous with the Warroad Lakers.  As the leader of the Lakers, Cal was known for his ability to get the guys needed to be a winning team, and then manage their ice time.  In addition, for 50 years, he was loved by the guys who played for him.  They knew he cared and would do whatever he could to help them out.

“Dad’s commitment to hockey and the Lakers was so unwavering,” Cal’s son Mike said. “But the same commitment that he had for the Lakers Hockey Club is the same commitment that he has for his family.  And I don’t just mean our family.  I mean his brothers, his cousins, his nephews, everyone.”

This was not beer-league or no-check hockey.  This was intense, 60-minute stop time, full-contact hockey.  It was common to play with pain, and if you weren’t prepared to play, you would be leaving worse than you arrived.

How good was the Warroad Lakers Senior Men’s Hockey Club?

In 1960, the U.S. Olympic team traveled to Warroad, only to get beaten by the Lakers. This wasn’t the first time the Lakers beat a U.S. national squad. In 1958 they did it not once, but twice.

Lakers playing Team USA

Later, that 1960 U.S. team would take the Olympic gold medal in Squaw Valley with Warroad players Roger and Billy Christian on it.

Not only did Bill and Roger Christian play on the first U.S. team to ever take the Olympic gold medal, but for many seasons, they also played for the Lakers.   

U.S. National Team and Olympian players that donned the Warroad Lakers jersey included the likes of John Noah, Dan McKinnon, Gordon Christian, Roger Christian, Bill Christian, Sam Grafstrom, Dayton Grafstrom, Myron Grafstrom, Bob Lund, Jim Stordahl, Henry Boucha, Blaine Comstock and David Christian.  Cal Marvin also coached the 1958 team and was manager of the 1965 U.S. National team.

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David and Bill Christian- played together as Lakers

Interestingly enough, the United States has never won a gold medal in the Olympics without a member of its team being from Warroad.  

“One of the nicest testimonies about my dad Cal and the Lakers was something that Chris Imes said after he had played for the Olympic team and then came to Warroad and played for the Lakers in the playoffs,” Mike Marvin recalls. “Imes told Virg Foss, of the Grand Forks Herald, ‘You know Virg, I’ve been on a national championship college team and I’ve played in the Olympics, but I’ve never had so much fun as playing for Cal Marvin.’”

Besides representing their country, the Lakers had numerous players who played or coached in the NHL, including Clarence Schmidt, “Sugar” Jim Henry, Ed Kryzanowski, Bill Juzda, Allan Hangsleben, Henry Boucha, Dave Christian, Bob Johnson (coach), Howard Walker and Chad Erickson.

Mike recalls overhearing Billy Lund, who played professionally in Texas say “Cal, we’re getting paid and we’re playing, but it’s not like Laker hockey.  That was so much fun.’”

Five Lakers are now members of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, including Cal Marvin, Bill Christian, Roger Christian, Henry Boucha and David Christian.  I know of no other amateur hockey club that can make these claims.

The largest challenges that Cal and the Lakers ran into were from being too successful.   Over the course of 50 years, the club played in many leagues, but soon wore out their welcome, as team owners refused to allow them in their league.

The Lakers saved the best for last.  With Cal’s son David as player-coach, the Lakers became the only senior team ever to win the treasured Allan Cup in a three-peat, winning the title back-to-back-to-back. In its final season, the team made it to the finals but a banged up squad came up short.

“There wasn’t anybody who wanted to win more than Cal…no one,” David Marvin recalled. “Yet, he could handle a loss.  He’d always be in your corner.”  

John Hanson, who played on all three of the Allan Cup championship teams, said “Cal recruited guys that were extremely competitive.  We always wanted to win, practices or games, we played to win.”

The Lakers and Cal Marvin are no longer with us. Cal lived a wonderful life not only doing what he loved, but leaving Warroad with a rich, historic legacy that contributes to its HOCKEYTOWN USA fame.

