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HOCKEY DAY DETAILS: What you need to know PAGES 10A-13A

Welcome Hockey Fans! Township hosts four-day hockeyfest this weekend

HOCKEY DAY MINNESOTA Drop the Puck!

BY RANDY PAULSON STAFF WRITER

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Remembering 1st hockey tourney BY DEBRA NEUTKENS STAFF WRITER

For a man of 93, John Resler has an uncanny memory for names and places. For instance, he remembers the first player to score the first goal in the first-ever state high school hockey tournament: Bears defenseman George Kieffer. Or the tall Thief River Falls star forward (and future Olympian) who shot the

winning goal from the blue line to beat White Bear Lake 3-2: Bob Baker. If there is consolation, it is that the Bears placed third in that history-making tourney. Thief River Falls lost to Iron Range powerhouse Eveleth, 4-3. The year was 1945. Resler recalls the event clearly because he was there on the ice playing right wing for the Bears. He was 15. His foremost memory though,

about that inaugural game? “Not winning,” Resler grumbled. “I swear John remembers the day he was born,” quipped wife Virginia. “The tourney was a highlight of John’s life, and he’s never forgotten that they lost (twice).” A well-thumbed scrapbook lovingly compiled by his late mother certainly helps jog any fading

WHITE BEAR TOWNSHIP — The biggest event to occur this year in White Bear Township is here. The first puck of Hockey Day Minnesota 2023 drops Thursday evening, and the weekend-long athletic extravaganza will last through Sunday. All the action will take place at Polar Lakes Park, located at 1280 Hammond Road. An estimated 10,000 people are expected to attend the annual hockey event based on ticket sales as of last week. Preparing for Hockey Day has therefore been a massive undertaking, according to White Bear Township Administrator Pat Christopherson. “We're coordinating our staff and the whole volunteer group that's been working on this to pull this off. We have an appreciation for the people who have put a ton of time into this,” Christopherson said. He added that pulling off the logistics for such a large-scale, public-private event is challenging but that Hockey Day 2023 has momentum behind it and people who are completely dedicated to making it a success. Corey Roberts, who’s on the Hockey Day Minnesota 2023 volunteer committee, praised the committee members who have devoted countless hours and resources to making Hockey Day a reality. The committee is chaired by Jon Anderson and Nick Guzzo. “Most of us started as strangers, and came together as a team to pull this off,” Roberts said. He also noted how the tagline for the event is “more than a game.” “This sport is so rooted in the community that it is more than a game; it's their lives, in a lot of respects,” Roberts said. To anybody who hasn’t yet decided whether they’ll attend, Roberts said they won’t regret getting tickets and experiencing Hockey Day. “It’s going to be a spectacle,” he said.

SEE HOCKEY DAY MN, PAGE 10A

SEE FIRST TOURNAMENT, PAGE 11A

JANUARY 26 – FEBRUARY 1, 2023

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