Hockey Day in Minnesota has blossomed into the State of Hockey’s most prominent celebration of the sport.
And this year, Saint John’s University will be part of the festivities when the annual event is held in White Bear Lake.
The Johnnies (6-3-1 MIAC, 10-7-2 overall) are scheduled to face MIAC foe Augsburg (5-3-0, 9-7-1) at 5:30 p.m. Friday (Jan. 27) outdoors under the lights at Polar Lakes Park in White Bear Township. It marks the first MIAC contest (and just the second NCAA Division III college matchup) to be played as part of the event since it was first established by the Minnesota Wild and what is now known as Bally Sports North in 2007.
The event – which has truly blossomed into a weekend-long affair over the years – gets underway Thursday with a high school matchup between the Forest Lake and Cretin-Derham Hall girls at 5:30 p.m. followed by a celebrity game at 7:30. Friday starts with the SJU/Augsburg matchup, followed by a White Bear Lake alumni game in which Schueller is tentatively slated to take part.
The official Hockey Day itself begins with a high school matchup between the Stillwater and White Bear Lake girls at 9:30 a.m. followed by prep boys games between Hermantown and Mahtomedi at 1 p.m. and Hill-Murray and White Bear Lake at 4:30. Fireworks are scheduled for 7 p.m. leading into BSN’s broadcast of the Buffalo Sabres/Wild NHL matchup at 8 p.m. at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
There will also be live music in the warming house all three days as well as other events.
The event will also mark a homecoming of sorts for SJU head coach Doug Schueller and two of his players. For more on that, check out the story at gojohnnies.com.
