The job is incredibly rewarding to me and our staff. We get to brighten people's day every single day of the year.”

There are plans for football and soccer fields, a baseball diamond and an 80,000-square-foot indoor facility with a hockey rink, basketball court, turf and batting cages.

United Heroes League founder and president Shane Hudella was honored with the Association of the US Army Award for Distinguished Service in a ceremony Friday at The Confluence Hotel in Hastings.
Hudella started the forerunner to the United Heroes League while still enlisted in the service in 2019. The Hastings-based organization provides athletic equipment to children of armed service members, as well as giving them tickets to professional and college athletic events.
“It is a distinct honor to present this award to Shane Hudella,” said Lt. Col. (Retired) Jon Lovald, President of the Minnesota-based General John W. Vessey, Jr. Chapter of the Association of the United States Army. “Shane’s leadership and passion to serve the children of military families made an indelible impact on our state’s military community.”
In 2009, Hudella founded Defending the Blue Line, a non-profit organization, to help military families with the high costs of hockey. His vision expanded in 2016 as DTBL turned into United Heroes League to serve all sports and reach a broader base of military children.
The Heroes Confidence military skills course was developed at the UHL complex located at 2800 Ravenna Trail. The large Heroes Monument also adorns the property. In November, the first hockey games were played at the new Scheel’s Rink, which features an NHL-sized ice sheet.
AUSA Minnesota Vice President Kevin Olson introduce the event honoring Hudella’s efforts.
“We’re here today to present a very distinguished national award to retired First Sergeant Shane Hudella for your incredible work,” he said. “It is a national award for those that have continued their lives in commitment to our Army family, our service members, our veterans and our military families. We couldn’t think of anyone more deserving than Shane.”
It was noted that as a result of Hudella’s efforts, $25 million worth of free sports equipment, game tickets, cash grants and other experiences has been given to military families across the United States and Canada.
“Shane is a master at ensuring that HHL is connected with all of our sports franchises nationwide. With the help of some generous donors, private partners and athlete ambassadors, lifetime experiences are provided to deserving men and women of our armed forces and their kids,” said Olson.
He also commended Hudella for his work as a state representative. Hudella started serving in the Minnesota House in 2023 and announced recently he is not seeking another term in office.
“We also are recognizing Shane for his public service in the Minnesota House and the things that he did as a first-year state representative and a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. He assisted his colleagues passing into law more than $78 million in funding to renovate the Hastings Veterans Home and got a Veterans Omnibus Bill passed that will exempt Minnesota veterans that have a 100 percent service-connected disability rated to not pay motor vehicle taxes on up to two vehicles,” said Olson.
Said Hudella, “I’m just incredibly honored to receive this award today. I’m one of the luckiest guys in Hastings, Minnesota and in the United States. I had the honor and privilege of serving 24 years from 1988 to 2012. Close to the end there, I had this crazy idea to start a non-profit. The original intent was just to help some local families. It was 2008 and deployment cycles were incredibly high post 911. I just happened to meet a couple of pro athletes that wanted to help. Things kind of snowballed from there,” he said. “The next thing you know we’re on NBC Nightly News. We were at the White House receiving an award as the Best New Military Non-Profit in America. So, I decided the crazy ideas just have to keep going. We continue to grow and grow.”
Hudella said, to date, more than 100,000 military families have been helped.
“The families never really sign that dotted line, but they’re the ones that are left behind. The data we’ve looked at shows that when mom or dad have to deploy, those military kids tend to become withdrawn, their grades tend to drop, they start to have behavioral issues, another number of negative behaviors that unfortunately affect those family members of our men and women that serve. My intent with the foundation was to find a way for them to cope,” said Hudella. “We started with hockey, but the big connection was not about the hockey stick. It was about keeping the kids engaged, getting them out with a team, getting them in front of the positive role models and coaches when mom and dad were gone. We found a lot of success in doing that.”
“The reason I do this, I've got four boys. I served for a long time, had to go away for training and different things throughout my career. It's tough to say those goodbyes. And if it's tough for me as a service member to say those goodbyes, imagine what it's like for the kids and for the significant others that are left behind. Doing this, it gets to bring some positive things back into their life and helps them cope with those top things. In a big way. I've got the greatest job in the world, I get to be Santa Claus every day, every day. We're surprising kids with meeting pro athletes, that first pair of hockey skates or that first baseball, surprising the family with free tickets to a game or other experiences that we offer. The job is incredibly rewarding to me and our staff. We get to brighten people's day every single day of the year,” said Hudella.
The Hastings UHL home has been dubbed the Tradition Veterans Complex, and he said bigger and better things are coming. There are plans for football and soccer fields, a baseball diamond and an 80,000-square-foot indoor facility with a hockey rink, basketball court, turf and batting cages.
“We’re just getting going here,” he said.