I know that our community will accept this event with such pride.”

Mayor Mary Fasbender

When Hockey Day Minnesota was publicly announced to be coming to Hastings during January 2024, the event required a huge amount of preparation, a challenge that didn’t faze Mayor Mary Fasbender: “I know that our community will accept this event with such pride,” said Fasbender.
Looking back at the work that went into the event, from the upgrades to the United Heroes League site to the creation of custom jerseys and a new hockey mural on the civic arena to coordinating teams and schedules to vendors, sponsors and media, it is clear how much work, care and love went into this event, even in the face of record-breaking cold.
It was work that spanned the community, from the city, UHL, Hastings Hockey Boosters, local businesses and main sponsor Treasure Island Resort and Casino. That cooperation was a specific focus, especially with how some previous Hockey Day Minnesotas have conspicuously lacked cooperation between local entities.
Central to that work was the Local Organization Committee, a 23-member committee that have been meeting since April 2024 to bring in partnerships, coordinate and plan the event, led by Vice Chairs Jeff Taffe and Mary Fasbender.
“We had a great committee and working with the city of Hastings has just been amazing,” said Senior Vice President of Operations at UHL Edwin Adricula.
In the weeks running up to the event there was still lots to do, from coordinating bleachers to making sure there were enough propane tanks to maintaining the ice in the above-freezing temperatures just before the event.
“A little bit close to the event, you get that anxious feeling,” said Adricula.
It was a sentiment shared by Fasbender: “Once that first puck drops, I think we all are just going to breathe.”
The first weekend of the week-long hockey event saw big crowds to the varsity games on Saturday and Monday night.
Those crowds slowed down on Tuesday and Wednesday as kids were brought back to school, which was fine for Adricula: “Gives us a bit of a break” and chance to reset before the final weekend.
When the puck dropped on the Hastings Alumni game on Wednesday, Jan. 21, midway through Hockey Day Minnesota, announcer Dan Zagota had one message: “As a notice to those older players, take it easy on the younger players.”
Hastings alumni from across the years would battle it out, the even year graduates in blue against their odd-year fellows clad in gold.
The light snow that was falling before the game grew heavier and by the end of the first period, the players were cutting lines through the snow in the open-air stadium. In the end, the even year alumni would claim victory with a score of 8-3.
The squall Wednesday night would kick up, turning into a blizzard warning across much of southern Minnesota before the USA VS. World NHL Alumni would take the rink.
Whiteout conditions and highs in the negatives did cause Edina to cancel their Thursday afternoon game. The Edina Hornets made the decision to move their 4:30 p.m. game against Warroad from the outdoor rink at United Heroes League to Braemar Arena, their home rink.
The dangerously cold weather wasn’t a particular surprise for Adricula, however: “This is Hockey Day Minnesota right? It’s always gonna happen in January. We all know what to expect from weather in that time.”
Crowds could be seen bundled beneath blankets and buried in scarves, gators and snowmobiling suits in the stands through the cold snap.
The forecasted bitter cold forced organizers to examine the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) rules regarding competitions. MSHSL rules state games can be held as long as temperatures were higher than 40 degrees below zero Fahrenheit including the windchill. The lowest estimated windchill of the event was just two degrees shy of that mark, according to weather data from the Minneapolis St. Paul Airport.
To combat this cold, organizers blew heated air onto the benches, a welcome addition from both players and coaches.
Friday would be even colder. Temperatures on Friday would break records with a high of -7, and windchills into the -30s.
Schools were closed across the state, including in Hastings, yet despite that cold, the Iowa Wild would face off against the Milwaukee Admirals Friday night. The Admirals would take the day with an overtime goal from Zach L’Heureux ending the game 3-2.
That game puts Hastings in the record books.
The Hockey Day Minnesota game at UHL is officially “the coldest outdoor game in professional hockey history,” according to a press release from the Iowa Wild.
The temperature at the puck drop was -8 F with windchills down to -38 F. That temperature broke the previous professional hockey outdoor record of -5.7 F, which was set at the 2022 NHL Winter Classic which took place in an outdoor rink in Minneapolis.
Sports Reporter Bruce Karnick, who was running the tech and music from the press box throughout the week, provides a glimpse into the back-end workings of the event:
“Things changed with the arrival of Friday.
“FanDuel Sports Network took over the complex for the production aspect of the Saturday games while FloSports produced the Iowa Wild versus Milwaukee Admirals game on Friday.
“The behind-the-scenes changes ramped up the complexity of the production. When large scale TV operations become involved, the schedule becomes much more structured and rigid. For example, TV time outs were added which is not normally part of high school games.
“The biggest timing change for teams was needing to stay true to the clock for non-game related reasons. Even warmups were timed to fit the TV script. A slight delay in warmups could push back ice resurfacing which pushed back the introductions which could push back the anthem and that could mess up the timing of the flyover scheduled.
“Thankfully, none of that happened.
“The Saturday games, despite the cold, all went on as planned, and the flyover for the boys game was perfectly executed just as the Wild’s anthem singer John DeCausemaker hit the closure of ‘and the home of the brave!’”
The Raiders also got their own time out on the ice, along with other conference teams.
The Raider girls won their game against Park 2-1. The Raider boys fell to East Ridge 3-1 and St. Thomas Academy defeated Rock Ridge 4-1. The two Raider games have their own story elsewhere in this edition.
St. Thomas Academy left the ice in the first period a bit stunned by the defensive fight that Rock Ridge put up against them. The Cadets outshot the Wolverines, but they did not tally a point for the first 17 minutes. That changed quickly in the second period when STA scored twice, 21 seconds apart, with less than two minutes expired. The Cadets added an insurance goal at 10:07 of the second period to head to the second intermission with a 3-0 lead.
Rock Ridge, like many other teams, lacked the size and strength to compete with the private school for any length of time. They did a good job against the Cadet’s top two scorers, Maverick McKinnon and Cole Braunshausen; both freshmen were held to one point each. Rock Ridge was also determined to not be shutout against the metro powerhouse. With under three minutes left, the Wolverines pulled their goalie for the skater advantage. STA helped Rock Ridge’s cause when they were called for a tripping penalty giving the Wolverines a 6-4 advantage, but that did not stop the Cadet’s Braunshausen from earning his one point on an empty net goal. Shortly after, Rock Ridge finally found the back of the net to eliminate the shutout.
Throughout the event, attendees escaped that brutal cold in the Treasure Island Warming Tent, which featured live music, silent auctions, booths and a display from the Dakota County Historical Society on the history of women’s hockey in Minnesota.
Pallets of Spiral Brewery’s newest brew: Hockey Day Haze-tings, a draft made especially for the event were served inside as attendees, players and staff alike tried to keep warm.
Even halfway through the event, Hockey Day Minnesota merch was selling out, said Pat Krauth, a worker at the merch booth. According to Krauth, the blackout hooded sweatshirt was a particularly popular item which was almost gone by Wednesday. Krauth didn’t think the item was understocked: “We just had a lot of people buy it.”
Additional sweatshirts were already on their way in preparation for the event’s final weekend.
On stage, bands from Hastings, the Twin Cities and beyond played music throughout the event from The Bored, Fistful of Ladies, and Nick Fox and the MetroGnomes to Rivertown Days alum Good For Gary.
The event got help from a small army of volunteers who took tickets, checked parking passes, shoveled snow, answered questions and helped pack the event up. Many were drawn from around the area excited to watch hockey outside.
One such volunteer was Steve Wills from Woodbury: “When I was young, that’s where I played: outside.”