The official 2016 Nenana Ice Classic Poster
The tripod was raised for the 100th time on the Tanana River Sunday, kicking off the 2016 edition of the Nenana Ice Classic.
That first year, 1917, the jackpot was $801. The largest jackpot came in 2014 when it hit $363,627. On average, 290,000 guesses are made each year. You have until April 5 to make your pick. As of March 1, the river ice was 40″ thick where the tripod now stands.
Saint Cloud, Minnesota
The home of the St Cloud State University Huskies was the final D-1 rink in Minnesota for me to catch a game in. The facility is named after Coach Herb Brooks, who was instrumental in the St Cloud program moving up to Division One. The main rink is named after late university President Brendan J. McDonald, who was also a huge advocate for the D-1 move.
Completed in 1989, the Brooks Center is a no-frills kind of ice rink, seating 5159 for hockey; there is minimal seating at the ends and a low ceiling. It also has the worst PA system of any rink I’ve been in. But it’s a loud arena for the home town Huskies, and the student section: The Dog Pound, is as raucous as they get.
UMD and SCSU during pre-game warm ups
The Duluth Bulldogs were in St Cloud to try to keep their home ice in the first round of the playoffs. St Cloud would be trying to stay tied at the top of the NCHC with North Dakota.
The Bulldogs set the tone early, with a goal in the first 39 seconds. Both teams were flying, but it was UMD that would expand their early lead. UMD worked a delayed penalty to perfection, keeping the puck away from St Cloud until Brenden Kotyk buried the puck behind Husky goaltender Charlie Lindgren. Then UMD went on the power play, and Karson Kuhlman scored unassisted to give Duluth a very sudden 3-0 lead.
Duluth gave a clinic on how to take the early lead and then just hang on. St Cloud is a very fast team, and their puck movement is impressive. They peppered Duluth goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo with 14 SOG in the second, but only put one past him. Kaskisuo turned away another 21 SOG in the third, but did not allow a goal. UMD’s Kuhlman added his second goal of the game, an empty netter, for the 4-1 Duluth win.
Kaskisuo faced 50 shots total, and Lindgren faced 35. Attendance was 4861.
Second period entertainment: “Too Tall Ike” skates around on 4′ high stilts, dressed as one of the Hanson bros.
Marquette, Michigan
Center ice
Alaska was playing Northern Michigan this weekend, so I made the short drive from Houghton to Marquette. Built in 1999, the Berry Event Center (BEC) is one of the few Olympic sized rinks in the WCHA. The Carlson Center in Fairbanks is another, so there would be no advantage there. The single bowl rink seats 3802 for hockey.
The Nanooks during pregame warmups
Alaska came out flying tonight, after winning in OT on Friday. In spite of that, NMU’s Denver Pierce opened the scoring. Fairbanks native, Alec Hajdukovich, scored a power play goal to tie it off of a deflection. Tyler Morley of the Nanooks then scored off of a Hajdukovich assist to take the 2-1 lead into intermission.
The Nanooks’ deep seeded and unnatural desire to spend time in the penalty box then took over. They had five penalties in the second period (six if you count the boarding penalty at the end of the first – which I do). Alaska did a great job on the penalty kill, but they were still lucky to give up only one goal to Dominik Shine, and went into the second intermission tied at 2.
Alaska came back out flying in the third, and really dominated play. Justin Woods sniped a shot from the point for a PPG early in the period, but that was the last opportunity the Nanooks’ capitalized on. Ryan Trenz would tie the game up for NMU, and Barrett Kaib put the Wildcats in front. Brock Maschmeyer added an empty net goal for NMU.
A missed opportunity for Alaska to get a road sweep in Marquette.
Jesse Jenks had 31 saves for Alaska, and Mathias Dahlstrom had 35 for Northern Michigan. Attendance was 2120.
This would be Rover country:
I may be testing the winter design abilities of my 300ZX, as well as the Cooper winter tires, and possibly my luck, but that’s what roads were made for.
Quite a bit of fresh snow through northern Wisconsin and Yooper Michigan. Snow machines were everywhere, in fact every corner bar and gas station in each hamlet I passed today, had at least 20 snow machines in front of it.
Freezing rain this afternoon, on top of the snow made the roads greasy… simply greasy.
Once again, I wish I had the Rover to traverse this country in, but the 300 will have to do.
March Madness: Alaska Style…
The 2015 Iditarod start
For the second time in the history of “The Last Great Race”, the Iditarod had it’s start take place in Fairbanks this morning. 78 mushers and their 1000 sled dogs were off in their attempt to traverse the approximately 1000 miles to Nome.