David and Cal Marvin with Allan Cup

The post Cal Marvin – Mr. HOCKEYTOWN USA appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

It’s never closing time at the arena for Warroad’s rink rats

Son Shaugabay brought his 12-year-old son Jason to the hockey rink in Warroad at 3:20 p.m. on a Saturday in October for some open-hockey time. Three kids in different age groups were already on the ice. By the time Jason had his skates laced up and hit the ice, more kids joined the group.

Shaugabay figured he’d have to go get his son from the rink at about 10 p.m. that night. That’s a lot of ice time.

“They call it rink rat,” Shaugabay said. “We take it for granted because that’s just what we know.”

The free, unlimited ice time in Warroad is a way of life for hockey families. It’s also something out-of-towners almost balk at when they hear about it. A boy from Winnipeg passed through town recently and stopped to use the ice.

“His dad said, ‘this is amazing that there’s just all these kids out there and no adults,’” Shaugabay said.

Shaugabay knows all about the Warroad hockey tradition. He grew up playing youth and high school hockey in Warroad, then played with the Warroad Lakers and started coaching at 19 years old. His hockey resume includes 18 years as a pee wee coach, two years with bantams, 10 years coaching mites and acting as mite coordinator. In addition to the mites, he’s also been an assistant coach for the boys and girls high school teams.

Earlier in October, Warroad welcomed Jack Blatherwick to discuss hockey operations. The first thing he mentioned was how lucky they are to have the ice time for groups of kids of all ages – for unlimited amounts of time. Kids in the Twin Cities don’t get that opportunity, Blatherwick had said.

In Warroad, it’s just what they do. While a small hockey community might not have all the amenities or numbers of bigger programs, the free, unlimited ice time is one of best things they can do to help develop hockey players, according to Shaugabay. Kids can skate, work on stick handling, and start a pick-up game. They develop hockey awareness through this rink-rat hockey, Shaugabay said.

Shaugabay said it would probably drive his 12-year-old nuts if he were part of a program that was much more structured.

If a kid wants to stay at the rink for 10-12 hours at a time, that’s not uncommon in Hockeytown USA. Shaugabay heard from another parent that his son, a bantam, once spent 85 hours of non-structured time on the ice – just in the month of October.

Shaugabay tells his friends in other hockey communities like Duluth, St. Cloud and Moorhead about the ice time the kids get in Warroad, “and they can’t even fathom it,” he said. “They can’t.” One friend told Shaugabay that his kids got 10 hours of indoor ice time for an entire year.

“I said, ‘yeah, my boy got that in one day,’” Shaugabay said. “That’s what makes it kind of special here, is that rink-rat hockey, and you don’t have to pay for it.”

So, how can it all be free for the kids? It’s simple economics. The money to cover the cost of running the arena comes from the school, city, youth hockey, concession stand and other donations. Parents also volunteer their time to work the concession stands. There are also fundraising requirements, like kids selling tickets, according to rink manager Jude Boulianne. They also started a golf tournament fundraiser this past year, plus the rink is rented out for a few weeks during the summer, so there is some revenue come in, Boulianne said. He’s managed the rinks for 12 years, handles scheduling for youth hockey, helps with registration and is a youth hockey board member.

They don’t view the hockey rink as a business, according to Shaugabay. If they can cover the costs annually, that’s what they do – and have been doing it for 50 years.

Jackson Harren is a Warroad native, who played on the 1996 Warroad High School state championship team as a sophomore. He also played two years in the USHL and college hockey at the University of Alabama Huntsville.

(Photo submitted by Courtney Hanson)

When Harren moved back to town, he saw a need with recruiting and retention for youth hockey, so that’s how he’s volunteered his time. He and his wife run a program called Skater Tots for kids ages 2-6 as they help them learn the basics. The idea is to teach kids how to skate and get them familiar with the arena, Harren said. They focus a lot of skating – turning, stopping, starting, and accelerating – “and then the rest kind of comes,” Harren said. They’ve gotten about 100 kids signed up.

