March 11, 2008 02:04 am
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Both Warroad, Minn., and Detroit, Mich., have laid claim to the nickname, “Hockeytown, USA.”
While no one’s ready to hang that mantle upon Mankato just yet, perhaps those towns will let us borrow it for a little while.
This has been a good time to be a hockey fan in south-central Minnesota, one of the last spots in the state to be fully infected by the puck bug.
Last week, the Mankato West boys hockey team made its very first appearance at state, arguably the crown jewel of high school sports tournaments.
This week, 10th-ranked Minnesota State is preparing to host — that’s right, host — the Minnesota Gophers in the first round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs.
“It’s great to see where the state of hockey is in Mankato right now,” Mavericks coach Troy Jutting said after practice Monday.
Jutting wasn’t just referring to his own team, which finished in a tie for fourth place in the WCHA and drew an average of 4,200 people to each of its 17 home games during the regular season.
As a longtime Mankato resident — eight years as head coach, 10 as an assistant and four as a player — Jutting said the growth of the sport at the college, high school and youth levels alike is a cause near and dear to his heart.
Squirt and peewee teams are winning tournaments, The East/Loyola and West boys made their state-tournament debuts just two years apart. And the Mavericks have played themselves into having a good shot to go to the NCAA tournament for the first time in five years.
“This has something that has been a goal of mine and the coaching staff, to help grow hockey in Mankato, not just at the university,” said Jutting, who has two sons in youth hockey. “We’re starting to get to where there are some expectations, not just surprises, when a team is successful.”
West had two of the state’s top five scorers on its roster in Ricky Litchfield and future Maverick Corey Leivermann, and went 1-2 at state. The Scarlets fell in the first round to eventual tournament runner-up Duluth Marshall but played before a raucous group of fans that filled more than an entire section of the Xcel Energy Center Wednesday morning.
“It’s where tradition starts,” said West coach Ken Essay, who was named Class A high school coach of the year Sunday.
Jutting, who should be in the running for WCHA coach of the year, is also seeing tradition grow with the Alltel Center’s suddenly lively crowds and full student sections. Imagine what two wins over the Gophers and a trip to the Final Five would mean to the community.
“We’re a growing program,” Jutting said. “We had a long, great tradition here at another level (Division II). ... But we’re still in our infancy in this league. We’re trying to establish our identity at this level as well.”
Right here in the south-central region of the State of Hockey.
Shane Frederick is a Free Press staff writer. Access his college hockey blog through mankatofreepresshockey.blogspot.com/
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