WritingContest

"Hockey Day Minnesota Writing Contest"

On February 9th Minnesota celebrated it's second annual "Hockey Day Minnesota" In celebration of this special -now annual day- Vintage Minnesota Hockey conducted a "writing contest". VMH.Com had over 204 remarkable submissions as to what what you did to celebrate this special day covering "Your Hockey Day Minnesota Story". Vintage Minnesota Hockey.Com picked 2 winners and gave away gift packs consisting of free hockey jerseys and VMH.Com T-Shirts. The WINNERS were: 1st: Patrick Hughes, 2nd: Ryan Thelen, 3rd: Chris Groth

A sampling of our 3 favorite Hockey Day Minnesota stories are shown below with the winning entries. Thanks again for everyones submission! Until next year when we have yet another writing contest for Hockey Day Minnesota. Always remember: "Every Day is Hockey Day in Minnesota"

First Place Entry:

Hockey Day in Minnesota will certainly go down as one of my best hockey days of all time. The day began with an old fashioned, back to our roots outdoor game of shinny in St. Paul. All of my no-check buddies got together for a Minneapolis vs. St. Paul grudge match, with the West siders prevailing 8-5. The chill in the air, North Stars, Gophers, and hockey school jerseys, along with the perfect amount of snow flying around, took us all back to where it all began, outside being Rink Rats.

From the rink we all went to a local watering hole and caught the end of the Lake of the Woods-Eveleth game on Baudette Bay. Next, 5 of us headed to my place to settle in for an all day hockey marathon. We saw a great game between the Rangers and Flyers, with Stephen Valiquette pitching a shutout. After catching a bit of Blaine vs. Roseau from Baudette, we watched an overtime thriller between the Leafs and Red Wings. Next up we watched the Wild fight back to tie it up against the Isles, and Burnsie wins it in overtime!!! We were jumping around like a bunch of 8 year olds watching Broten and Ciccarelli beat Secord, Savard, and the hated 'Hawks.

After a mild case of frostbite from grilling some brats, we settled in for Ottawa vs. Montreal. As usual, Don Cherry was great on "Coaches Corner", and we all got a few laughs. A six point night for Spezza, and along with linemates Heatley and Alfredsson, they put on an absolute clinic in a 6-1 pasting of the Habs. A nice little gap in coverage allowed us to catch some of the Gophers continued struggles against Denver, before it was on to the night cap, Colorado vs. Vancouver. The arguement over FSN's poll on the greatest Minnesota player of all time raged on for a while. Spehar? Antonovich? Boucha? Olimb? Mayasich?

What a day! By the time "After Hours" finished up on Hockey Night in Canada, we had been playing or watching hockey for over 14 hours, and I can't think of anything else we would have rather done today. What would we do if we didn't have this wonderful game that we are so passionate about? How much money would we have if we would have saved it all, instead of buying all those hockey cards, North Stars, Wild, and Gophers tickets, jerseys, hats, t-shirts and the like? What about all of the pucks, skates, sticks, tape, and ice time? Who cares? It was, and will continue to be, worth every penny.

Submitted by: Patrick Hughes

Second Place Entry:

February 9th 2008 - Hockey Day Minnesota

I knew this year had to be different. In order to make up for being out of town during the inaugural Hockey Day Minnesota, I had to make sure I consumed as much hockey as possible this year. My roommates and I woke up early and hit the local rink to play some 3-3. The temps were frigid, so we didn’t last long, but the games were fun and a great way to wake everyone up. We then went inside and threw on the Gopher’s National Championship Game DVD and watched that all the way though. In order to maximize our viewing, we brought a second television set into the living room and hooked the cable up to that TV. This allowed us to watch the first game of the Baudette Bay Classic while finishing the Gopher DVD. After ordering a handful of pizzas, we threw the St. Thomas/Hill Murray game on the top TV and began playing a 7-game series of NHL 08 on Xbox 360. We finished the series just in time to make it to the Library to watch the first two periods of the Wild game. After we rushed home, we watched Burnsy win the

game for the Wild and prepped ourselves for the Gopher game. All 5 of my roommates and myself included decided to throw on our Gopher Hockey jerseys before the game. ( I provided 4 of them, but was happy to share the love as long as they didn’t eat while wearing them : ) That was quite a sight, 6 guys sitting on three couches all wearing Gopher jerseys, watching the Gophers vs. Denver game while simultaneously playing NHL on the Xbox 360. The Gophers game was disappointing to say the least, but Hockey Day Minnesota wouldn’t have been complete without hearing Doug Woog for two and a half hours. After the game was over, we turned on NHL Center Ice and watched the Avs and Canucks battle it out, but we were more focused on our NHL 08 game. The night ended with 3 roommates passed out on the couch and the rest of us in our beds at 1 am. I still regret missing last year’s Hockey Day Minnesota, but I did everything in my power to make up for it this year.

Can’t wait for 09!!!!

Submitted by: Ryan Thelen

Third Place Entry:

I thought Hockey Day in Minnesota should be a week of hockey related events and not just celebrated in one day. Here is my "Hockey Week in Minnesota"

Tuesday: Red wings game sat in a suite. We dominated in this game and still were let down in overtime. 4-3

Wednesday: Played hockey at a local rink. Pick up game that I get together every week. Amazing brand new ice arena at the Mound Westonka High School called Thaler Arena. They shot a portion of the State of Hockey commercial from last year here.

Thursday: Stars were in town. Boring game for us. 1-0 Stars. Skoula is once again blamed for being flat footed and allowing Hagman to stroll right through Backstrom. Saw the tribute to Modano with Phil Housley in attendance.

Friday: Swarm game. I have season tickets, 4 per game on the glass in section 105 with Fishing lodge privileges (free beer and wine : ) ) and free parking in the kellog ramp. Watched the Red Wings vs. the Ducks in the Fishing Lodge. Great Game!

Saturday: Finally, HOCKEY DAY watched as much as I could of the Baudette bay game and then made my way to the X with friends as it was my best friends birthday. After a pre game drink at Tom Reids, we saw the Islanders game and had a blast. Another Wild WIN!! On the way back to Mound, MN we listened to the famous radio broadcast of the Gophers as they played Denver on our way to Lord Fletchers on Lake Minnetonka. There we met with a bunch more hockey day faithfuls in celebration. Great day, great night!!

Sunday: Went to another Swarm game. It was announced in the third period that Gabby had scored and we watched the rest of the blues vs the wild in the fishing lodge after. Sweet Burns goal in the shootout! Got to chat with Kevin Fallness a bit.

What a week!!

Submitted by: Chris Groth