We wanted to create an opportunity of these kinds of kids to be here in the community, where Hockey Day is, and put a spotlight on it for sure.”

Hastings Athletic Director Trent Hanson.

While blizzard-like conditions raged outside last Wednesday night, the Dakota Hawks fought on home turf against rivals Brainerd Warriors and the Lakeville/Farmington/Burnsville Blazing Cats.
The games of adapted floor hockey, normally played in Rosemount, were moved to Hastings to be played alongside ongoing Hockey Day Minnesota games.
“We wanted to create an opportunity of these kinds of kids to be here in the community, where Hockey Day is, and put a spotlight on it for sure,” said Hastings Athletic Director Trent Hanson.
It is the first time adapted hockey has been brought into the fold of Hockey Day Minnesota.
The Dakota United Hawks is a cooperative adaptive sports program that features students from around the area from Rosemount to Eastview to Apple Valley to Hastings across two divisions: physically impaired (PI) and cognitively impaired (CI). Some years the teams don’t have any Hastings players, but this year sophomore Nolan St. Sauver plays for the CI division, fresh off winning the State Adapted Softball championship in the spring and Adapted Soccer in the fall.
“They’re gunning for a third straight,” said Hanson.
That impressive streak is nothing new to the Hawks whose 11 banners hang at the far end of the Hastings High School Field House. The recent back-to-back state wins have actually outpaced how quickly the banners can be printed and hung, with a banner still missing.
“You’ll see everything you come to expect from a high-level varsity event in here, all the passion and intensity and competition. It’s awesome,” said Hanson.
And for the next 150 minutes, that’s exactly what happened.

PI Division
The Dakota United Hawks faced off against the Brainerd Warriors in the first game Wednesday night in the PI division.
Hanson described the Warriors as “kind of like the Yankees, or pick your dominant team. They’re amazing.”
The Warriors stood up to that description beating the Hawks 8-1 after three periods.
The Warriors came out of the gate hot, scoring four goals in the first period. The Hawks didn’t make it easy for them, with a save from senior Chloe Shibata just after the 9 minute mark, and an on-target shot from freshman Dylan Burns a few minutes later.
To the cheer of “Let’s get a little bit rowdy” from the Rosemount Irish Cheer Squad, coming into period two that’s exactly what the Hawks did. They came roaring back with shots on net by seniors Jae Bahma and Chelsea Ludvigson, with a beautiful unassisted breakaway slap shot by Burns which sailed into the top left corner of the Warriors’ net putting the Hawks on the board.
A scrabble for the puck from junior Stephnora Durowaah-Sarpong near the Hawks’ goal was cut short by the referee’s whistle, drawing jeers from the student section who called for a penalty.
Period three, the Warriors pummeled goalie sophomore Bennett Herrmann, who had several great saves in the first few minutes of the period. A bar down slapshot from Brainard’s Summer Headlee finally got past, however.
In the end, with 33 shots to the Hawks’ 18, the Warriors would take the day 8-1.

CI Division
The Blazing Cats came out of the opening faceoff with two quick goals within the first two minutes. The Hawks would fire back and pressure the Cats for the rest of the period, largely playing in the Cats’ half. The Hawks would fire a barrage of shots against the Cats’ goal from eighth grader Remington Benedict and Hastings’ own sophomore St. Sauver, with a particularly nice slapshot that sailed just over the goal from Benedict.
Senior Myles Johnson would finally break through the goalie’s defenses scoring for the Hawks just past the 8-minute mark.
Period two saw the Cats come back with a vengeance letting goalie junior Gus Gillies show a number of saves including back-to-back saves just after the 8-minute park as a defection was fired right back only to be stopped again by Gillies.
The first five minutes of period three had the Hawks firing shot after shot on the Cats’ goal. Each were stopped by goalie Gillies, including a breakaway shot from eghth grader Max Pucci.
In the end the Cats would triumph over the Hawks with a final score of 5-1.