“The mantra is ‘just fun,’” Harren said. “And really in a town like Warroad, too, there isn’t a lot of winter activities that are family-oriented indoors, so it really becomes something I think a lot of the families look forward to.”

During the free ice time, the rink may get split up sometimes, with different groups working on different things. But age separation isn’t really on the table. Of course, there are a lot of relatives in a small town, Boulianne said, so siblings and cousins of all ages take to the ice together, too.

Shaugabay’s son was skating with the boys’ high school team when he was just 4 years old. The team skated Sunday nights, Jason wanted to “skate with the teenagers” and the team captain welcomed him with open arms.

The captain was Brock Nelson, a high-school standout who now plays for the New York Islanders.

So here’s this young kid, skating with the high school team.

“That probably doesn’t happen anywhere else,” Shaugabay said.

The youngsters get other chances to interact with the high school players through a buddy night where kids pick a player on the Warroad Warriors to be their buddy. The younger skater goes to practice with the team, they share a meal, the high schooler visits the younger kid’s classroom on game day, then it’s watching warm-ups for the game and standing on the ice for the national anthem before heading to the locker room for autographs afterward.

“It’s a pretty neat deal,” Boulianne said.

The numbers don’t change all that much, according to Shaugabay. Boulianne estimates Warroad has about 150 to 175 kids in the youth hockey program. Primetime on the open ice can vary, but they’ll see anywhere from 20 to 50 kids out there during a busy period, according to Boulianne. During a Sunday in October for a two-hour block in the afternoon, 60 youth and high school players came and went just during that time.

In addition to the ice time, there’s a small-town feel at the rink, too. Kids leave their equipment at the rink, which makes for easy access when they come to skate after school, for example. Some may skate in the afternoons until their parents come get them after work. The rink is like Jude’s babysitting service, Boulianne said with a laugh.

There’s camaraderie at the rink, too. Parents bring meals or snacks to the rink for kids. Sometimes it’s trays of carrots or cupcakes.

“I’ve had parents bring lasagna up here and sit down and eat dinner with seven or eight kids, and six of them aren’t theirs,” Boulianne said.

(Photo by Jenna Lorenson)

One might also see another benefit in the unstructured ice time for kids: Less burnout. In an era with one-sport athletes and more specialized sports training, talking about burnout in kids isn’t uncommon. But in Warroad, Boulianne sees kids that look forward to getting back to the rink (open five, six or seven months of the year). He can see some hockey players – not all of them – lose interest sometimes when they reach higher levels.

“I think the structure is a big key on that,” Boulianne said.

Kids can skate as much as they want, but when they’re told when to be there for practices, then it becomes a problem.

On the other hand, maybe it’s all that ice time that’s resulted in so much success for Warroad players. It took Shaugabay a few years to make the connection, but when he coached pee wee hockey, he realized that the very best players to come out of pee wees went on to play college hockey. It was a testament to the time that the kids put in to their games, Shaugabay said.

Warroad boasts more than 80 players who’ve come through the youth ranks to earn division I scholarships at various colleges. Five players have reached the NHL, in addition to seven Olympians.

Along with Nelson, T.J. Oshie is the other famous Warroad skater to hit the NHL. He plays for the Washington Capitals. Oshie worked hard and came to Warroad to get more ice time, according to Shaugabay.

Warroad may stand out with its free, fun, non-structured ice time. People keep telling them they take it for granted, Shaugabay said.

“That’s what I guess is really still the best kept secret,” Shaugabay said. “That’s what makes Warroad, Warroad.”

The post Kids Just Wanna Have Fun appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

A basketball tournament on Saturday, eggs and bacon on Sunday and a Monday-morning school announcement proved to be the genesis of the Warroad Warriors’ girls’ hockey program, one of the most successful girls’ hockey programs in the state of Minnesota.

