The end of January in Warroad can be a pretty frigid place, but not this time. This time, Warroad was the state’s focal point for Hockey Day Minnesota 2024, and the weather couldn’t have been more cooperative in this congenial town of about 2,500 on the southern shore of Lake of the Woods.

The organizers had done a fantastic job of building an outdoor rink on the high school football field, and the visiting teams from throughout the area, as well as the gathering former residents and alumni about quadrupled the population of the city.  

An example proves how spoiled I’ve become to living the pampered life of a hockey writer in press boxes all over the country. You get to see the game action to take photos and notes and chronicle the games you watch.  

Such conveniences don’t necessarily work when more than 5,000 fans cram every seat in the stadium and stand all around the perimeter to steal a glance at the ice when the Roseau and Warroad high school teams renewed the best rivalry in Minnesota.

Roseau, which has always remained Class AA, had beaten Warroad, which had always been Class A, in a 3-2 overtime classic in Roseau two weeks earlier. The rematch was going to be on the outdoor rink.  

My previous vantage point was blocked completely by fans outside in front of us, so my wife, Joan, and I reluctantly went to the other side of the “Marvin VIP Lounge” where an enormous television screen provided a live Bally Spirts view of the game. I worked my way up to a front-row seat, and while I was watching, a fellow walked over in front of me and said, “John Gilbert? Remember me?” I had to admit that with a stocking cap pulled down over his forehead and a small goatee sticking out below it, I didn’t recognize him.

“Neal," he said, "Neal Broten.”

My god! One of my favorite hockey players of all time, and I didn’t recognize him. We had a great, but brief, conversation. I told him about my slow recovery from having a cardiac arrest requiring stents in three arteries, and he sympathized, then said, “My dad had that happen too, and he needed seven stents.”  

Newell and his wife, Carol, still live in Roseau, 22 miles West on Hwy. 11, and I was sorry I missed seeing them.  

When the second period ended, Warroad was leading and the sun was going down, the temperature was dropping below 20, and I suggested to Joan that we could drive the six blocks back to our motel and watch the third period from the comfort of our room. We went for it, only to find that the Can-Am Motel does not carry Bally Sports, so we couldn’t watch the third period. In fact, it was about three hours before I learned Warroad had won the game 6-3.  

The temperature was moderate, the ice was fast and smooth, the crowd was lively and fun, and they kept bringing in food for those of us lucky enough to have a VIP pass I’ve been to Hockey Day Minnesotas when it was too warm, like in Duluth, when the outdoor ice melted at Bayfront, or too numbingly cold, such as in Bemidji where the preparation and production was great but survival was a challenge. Warroad was perfect.  

Back home in Duluth, the UMD men had a perfect weekend, too, berating Miami 6-1 behind a hat trick from super-soph Ben Steeves, then getting yet another goal from Steeves on Saturday, but losing a 2-1 lead at the finish and needing freshman Anthony Menghini at 3:15 of overtime to capture the series sweep.  

Down the hall, the UMD women were less fortunate.The Bulldogs faced No. 2 Wisconsin and battled to a 1-1 tie through two periods, but lost 2-1 on a power-play goal by Lacey Eden at 1:00 of the third. On Saturday, Reece Hunt gave UMD a 1-0 lead after one, and goals by Nina Jobst-Smielle Burgen, and Clara Van Wieren boosted the Bulldogs to a 4-1 lead after two — but again, the Badgers got rolling in the third, and Eden scored twice, while Cassie Hall  also scored and Kirsten Simms scored with 1:31 remaining to beat the Bulldogs 5-4.  

This weekend, the women stay home to recover against Minnesota State Mankato, while the men head for Omaha with some momentum on their side, for a change.   Meanwhile, we hoped we might get to Warroad in time for the alumni game Friday night between all the alumni they could find for Roseau and Warroad. We didn’t make it, a 50-minute contest won 6-2 by Roseau. But we got checked in at the Can-Am Motel, and made it a few blocks to Izzy’s Grill, for perhaps the best hamburger in town.  

Saturday was the big day at Warroad, and we got to the rink complex in time to watch a highly entertaining girls high school game between AA power Lakeville North and Warroad, the No. 1 ranked Class A team. Lakeville North, which has absorbed the former Burnsville and Apple Valley powerhouse programs and skyrocketed to the upper level of AA, got ahead 4-1, but coach Izzy Marvin’s Warriors came back intensely at the end, but the deficit to 4-2, pulled the goalie and got a third goal from Taylor Reese in the final minute, but lost 4-3.  

The crowd was arriving as the day progressed, with many stopping around several strategic fire pits set out to offer a seat and a chance to warm up. There were all sorts of other entertainment things for spectators, but mainly the hockey games were the draw. There were youth games on up, and one of the first-day highlights was Concordia or Moorhead rallied from a 2-1 deficit to beat St. Olaf 4-2 in an MIAC game.  

