Outdoor hockey came back to  Winona, at least for a day, and both the crowd and players loved it.

On Saturday, January 14, the Winona Boys varsity and junior varsity hockey teams took on the Mankato West Scarlets at the outdoor rink at Bud King Arena, the home of the Winhawks. With the rink a stone’s throw from the Mississippi River, the setting added to the feel of  guys getting together for pick-up games.

The Winona Youth Hockey Association  came up with the idea to promote an outdoor game and asked if the Winona coaches if they were interested. Winona coach Fran McDevitt contacted Mankato West and they were excited about the opportunity to play an outdoor game.

“It will be fun to watch the teams compete in the elements” said Winhawks coach Fran McDevitt prior to the game.

Although there is a history of hockey being played outdoors in Winona, there hasn’t been a game outdoors for a long while. When Cotter had their own hockey team in the 1970s, the team played outdoors at Saint Mary’s University, then known as  St. Mary’s College.

The hometown team, which includes, four players from Cotter, knew they were in for a challenge.  The Scarlets, who are the defending conference and section champions, have two players that played for the Minnesota High School Elite team.

“It was a little intimidating at first, but as the game went on we found that we could compete with them”  senior captain and center Justin Waldera said.

Although the Winhawks would eventually fall to the Scarlets 6-2, with Zeb Trombetta and Joey Wiczek scoring for Winona, the players enjoyed the atmosphere of playing outdoors.

“It was one of the most fun games I’ve ever played, playing outdoors, it felt like old time hockey,” said Waldera.

“It was a blast, it was a little cold and the sun off the ice was tough, but it was a lot of fun,” Matt King, senior winger, said.

The game went smoothly for the most part with only a few stops to fix the ice and drew a larger than usual crowd of almost 400 for the two games.  The Winona Daily News ran an article prior to the game and word of mouth drew many new fans to the event.  The NHL has had great success recently in promoting outdoor games, often held in baseball parks, and the Youth Hockey Association was correct in assuming this enthusiasm would translate at the high school level.

The players had a lot of fun and definitely would like to see more outdoor games in the future.

“This will hopefully start an annual tradition of playing games outside in Winona” said McDevitt

“I’d love to come back to play an alumni game outdoors or watch the team for another outdoor game” said Waldera.