“In 1998 I had a daughter in seventh grade, and at the time the only sport (in town) for girls in the winter was basketball,” former Warriors’ girls’ head hockey coach Ron Tviet said. “We know how many kids are going to play on a basketball team. A couple of other dads and I were at a 7th-grade girls’ basketball tournament. We thought women’s hockey was going to blow up. We should get on the bandwagon.”

That conversation started a chain reaction in the community that would not be stopped.

“I went to church the next morning with a friend, Albert Hasbargen, the manager of the hockey arena,” Tviet recalled. “We went to breakfast after church. We were talking, and he said ‘when do you want to start?’ The next day he called me and said ‘I scheduled you for ice time next week.'”

Tviet, a teacher in the Warroad school system and first coach in the history of the girls’ program, got on the PA system and made an announcement to the school Monday morning that a meeting would be held in his classroom.

Warroad athletic director Warren Keller, who Tviet said wasn’t even invited, showed up as well.

“He talked to me right after the meeting asking me about what I was going to need and what my thoughts were,” Tviet said.

Although they had kids and the support of the AD, they still needed money.

“Kathy Unertl, our city clerk, suggested we contact the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission,” the former head coach said. “She wrote the grant, and we ended up getting almost $14000. That ended up buying our equipment. We had to have some matching funds for the grant. CCM and Christian Brothers were a great help. We were off and running.”

They were off and running with a 15U and a 12U team. The plan was to stick with youth hockey for three years and then jump to high school. Like the program’s start, everything was accelerated.

“I think I had six girls (on the 15U team) that had been playing with the boys already,” Tviet said. “That was a key to our success.”

(Photo by Jeff Wegge)

Another key to early success was Tviet, who had coached at various levels in the Warroad system for 23 years, 17 of them at the squirt level.

“If you take out those six girls, the rest of the girls were about at that level,” he said. “I am not much of an X’s and O’s coach. I am a skills coach, but that is what we needed at that time.”

The first year schedule did not allow the Warriors much time to test the waters. The Warriors opened up against an established Grand Rapids program which had Tviet questioning his scheduling decision.

“We ended up beating Grand Rapids 3-2,”Tviet said. “Then Bemidji was having a 15U tournament. They needed another team, and they called to see if we would play. I remember thinking to myself ‘I don’t want to throw these kids to the dogs’ but we agreed to go to the tournament. We ended up winning the tournament.”

The first-year program would finish the season undefeated and won the Class B state championship.

Tviet said an essential aspect of the immediate success was the commitment from boys’ program and its coach at the time, Cary Eades.

“He made sure the boys supported the girls,” Tviet said. “One time we were in a playoff game in Hibbing in the morning and Cary had his kids do a team breakfast, and then they all came to our game. He was supportive in every way. That is something you don’t see in every community.”

Not surprisingly, the AD got behind the program from the very beginning.

“At Christmas, Keller came to me and said it looked like we were ready to make the jump to a varsity program after one year,” Tviet said. “We sat down and put together a budget, a schedule, and he said he would take it to the school board and we will go from there. The school board approved it for the next year, and that was it.”

With no teams close to Warroad, the travel schedule for the first year was brutal. Tviet, estimates the team put on 4,500 miles in its inaugural varsity season.

“The kids lived on the bus,” Tviet told Minnesota Hockey Magazine. “They would do homework on the way to the games and on the way home they would bring pillows and sleeping bags and would sleep in the seats or on the floor. We would get back to Warroad at two in the morning, and there would be the parents, waiting to take the kids home.”

Support for the Warrior girls didn’t just come from the school. It also came from what Tviet and current head coach David Marvin call ‘the important hockey people in Warroad.’

“The people who were respected the most in the community wanted to see our girls’ program be successful,” Marvin said. “When they put their name behind it that meant ‘everybody get behind it.'”

Chief among those ‘important hockey people’ was Marvin’s dad, the legendary Cal Marvin, who passed away in 2004.

