Outdoors? The title must be wrong, there is no outdoor ice. Well, there is if the outdoor rink has a refrigerated subsurface, and that is exactly what United Heroes League has on their property at 2800 Ravenna Trail. The Raider boys have a game at the United Heroes League rink coming up at 2:00 p.m. on Jan. 27 against Apple Valley, so they felt getting some experience outdoors against a live opponent would be helpful for the game later in the month.
They did not have any game competition this week, their next official game is Tue, Jan. 9 at Owatonna. With their last game played on Dec. 28, Head Coach Matt Klein did not want to go 11 days with no games, especially after winning the South St. Paul tournament.
Saturday was a simple setup. The scrimmage had two volunteer refs and they were playing two 30-minute running time halves. If a penalty was called, the teams would be forced to change lines instead of going to the box. They called offsides and icing but that was about it.
Junior Varsity kicked things off and Irondale ended up with a 3-0 lead in the first half. The second half was a flip of the script and Hastings scored three to force the tie.
Varsity was a lot more back and forth with the shot opportunities favoring Hastings, who came out on top 4-2.
Both teams were raving about the SCHEELS Rink, loving the opportunity to play at such a unique venue. Cool, sick, awesome, and more could be heard from the boys as they were warming up. Both teams also thanked the UHL staff for letting them play after they all posed for a combined photo.
The next chance to catch the boys will be at home against Rochester Century on Jan. 11 at 7:00 p.m. then home again on Jan. 13 at 2:00 p.m. against Mahtomedi.