Race veteran, DeeDee Jonrowe and her team as they take off for Nome
A great crowd turned out for the start, and organizers learned from the 2003 event, by having shuttles take people to and from the race start. The west end of town really only has one way in and one way out, which caused a bit of a bottleneck the last time Fairbanks held the Iditarod start.
Above is a good shot of the Iditarod start from the air. Notice the open water on the Chena River behind the Princess Lodge.
Photos courtesy of the Daily News-Miner
The global graph shows temperatures around the world as they happened on Thursday and compare them against average. Look at that bright red glow across the NW Territories, The Yukon and Northern Alaska.
We’re back to the heat here in Alaska. It’s been over a week of lighting a fire in the wood stove before I go to bed, and letting it go out over night. Then the next night, starting a fire again, and repeating the process. The cold snap on the eastern seaboard of the United States is a long ways from Interior Alaska.
Anchorage has been forced to give up the Iditarod Dog Sled Race to Fairbanks, due to absolutely no snow on the southern route to Nome. No doubt Anchorage is seething at this, but race officials could not repeat the disaster of 2014.
The Open North American Sled Dog Race had to reroute out of downtown Fairbanks due to the Noyes Slough ice being unsafe.
Now, a Plan C is being considered for the Iditarod, because the Chena River ice is quickly becoming thin in this heat wave. The race was to be run from the Chena River in Fairbanks to the Tanana River and then onward to Nome, but now an overland route to the Tanana is being considered.
I received a text today from New York State, asking about frozen pipes and how deep water lines run in Fairbanks to avoid the frost line. As I respond from Interior Alaska, I’m dressed in tennis shoes and a light fleece jacket, and I couldn’t help but notice that I’m standing in the open water of a puddle in a parking lot.
If it wasn’t for the two weeks of -40 & -50, the tripod down in Nenana would be toppling in record time.
Get that bug dope out.
Graphic comes courtesy of the University of Maine
Over the years, the University of Minnesota has played in a lot of venues. The first intercollegiate hockey game the U of M played was in 1895. Those games were played at Athletic Park in Minneapolis. By the 1903 season, the Gophers were playing on Como Lake in St Paul. I believe 1903 is also the first year Minnesota played the University of Wisconsin.
The University’s Board of Regents did not officially fund a varsity hockey program until 1921.
The exterior of the St Paul Hippodrome
By 1923, the University’s hockey team was playing in the Hippodrome at the Minnesota State Fair grounds. When the Hippodrome was built in 1906, it was the largest indoor ice sheet in the world at 270 feet by 119 feet.
The Original “Hipp”
The Original “Hipp”, as it was known, was a beautiful and massive amphitheater that sustained the rink by leaving the doors and windows open to let the natural air freeze the ice.
Interestingly, it was also the home of the St Paul Athletic Club, which won the MacNaughton Cup in 1915, and were runner’s up in 1922 and 1923.
Minnesota would continue to play in the Hippodrome off and on until 1934. During WWII, the “Hipp” was converted into a propeller plant. While under government control, the historic Hippodrome was severely damaged and declared unsafe. The building was torn down in 1946.
Minneapolis Arena
By 1925, the main home of Gopher hockey was the Minneapolis Arena. The team continued to play some games at the state fair grounds until 1934 and at the St Paul Auditorium from 1932 – 1950.
The St Paul Auditorium in 1945
Things really started to change for the program by 1950. Williams Arena opened on campus in 1928. In 1950, “The Barn”, as the old arena is affectionately known, received its first major renovation. The building was divided with the larger section to be the home of the basketball team, and a smaller section to become the new, on campus home of the hockey team.
The hockey side of The Barn in 1950
In 1952, John Mariucci would become the coach of Golden Gopher hockey. It would be Mariucci who would take the program to new levels and cement the program’s identity. It was Mariucci who really started the tradition of Minnesota kids playing on Minnesota’s ice. He would coach the team through the 1966 season.
Old Mariucci
In 1985, the hockey side of Williams Arena was renamed Mariucci Arena after the long time coach. I absolutely loved attending games at Williams Arena/Old Mariucci, both as a young kid with my Dad and as a student at The U. It was a unique rink, a very intimate setting, and very loud for the home team. It also had the strangest little cubby hole at one end. As a kid, I always wondered if the net minder got claustrophobic down there.
In 1993 the hockey team moved into the New Mariucci Arena, which is across the street from Williams. Old Mariucci is now the Sports Pavilion. New Mariucci is a beautiful hockey rink, and arguably one of the nicest in the nation, but I’m glad I experienced the quirks and history of Williams.
“The Barn” and Mariucci Arena … University of Minnesota campus.
Historic photos come courtesy of the wonderful site: vintagemnhockey.com
The subject of this post comes courtesy of Pewaukee. So blame him!