“Cal Marvin was the godfather of Warroad hockey,” Tviet said. “He was instrumental in supporting the endeavors of girls’ hockey. He was behind it one hundred percent.  He kept a watchful eye over everything. He had a spot in the rink where he would watch practices. If there was ever anything you wanted to know or anything you needed, you went to him. He was a quiet guy but when he spoke you listened.”

The girls’ program was immediately taken in by the community.

“A lot of girls’ programs spin their wheels fighting for equality while we just have to spend our time figuring out how to get better,” David Marvin said. “When kids play girls’ hockey in Warroad they know they are not second fiddle. We get prime ice times. We get great schedules; we get everything the boys get. In some ways we get more things than the boys. The girls know they do not have to worry about equality or fairness. It is established.”

Tviet added, “When girls’ hockey came into many communities they had to fight for everything. That was not so in Warroad. The community opened their arms, and we were taken in just like that.”

(Photo by Jeff Wegge)

The level of commitment to hockey – boys or girls – is not lost on the residents of Warroad, least of all someone who grew up in town, the team’s current head coach.

“As a kid growing up in Warroad you didn’t know any better,” Marvin said. “There weren’t a lot of things to do, but the arena was always open. That is where you went; that is just what you did. Later on in life, I realized that Warroad is pretty special with the free ice and things like that. As a kid, we didn’t know that we just went to the rink and had fun.”

Tviet summed up the community’s hockey relationship.

“We had a high school coach in Warroad years ago named Tom King. He said ‘what we have in Warroad is a commitment – a commitment to excellence.’ That fits the girls’ program well. The people who are involved in the program are dedicated to the program.”

After three years behind the varsity bench, Tviet decided to step down.

“I had been coaching for almost thirty years, and I was ready to get out,” he said. “I was more of a skills coach, and when I left, they were ready to take the next step. Three years after I left they were in the state tournament with Scott Knudsen as the head coach.”

Five years after Tviet stepped down, Marvin stepped in.

Marvin took the head job in 2006 and was behind the bench for five straight state tournament appearances, including back-to-back championships during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.

“Mostly I had to open the door and know not to interrupt them,” Marvin said of the state championship teams. “They were that good. They were that type of kids where I just had to make sure I didn’t screw it up.”

In all, Warroad has made eight state tournament appearances with three runner-up and three third place finishes in addition to its two titles.

Marvin has surrounded himself with a solid group of assistant coaches ever since he took over.

“Derrick Comstock has been with the program since the beginning,” Marvin said. “He works with our defensemen. Darrell Shaugabay has been a youth hockey coach for thirty years and has been my assistant for the past five years. A couple of my former players, Beth Olson and my daughter Layla, are also on my staff.”

This season Warroad should have another strong team.

“I have a great group of kids,” Marvin said. “We are led by Madison Oelkers who is going to play for Mankato State and Katie Kotlowski who is going to play for Wisconsin in two years. They are surrounded by a group of young, talented kids who people don’t know about yet, but they will.”

They will be known in a program whose roots took hold in a basketball gym and over bacon and eggs, but was built on the backs of a group of athletes and a community that – unlike few others – embraced the idea of a girls’ program when it wasn’t a popular position. Never second-class citizens, they started with an improbable undefeated start and have never looked back.

The post A Diner Dream Come True appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Facts on Why Warroad is HOCKEYTOWN USA

From the outside looking in, there is something special about the town of Warroad. Not only was it once one of the largest Chippewa villages on Lake of the Woods, but it now boasts the title of Hockeytown USA®. With names like Bill Christian, Cal Marvin, David Christian, Gordon (Ginny) Christian, Roger Christian, Dan McKinnon, Gigi Marvin, Henry Boucha, T.J. Oshie, and Brock Nelson in their lineup,

Come Early, Stay Late, Always Open

Warroad must be doing something right. But, what makes the old “war road” from which the river and village derived their name different in regards to hockey?

