Winter Classic profile: Hockey Day Minnesota celebrated early

The 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic at Target Field in Minneapolis on Jan. 1 will not just be an outdoor game between the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues, it will also be a celebration of the "State of Hockey." Part of that celebration will include various hockey teams and clubs from throughout Minnesota skating on one of several auxiliary rinks at Target Field. NHL.com is profiling each of the teams. Today, the boys and girls teams from Mankato East and Mankato West high schools will help celebrate Hockey Day Minnesota.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- There are an endless number of adjectives to describe the love affair Minnesota has with outdoor hockey. It is where first strides are taken, and this year emboldened when the St. Louis Blues play the Minnesota Wild in the 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic at Target Field in Minneapolis on Jan. 1 (7 p.m. ET; TNT, SN1, TVAS).
But before there were Winter Classics, the "State of Hockey" celebrated Hockey Day Minnesota; The 2022 version of Hockey Day Minnesota will take place Jan. 22 in Mankato, Minnesota.
"In Minnesota, there's March at the [Xcel Energy Center for the boy's state high school hockey tournament] and then there's Hockey Day Minnesota in January," Mankato East boys varsity coach Adam Fries said. "You want to participate in both if you can."
Originated in 2007 by the Wild, Hockey Day Minnesota provided a local spotlight with one day of round-the-clock coverage of outdoor hockey, beginning first with select high school games, followed by indoor and outdoor Division I games and concluding with the Wild at Xcel Energy Center.
The location of each Hockey Day has moved from outdoor sheet to outdoor sheet, some crafted by the community in unique open locations and others utilizing frozen lake elements. It began near the Minnesota-Canada border in Baudette Bay and moved south into the Twin Cities Metro the past two years.
In its 16th consecutive year, 2022 marks the first time southern Minnesota will be highlighted, with Mankato sitting roughly 90 miles southwest from St. Paul. The games will be played outdoors at Blakeslee Stadium on the campus of Minnesota State University Mankato.

"We're excited for just the opportunity to showcase kind of what's going on down here in Mankato," said Nate Olsen, former player turned coach for the Mankato West boys varsity team. "As a hockey community, we've always tried to continue to close the gap from the metro and northern Minnesota in terms of competitiveness and building our programs and tradition down here, and so this is the next step, I think, to showcase a lot of the work that's been done."
Olsen's West will square off against East on Jan. 21. Mankato East vs. Mankato West girls varsity teams begin the five-day celebration with an outdoor game Jan. 19.
"I've coached girls growing up from both sides of town, and then to see them get up to the high school level and they have their best friends playing on the cross-town team against them, it's been pretty fun," West girls varsity coach Shaun Reddy said. "It's been probably about a 50/50 game on who wins every time. It's just been great for them to get out there, compete against each other, have a few laughs, be able to sit and talk to each other after the game, go over to their houses. And it's just a great experience for them."

Adding to the experience this year will be the showcasing of select Mankato East and West team members on the auxiliary rinks surrounding the main Winter Classic sheet, serving as a reminder how Hockey Day Minnesota showcases the game and culture cultivated in the State of Hockey.
"We want to develop and allow as many kids to go play high school hockey and beyond as we can," Olsen said. "But if we're not working on the holistic development, and truly just providing them an opportunity to grow into better community members and leaders as they leave our programs, what are we doing? So that's the unique piece is both (East and West) have that and that's why after a hard-fought game, you see them come together. And it's a good camaraderie. And they're proud to be Mankato hockey players."