Game v New Ulm, Part 1

Our tournament in New Ulm, which is just over 90 miles southwest of Minneapolis, coincided with the departure of the coldest days we've had yet this winter. Nice to have that behind us before we ventured out on the wind-swept prairie. The town's agricultural heyday in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries left behind a history of Indian massacres, the second-oldest family-owned brewery in the nation, a small college, some ersatz German architecture and a monument to Hermann (the German). More about Hermann later.

All this German-ness sets New Ulm apart from the other small towns in Minnesota, none of which takes its past connection to the old country quite as far. It's not all about the Germanic past, however. More recently, the citizens have turned their attention from their heritage long enough to build a really nice ice arena. It has two sheets, one Olympic size, and one not, and is the site of hockey tournaments nearly every weekend during the season, according to the desk clerk at the German-themed Holiday Inn. (You had to see it.)

With all that New Ulm has to offer, including its hospitality and sponsorship during the tournament, it seemed almost rude for us to route their squirt A team so completely during the first game. But there's no mercy in a pack of 11-year-old boys, and the final score was 11-1 in our favor.

Here's the Richfield team lined up at the start of the tournament. Everyone was introduced at the start.

Another feature of the tournament was some of the youngest referees ever to blow a whistle. As in babysitting, refereeing of youth hockey probably requires an age gap between the person(s) in authority and the pack on the ice. This natural order of things was just maintained, but not by much.

Here's Dylan scoring the first goal for the Richfield team. He went on to score three more before the game was done.

Our offensive players had a really good day. Here's Marco...

...and here's his brother, Jacob. They both had several shots on goal, and we'll see more of them later.

It was a fun weekend, and there are lots of photos of hockey action to share.