A volunteer from Hockeytown USA® shares how Warroad is a force to be reckoned with:

In the medal round of the 1960 Olympics, the United States men’s team defeated the Soviet Union 3-2 with Bill Christian scoring two of the three goals and his brother, Roger, getting both assists. In the next game that clinched the gold medal, Roger scored four goals and Bill got three assists. From that moment on, Warroad became Hockeytown USA.

So how does a tiny community on the Manitoba border maintain such a lofty claim for almost 60 years? I am going to share some of our hockey history that will answer that question and then give you an insight as to what we are doing now to make sure that this tradition of excellence continues.

In 1949, Warroad’s Memorial Arena was built. Native lumber was planed at the Marvin Lumberyard and thousands of 1-inch boards went into building the rafters and the roof. Finally, Warroad hockey was inside.

Hockeytown’s presence on the world stage began in 1955 when Gordon Christian played on the National Team. In 1956, both Dan McKinnon and Gordon Christian were members of the US Olympic Team. Two years later, Cal Marvin was the coach of the National team with Dan McKinnon and the three Christian brothers on the roster.

1960 – The remarkable Gold Medal win at Squaw Valley

1965 – Roger and Bill Christian played in their second Olympics

1965 – Cal Marvin was chosen to manage the US National Team for the World Championship in Oslo, Norway

1969 – State HS hockey tournament, Championship game between Warroad and Edina. Over 16,000 fans on their feet cheering Warroad and the electrifying Henry Boucha

1972 – Henry Boucha made the Olympic team, won a silver medal, and soon after joined the NHL.

1980 – David Christian and His teammates shock the hockey world with a Lake Placid gold medal. A week later David came home, school was let out and [Warroad] packed the Memorial Arena to honor him and watch him sign his NHL contract.

Our high school boys team has kept Warroad in the hockey headlines with 21 state appearances and four championships. Our girls team, which started in 1998, has been in the state tournament 8 times and have been state champions twice. Over 70 boys have played division one hockey and 10 of our girls have received scholarships to division 1 schools.

2008 – T.J. Oshie turned pro with the St. Louis Blues

2010 – Gigi Marvin made the Olympic team

2013 – Brock Nelson, David Christian’s nephew signed with the NHL’s New York Islanders where he excels with them and US National teams

2014 – Both Gigi and T.J. participated in the Sochi Olympics and the national media had a field day with these two Warroad high school classmates

Every highlight, every accomplishment that I just described had a common thread – a foundation – connecting them all. That foundation was the Warroad Lakers. The Lakers were an amateur team that entertained fans for over 50 years. A team that was so successful that their name was synonymous with excellence in Canada and the US. In Canada, because that is where the Lakers competed and played for championships from British Columbia to New Brunswick. Their success is honored by Laker jerseys and sticks and records in the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

Fame on our side of the border was achieved by the repeated presence of US National and Olympic teams that came to play in our town. They came to Warroad for three reasons: their relationship with Cal Marvin, their relationship with the Christian family, and the opportunity to play the Warroad Lakers. Through USA Hockey, we have been able to host the visiting national teams from Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Japan, Czechoslovakia, and most recently, three visits from the women’s national team.           

For every Warroad High school boy that had a dream of playing college hockey, the Lakers offered a special opportunity for development. Our talented skaters were welcomed at Laker practices and rewarded with a spot on the team for playoffs.

The best example of this is what occurred in 1976, when David Christian joined the Lakers for the playoffs. David played on a team that won the Manitoba Championship, then beat the Saskatchewan representative, then followed that by eliminating the British Columbia winner and flew to New Brunswick to play for the Canadian title. David was the team’s leading scorer and, most significantly, played on a line with his dad, Bill Christian. For a hockey dad that has a hockey son, I cannot imagine anything more perfect.

So what is Hockeytown doing today to continue this legacy? We are fortunate to have people on our Arena and Youth boards that had a close connection with the previous generation that provided us with such beautiful facilities and a commitment to the game.

