High school girls' hockey players fight through snow for state tournament
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The fans that made it to the start of the Girls' State High School Hockey Tournament seemed like your typical tournament fans.
There just were not enough of them to make noise with fan buses and, by extension, pep bands, stranded at home, the arena's ambiance lost its luster.
But those that braved it felt somehow galvanized to be here at all.
The Moorhead team came a night early to beat the blizzard just to be safe.
"It was pretty nerve-wracking actually," Ryan Kraft, Moorhead Hockey Coach, said. "The last thing you want to do is to have to forfeit a state tournament game, but our administration and our community really rallied around and allowed us to leave a day early."
But this is what it's about, not a blizzard, but an event and a goal -- and getting here was the first goal.
"I was a little nervous but we got a good bus driver -- shoutout Mark," Bria Holm, Moorhead Forward, said. "Blizzard or not, we knew we were gonna get down here."
And the games still matter the same, and so do the performances.
"It's a little quieter in there than normal," Tom Peart with the All-Tournament Committee said. "So, it's just one of those situations. You know, it's Minnesota, we get the snow. They still get to play."
Even without a crowd, it's a state tournament.
"It's nice, there's a couple new teams in it this year, so that's always nice to get fresh blood in here," Bob Sherry, Lakeville South Hockey Coach, said. "But you get the same ones too, you know...You need a little bit of both."
For those that have been here before, they know there is still a magic formula to tournament hockey.
"Having fun with our friends, executing, playing tough defense," Melissa Volk, Andover Hockey Coach, said.