Hockey Day was about community and sport

Hockey Day Cloquet encapsulated more than hockey. There were food trucks, fire pits, hills to slide down, friends to see and a true sense of community, no matter whom you were cheering for.

The result of years of talk, months of planning and weeks of building the arena, Hockey Day Cloquet organizer Nate Knutson and his band of volunteer hockey parents and others thought of just about everything. Giant heat-duct hoses snaked from Frost Fighter heaters to team boxes and the press boxes above, keeping bodies just warm enough. Fire barrels kept others toasty, flames peeking through die-cut Hockey Day Cloquet logos. Team jerseys were specially made by homegrown Cloquet business K1 Sports for the day, as were throwback purple letterman jackets worn by the coaches and emblazoned with the Hockey Day logo.

"It feels fantastic. Such a monumental task - to conquer it is really satisfying," Knutson said in the aftermath Wednesday. "It was a beautiful time. It's fun to look back at it already. All the smiles and bringing people back to their youth. Kids were sledding, playing in the snow from the Zamboni. The Warriors shoveling snow. There were tons of storylines and people pulling off this fantastic event."

Knutson said the food trucks did well Saturday, estimating between 2,000 and 3,000 people attended over what became a nearly 12-hour span of hockey, including a warm up Peewee A game that morning.

Many hands made the day go better. A lengthy volunteer list got filled out by hockey parents, community members, veterans and others, with chores ranging from parking to monitoring portapotties, fire barrels and garbage cans, to shoveling the snow that started falling during the first period of the boys game.

Cloquet superintendent (and dad to a JV player) Michael Cary and his wife, Lisa, were tasked with clearing the bleachers of snow before the boys games. Dusty Moreland was charged with setting up the girls' JV locker room Saturday, and was looking forward to watching his much younger kids play in the days to follow.

While the premier event of Hockey Day Cloquet was Saturday, youth hockey games were scheduled - temperatures permitting - to continue through Wednesday. Knutson said he loves how many people got to use the ice, from the mini-mites hockey teams to the "oldtimers" who played Tuesday night. There will definitely be more pickup games before the ice is gone.

Knutson said the rink will remain open for use by the public for a week, from Thursday, Jan. 16 through Thursday, Jan 23. Whether the ice remains any longer is up to Mother Nature and the city of Cloquet.

In the meantime, volunteers and other crews will begin breaking down everything surrounding the rink: the shipping containers that served as locker rooms, the team and media boxes, the VIP tent, the tables and lights.

"We have the other half of the work to go, decommissioning and returning the park to its original state," Knutson said.

He extended thanks to many: the sponsors, the community volunteers and "everybody who decided to take part" for all their efforts.

"Hopefully it inspires folks to get outside and enjoy the outdoors," Knutson said. "And maybe it will inspire other people to hold their own hockey day. I got a text this morning from a Sartell booster thanking us for the experience and the memories. It's cool something like this was able to be pulled off in a community such as ours, and it was successful.

"To deliver what we were able to deliver was amazing. I'm pretty pleased."