There were many that gave their time, but I would like to mention three: Cal Marvin, who was the Arena Board president and Youth Hockey President for 50 years. Bill Christian, who served on the Arena Board during the construction of both our arenas and was our town’s Bantam coach for years. There is a photo in our adjoining arena that honors Roger and Bill. It doesn’t reference any game they played or goals they scored. It is there as a tribute to two men, who for 30 years, led the volunteer crews when work had to be done at the arenas. This included: new locker rooms, a press box, installation of artificial ice, new dasher boards, a new lobby, whatever was needed.

Those of us that serve Warroad hockey do so with the greatest respect for these men and the others that worked with them.

Mike Marvin, a long time youth hockey coach, shared with Minnesota Hockey Magazine what makes Warroad hockey unique:  “First – We are very proud of Warroad’s Indian heritage and the many Native coaches and players in our program. For instance, last year there were six Native players on our Pee Wee team competing in the State Tournament. 

The second thing that makes us unique is that each player can attend the practices of every team in town.  Girls can attend boys’ practices and boys are welcome to skate with the girls; young kids skate with the older kids and vice versa. I don’t know of another town where this occurs.

And finally and most important: ice time in Warroad is free. There is no hourly charge to players or families like in other communities. There is a huge sign in our Olympic Arena that says:  HOCKEYTOWN — COME EARLY — STAY LATE — SKATE EVERYDAY.  This is the message that we preach to the kids and their parents.

We are trying to teach them what came natural to Henry Boucha and David Christian; we want them to live at the rink like T.J. Oshie and Gigi Marvin did.  We offer unlimited ice time and know that if they use it, Warroad will continue to produce skilled players and continue the legacy of Hockeytown, USA.”

It is clear that Warroad cares about each individual player. From the time they first learn to skate, girls and boys alike are given the same opportunities to succeed. The history of Hockeytown USA® will forever live through the game. The memories made in the locker rooms, on the ice, and in the homes of the community. Make no mistake, Warroad hockey is here to stay.

The post A Quick Look at HOCKEYTOWN USA appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

When Kenora, Ont., won the Stanley Cup in 1907, it may have launched hockey in northern Minnesota. Warroad, Minn., and Kenora are at opposite ends of Lake of the Woods, one of the best fisheries in North America.

Warroad, the only American port on Lake of the Woods, is located at the southwest corner of the lake while Kenora is 90 miles northeast of Warroad by water through a maze of 14,600 islands.

The Warroad area was rich with timber and fish and those industries started shipping goods to eastern markets in the late 1890’s. By the early 1900’s several fisheries and sawmills sprang up all around the lake. They hauled the fish and timber to Kenora until the Canadian Railroad came around the southern end of the lake to Warroad.

They say that one of the first questions young George Marvin — eventual founder of Marvin Lumber & Cedar Company — asked when he stepped off the train in Warroad from Winnipeg was, “Does anyone play hockey here?” He may have been one of the few that knew something about hockey. It was about the time when hockey started to develop as a winter sport.

Baseball was popular in the summers but people needed something to do in the winters with more time on their hands so they took up ice skating and hockey. They skated on the Warroad River and on an outdoor rink with a warming house they built in town near the Warroad School.

With other Canadians moving into the Warroad area, people like pharmacist, and former Winnipegger, Ed Holland played, encouraged and supported hockey. Soon after, other area communities started making outdoor rinks and communities were able to play games against each other and the rivalries began.

Above is a picture of the early Warroad team and them playing outdoors on the Warroad River. Notice the rink with the high planks around the rink to prevent wind and the pucks going over the boards.

The Minnesota State High School Tournament didn’t start until after World War II but Warroad had been playing hockey in hockey leagues decades before. Other communities like Thief River Falls, Crookston, Grand Forks, Roseau and many other Canadian communities competed in leagues and tournaments during that time.

