Remembering St. Cloud’s Hockey Day Minnesota 2018

Hockey Day Minnesota has been a tradition in the Land of 10,000 Lakes since the first game was played on Baudette Bay in 2007. Since then, eleven other cities have hosted the event including St. Cloud's turn in 2018.

The 2024 edition of Hockey Day Minnesota is scheduled to be held this weekend in Warroad, with the 2025 edition set for Valleyfair in Shakopee.

Fox Sports North (now Bally Sports) announced St. Cloud as the host site in April of 2017. The announcement was made at Lake George with the participating teams and Fox Sports North.

The schedule would include outdoor high school games between the Sartell/Sauk Rapids Storm N Sabres and St. Cloud Icebreakers girls hockey teams, Cathedral and St. Cloud in boys hockey and for some reason Moorhead vs Centennial boys hockey.

In addition to the high school games, an outdoor women's college hockey game between St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth was on the schedule as well as men's and women's St. Cloud State alumni games.

Rink preparation began at Eastman Park in October, marked by a flag-raising ceremony, with the event scheduled for January 20th.

The first matchup actually took place on Friday, January 19th with a rivalry game between the Storm N Sabres and Icebreakers (now the St. Cloud Crush). It was a pleasant night weather-wise with a temperature of 35 degrees at puck drop.

The two teams played to a 3-3. St. Cloud's Allie Cornelius scored twice and Sartell/Sauk Rapids' Brooke Walters had two points in the game. The two alumni games took place following the girls hockey game.

The next morning the temperature was a bit lower and the ice crew had its work cut out for it, not only to get the ice surface smooth and ready but also to get the glass cleared of condensation so the crowd could see the action!

In the end the crew did a wonderful job and the crowd was treated to an entertaining afternoon of hockey. Cathedral skated past the St. Cloud co-op team 8-3 with Jack Smith charting a hat trick for the Crusaders.

St. Cloud State's women's hockey team beat Minnesota-Duluth 2-1 in overtime, then Moorhead beat Centennial 3-2 in overtime. Hockey Day Minnesota wrapped up with a 5-2 SCSU men's hockey loss inside the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center and the Wild beating Tampa Bay 5-2 in St. Paul.