March Is Finally Here Which Means One Thing Only. So Is The Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament
A lot of people immediately go to basketball when they hear “March Madness”. But for Hockey Guys all across the nation? The true March Madness goes down at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota every year for the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. Now if you’re new here, you’re probably wondering why the hell everybody is so fired up for high school hockey. Well the main reason why there’s been so much attention on this tournament over the last few years is thanks to the All Hockey Hair Team videos that come from The Tourney.
Year after year, it’s one of the best videos to hit the internet. Which–if you know anything about the internet–is pretty much impossible to do. Usually when it comes to viral videos, you can strike gold once and then that’s about it. Striking gold twice isn’t unheard of but it’s certainly difficult to replicate the same level of excellence as your first video. But doing it year after year? That’s absurd. So shoutout to Game On! Minnesota for his salad expertise.
Now that’s not the only reason The Tourney is such a can’t-miss event. If you’re not from Minnesota, chances are you started to check it out just because of the All Hockey Hair Team but then you started to watch the actual hockey that was being played and you were hooked. People who are from Minnesota will tell you, “yeah, no shit. That’s what we’ve been trying to say. It’s some of the best high school hockey you’ll ever see”. They’ll probably say it a little nicer than that since they’re sugar cookie soft but you know what I mean. As soon as you actually sit down to watch a game, you realize this tournament is everything that you could ever love about sports.
This is high school hockey. It’s a very high level of high school hockey but it’s not like this is the pros or anything. Most of us reading this blog right now probably played high school hockey so we can relate to this tournament more than anything. There are definitely a decent amount of these kids who go on to bigger and better things than high school hockey. Like Casey Mittelstadt, for example. He played in this tournament last year, was a 1st round pick in the NHL Draft last June, was a stud for Team USA at the World Juniors and will probably be playing in Buffalo next year. But others? Well they’re just like the rest of us. High school hockey will most likely be the end of their competitive career. So while we can relate to that, very few of us have ever played on a stage this big. These kids PACK the Xcel Energy Center. A pro arena filled with a bunch of wild high school kids, the bands playing, the atmosphere is electric. And then it’s even better on the ice. You see plenty of plays that make it on SC Top Ten the next morning and then, of course, it’s a Celly Clinic basically every single game.
The atmosphere at this tournament is insane. The skill level at this tournament is insane. You’re watching great hockey but it’s also still high school hockey so it’s just the boys ripping it up and having fun out there more than anything. So if you’ve never checked it out before, make sure you give it a watch this year. The tournament starts on March 7th and the championship games will be on Saturday March 10th. Have yourselves a go, boys.