Pictured above is the 1940 Warroad High School team. It was the first year the school came out with a High School Annual. All games were played outside near the school. Fans stood on snow banks around the rink and, when they got cold, went in and warmed up along with the players in the outdoor warming hut that had a wood stove. The Warroad Memorial Arena was not built until 1948.

When Warroad played in the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament in 1948, they drove to Minneapolis/St. Paul with parents or whoever had a car, riding in several different cars which took all day. Most kids were in awe of the big city as they came from poor families and had never been to a city before.

Aside from the high school team, Warroad had a senior men’s team that participated in leagues in the area. Some players were able to play on both teams if they wanted, prior to changes in the Minnesota high school rules.

Later, Cal Marvin, Ginny Christian, Sam Gibbons, Bob May among others from Warroad attended the University of North Dakota. North Dakota didn’t have a team so Cal and the rest of the players went to the Board of Regents and requested that they allow the boys to represent the University and play a few other college teams.

The team was well represented with talent and won most of their games. The university started to support the team and the rest is history. Richard Roberts who is picture above with the 1940 Warroad team attended and played hockey for the University of Minnesota; he was a captain during his time as a Gopher.

After college, Cal Marvin returned to Warroad and took over the Warroad Town Team from Ed Holland. Cal was instrumental in fundraising to build the first Warroad Memorial indoor arena. It was built with the help of volunteers and was operational in 1948. The rink was covered and later they added locker rooms. It had natural ice until the late 1970’s when they added artificial ice and a Zamboni. We skated in the old Warroad Gardens from December until the warm up and ice went out in March.

The post The Dawn of Hockeytown appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

THIEF RIVER FALLS—In a battle of a high powered offense against a stout defense East Grand Forks defended its Section 8A crown with a 3-2 double overtime victory at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls.

East Grand Forks entered the game only allowing 11 shots per game in the playoffs and just over 14 shots per game during the regular season. Warroad featured the line of Jared Bethune, Kobe Roth, and Kyle Sylvester who have a staggering combined point total of 252.

East Grand Forks goes up 1-0 on Colton Poolman’s shot past Alex Burke
(Photo / Bruce Brierley, East Grand Forks Exponent)

It would be the Green Wave who would strike first. Tye Ausmus’ shot was blocked by a Warrior defenseman and Colton Poolman would swat the puck out of the air and past Warroad goaltender Alex Burke for the 1-0 lead at 4:19 of the first period.

The period would end with the Green Wave leading 1-0. Warroad had some good opportunities To even the score and outshot East Grand Forks 10-7.

Warroad came out with an added intensity in the second period and scored just 1:11 into the period when the Warriors dumped the puck into the East Grand Forks zone. Colton Poolman knocked the puck out of the air and a streaking Kyle Sylvester picked up the puck and beat Josh Weber to tie the game.

Kyle Sylvester, Jared Bethune and Koby Roth Celebrate after Sylvester’s goal.
(Photo / Bruce Brierley, East Grand Forks Exponent)

While East Grand Forks outshot the Warriors 12-9 the scoring opportunities favored Warroad who had several breakaways during the period but could not get another past Weber.

East Grand Forks took the lead again at 6:40 of the third when Tanner Tweten pounded in a rebound for a power play goal. The Green Wave looked to be headed to a successful defense of their Section 8A title. Jared Bethune and the Warriors were not going to go quietly into the night. With 1:32 left in the game Bethune called for the pass and rifled a water bottle shot past Weber to send the game into OT.

Warroad players respond after East Grand Forks goal in double overtime
(Photo / Bruce Brierley, East Grand Forks Exponent)

Warroad was able to apply solid pressure in the first eight minute overtime putting four shots on Weber but he was up to the task.  6:38 into the second overtime Grant Loven ended the game on a nice pass from Tweten , as Burke came out to play the shot, finding Loven wide open in front of the net, and putting it into an open net.

The Warriors end their season 22-5-1 and East Grand Forks will advance to the State Tournament with a record of 25-2-1.

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