4 out of 144 ain't bad!

I learned a lot this weekend down in Cottage Grove, MN! One thing was that I learned that I still have a deep hatred for Mall of America -- seriously, all those people? And I only go to the same places that I would shop at in Grand Forks or Fargo, anyway! No sales tax on clothes is pretty nice, though.




BUBBA GUMP SHRIMP.


But, more importantly, I learned a lot about my brother's peewee hockey team; mostly, what sets them apart from all the other teams they ran into at the state tournament. Here's a list of the info I compiled:

REGARDING THE TEAM: We have 12 kids on the team. Six 6th graders, six 7th graders. Not even enough for 3 full lines. Tryouts were not held and players were not recruited in the making of this team. Two are from Kennedy, two are from across the river in the Pembina area, and eight reside in Hallock. These boys have been playing together since they were 5 years old. Also, we don't have a backup goalie, which is completely fine, beings the one we have is absolutely fantastic and gave us a lot of victories this year. (Offense wins games, defense wins championships...)

REGARDING THE COACHING STAFF: First of all, there are only two of them. Secondly, they don't wear shirts and ties, or matching jackets. Well, that's not entirely true -- they sometimes wear their Gophers sweatshirts. Oh, and one more thing...I'm pretty sure the other coaches had a lot of experience growing up playing hockey...rather than, say, basketball (ahem, Mr. Noel Peterson).

REGARDING THE FANS: We have stood at every game we've been at this year (normally because the rinks our team played in are not heated, and it's the only way to keep yourself semi-warm). We found out this weekend most opposing fans don't do that and, also, that they don't necessarily like that we do! Also, our parents and fans can find a liquor store and Target just as fast as finding the rink the boys play at (okay, maybe I should leave this one specifically for myself...)

REGARDING THE COMMUNITY:  We have a church at home that prays for the team at every Sunday morning service when we are on the road (thank you, Grace-RR Lutheran!) I'd also like to give a shout-out to all the former Hallock residents that now live in the cities who came to the boys' games -- thank you thank you THANK YOU! Pretty cool to have so much support so far from home!

The Peewees ended up taking 4th place at the state tournament; they defeated North Metro 6-5 in overtime on Friday, lost to Johnson-Como 3-6 on Saturday, and played a close, heartbreaking game against Minneapolis Purple on Sunday, coming up short 2-3. I cried a bit on Sunday -- NOT because we lost, though. It was because somewhere around the beginning of the third period, I realized this was the last hockey weekend for the season. I (along with most of the other peewee fans, I'm sure) have such a strong sense of pride for this team, because they worked so hard to get as far as they did.

Love,

Kalli

P.S. One more thing -- some of the sisters ordered shirts, though I wish we would've gotten them for everybody (dads, moms, grandparents, etc.)