One of my favorite memories of watching community hockey was my brother's EMS Memorial Hockey Tournament. Despite the bitter chill, you can see kids playing outside for hours. Families all across Minnesota will make backyard hockey rinks, clearing the snow and flooding the surface continually with water until it's frozen enough to hold weight. Pond hockey and pick-up games are a common sight in winter. Probably because it snows nine months of the year in Minnesota (it really doesn't, but we joke that it does!), but hockey has become a huge definer of our cultural identity. From our local community hockey team all the way up to pros, we absorb hockey. Every year, the Minnesota Wild hosts "Hockey Day," featuring high school and college teams from across the state playing on outdoor rinks during the all-day event. We call Minnesota "the state of hockey" and true to our name, we celebrate this cold winter sport at every age and league level. This year the Florida Panthers and the Vegas Golden Knights are facing off for the title. There were 56 Minnesotans actively playing in the league this year - the most of any state in the National Hockey League. The Minnesota Wild were eliminated from the playoffs earlier this season, but our state was well represented throughout the season. We could argue about everything else, but we always agreed on hockey, waiting patiently for the day when we could watch our team hoist the Stanley Cup and celebrate. And now, it's a family tradition I can share with my daughter, who will get to go to her first game next season. It helped me most of all connect with my dad and my older brother. It was one of the most common ways we could spend time together. My family has had season tickets to the Minnesota Wild since their inaugural season in 2000, and when I was younger, all four of us would go together. We have the ability to uplift our team through our energy and engagement. Despite not playing hockey, I learned that fan participation is equally important to the game. I realized quickly that I did not have the drive and aptitude to fully commit and play the game, a feeling that was not helped by the fact that most kids start playing at 5. I've only attempted to play the sport once when I was 9 and after one season decided to hang up the sweater and remain an avid fan. I've been attending hockey games since I was still a baby, watching my older brother play goalie for his Mite (7-9 year olds) league. Hockey is a way of life in Minnesota and for my family, watching the game is as much an active sport as actually playing it.
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