As stated previously I'm not entirely sold on living in Minnesota again. I'm missing the warmer weather of Maryland and starting to dread I won't be playing softball or golf with the friends I developed out there. But there are aspects I do love about Minnesota, why this place will always hold a soft spot in my heart. One of those is the MN state high school hockey tournament.
High school hockey is a huge deal here. The state tournament is, obviously, the pinnacle of the season. Played at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, the Wild's NHL arena, the entire place is frequently filled up to create an amazing atmosphere. According to Wikipedia (link above) this tournament is the most attended state tournament in the country, beating even Indiana basketball. It's broadcast in its entirety on local TV and online for free too.
Part of makes this event so cool is the leanness of it. There are only two classes, A and AA. A is the majority of the smaller schools, public and private, all over the state. AA was created for the enormous public schools in the suburbs (my high school for example, 9-12, has 3600+ students), but there are a good number of smaller schools that play up against the higher level competition as well. It wasn't that long ago (1994) that there was only one class and the structure was a true state tournament, with only eight teams out of more than 200 making it. I think the current system is an improvement but that's not a universally held opinion.
There are inevitably fun storylines each year, even if you didn't watch any hockey before the start of the tournament (like me). Even with the gauntlet of section tournaments, there are some schools that somehow seem to make it every year. I'm most impressed with the towns up north that do this, like Hermantown, Roseau, Warroad or Moorhead. The hockey culture in those places must be incredible. Then there are usually a team or two that's never made the tournament at all, or hadn't in decades. I personally enjoy following the kids who are going D1 afterward because I follow the Gophers. But it's even better to see the emotion of the kids playing on the biggest stage of their life with the knowledge this is the culmination of their playing days, especially the seniors who are done for good afterward. On top of it all, there's some really good, exciting hockey.
Anyway, as much as I love the tournament itself that's not what I want to show off today. When the players get announced before each game in the tournament (over the intercom at the stadium and with graphics on the broadcast) they skate from a lineup near their goal up to their blue line, where a TV camera is waiting. Each player gets a little moment to themselves. Basically every single one of them says hi to their mom and almost as many use those few seconds to show off their hair.
You see, for years now, some rando on the internet has been making an annual video naming the top ten hockey hairdos from the state tournament. He's hilariously dry and it's so thoroughly Minnesotan. The production quality is not great and that's pretty clearly part of the bit, though it has improved in some respects over time. He supposedly sends out prizes to the winners too, something I cannot confirm. The videos grew in popularity so much (2015 and 2016 garnered 2m+ views on Youtube) that it seems the creator started feeling pressure about them, at one point revealing his identity for the first time and, in 2019, saying he was retiring. Luckily for us he couldn't stay away and resumed his labor of love the next year, so it continues.
Back to the tournament. It's incredibly apparent that the participants watch and care about this. They aim to appear in the video and go all out for it. Hockey players already do silly things with their hair during playoff season, of course, and these are high schoolers we're talking about. But there's no denying the All Hockey Hair Team has had an impact considering how the 'flow' is done and presented for the camera.
Altogether the video's a little thing. I don't really spend time thinking about it prior to the tournament. And yet each year it supplies a few minutes of sheer happiness. Let's get to this years, impressively posted the night (Saturday) the tournament wrapped up.
Gotta love that flow.
If you didn't know much about Minnesota before, that was another crash course. Hope you weren't overwhelmed and enjoyed it as much as we do.
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