I was able to go outside and shoot through and over some spectators near the VIP Lounge, before all the vantage points were taken up. We wandered around inside, and I ran into David Christian, who lives in the Twin Cities now but came home for the weekend. We had a great conversation, too, and I told him Joan and I had been sitting next to the window at a table reserved for his dad, Billy Christian. I said I hoped to see Billy, but David said he was heading back to Bemidji, where he now lives near his grandkids, after moving to Florida.

We talked to numerous folks who recognized me, and I ran into Lou Nanne, who had arrived by air Friday night for some TV stuff, and was about to depart and fly to Minneapolis on his way home to Florida.  

We got back to our room to learn we couldn’t watch Bally Sports on the in-house hookup, which meant we also couldn’t see the climax to the day, the Wild against the Anaheim Ducks. I scrolled through every station a dozen times, without luck. Then suddenly on the umpteenth try, there was the Wild game!

They played well, and color guy Wes Walls raved about how well the Wild were playing. I mentioned to Joan that it was the third period, and Walls should know that no matter how well the Wild were playing, they led by only one goal. Sure enough, I had barely said that when the Ducks scored. Then scored again, and the Wild went down to a seriously damaging loss.   

When it was all over, we slept well, missed seeing our new favorite pooch, named Bentley, and headed for Duluth Sunday morning. We pulled into a McDonald’s but it was 10:40 and they quit serving breakfast sandwiches at 10:30. So we continued on and as we drove through Baudette, we pulled into a busy place named Alice’s Restaurant, where a wonderful waitress named Ashley brought us Denver omelettes with whole wheat toast and hash browns — and coffee that didn’t rise to the level of the rest of breakfast.  

We hustled down Hwy. 11, to 1, to 2, then toward Grand Rapids and Duluth, in time to catch the last quarter of the AFC championship football game, where Patrick Mahomes pulled the Chiefs together to get them to the Super Bowl. And I watched Sunday night, as my favorite Detroit Lions got ahead 24-7 by halftime, but couldn’t prevent an impressive comeback by Brock Purdy and the 49ers.

So now we wait two weeks until Kansas City takes on the 49ers in the Super Bowl.  

Next year, Hockey Day Minnesota 2024 will be in Shakopee, which is just emerging as a town with hockey interest. The year after that, the big day is in Hastings. Both will do bang-up jobs, I’m sure. But they will be challenged to approach the perfection attained by Warroad this year.    

Good-bye, Gus    

The latest blow of sad news hit me in the middle of last week. Mike Sertich called to inform me that Gus Hendrickson had died. I was dumbfounded.

Gus was one of my best friends in the game, from back when he started coaching at Grand Rapids High School in the late 1960s. My first two years as a sportswriter were at the Duluth News Tribune, right when UMD became a Division I program. Gus, whose brother Dave coached Virginia, was the inspiration and chief instigator who turned Grand Rapids into a state power.  

At the time, Ralph Romano was athletic director, coach, sports information director and ticket manager at UMD. He recruited Huffer Christiansen and got UMD’s program going. Meanwhile, Grand Rapids started winning high school games, and selling out the IRA Arena with season tickets to the hockey-mad community. They wore their flashy black and orange uniforms, and I nicknamed them “the Halloween Machine.” It stuck, to this day.  

Gus brought in a bright young accomplice named Mike Sertich as his assistant, and they not only took the Grand Rapids Indians to the state tournament, they won it in 1975. I recall standing out on a sidewalk outside the hotel where Rapids ws housed downtown Minneapolis during a rare mild March night, talking hockey until 3 a.m. I knew that Gus, who had played at Michigan State because Minnesota coach John Mariucci had nowhere near the same number of scholarships, believed completely in the ability of Northern Minnesota high school players, at a time when Romano tried Bill Selman, then Terry Shercliffe to follow him as coach, and they brought in a string of very talented Canadian  players.

But in 1975, Romano made the bold move to hire Gus Hendrickson as UMD’s new head hockey coach.   Gus brought Sertich with him and led the way for an enormous change in the program, focusing on Northern Minnesota prospects, such as Dan Lempe, John Rothstein, Mark Pavelich, John Harrington, Matt Christensen, Bob Lakso, Tom Kurvers, Jim Johnson, Erin Roth, and others, changing the future course of UMD hockey with a focus on getting the best regional players.

UMD’s record in the WCHA was not spectacular, and Romano fired him in 1982. He hired Sertich as interim coach the next year, and he continued Hendrickson’s objective and led UMD to the upper echelon of NCAA hockey.  

Hendrickson became a very successful insurance agent for Lutheran Brotherhood, but he never coached a major program again, staying in Grand Rapids to help with the youth structure.