‘Sticks in Stillwater’ hockey festival supports Herb Brooks Foundation

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Photo courtesy Stephanie Albrecht

The outdoor rink at the St. Croix Valley Recreation Center was hopping from Feb. 5-7. Over 50 mites teams came to Stillwater to participate in this event."We feel like it was a success because it brought business and people to Stillwater. The kids and families had a lot of fun, and we created some memorable experiences. People want us to do it again next year. That's good," Glanzer says.

During the weekend of Feb. 5-7, Stillwater hosted a mites hockey festival called “Sticks in Stillwater” for the first time ever, which helps support the Herb Brooks Foundation. It celebrated the life and legacy of Herb Brooks through the great game of hockey. The festival took place at the St. Croix Valley Recreation Center and Lowell Park in downtown Stillwater.

Organized by the Watermark Church of Stillwater and Fellowship of Christian athletes, along with the Herb Brooks Foundation, this mites hockey festival was thought to be a great way to bring people to Stillwater during this time of year.

“The overall goal of the event is to bring a first-class event to Stillwater during the non-peak season, while creating a memorable family event that celebrates the life and legacy of Herb Brooks. The event will contribute all funds after expenses to the Herb Brooks Foundation, which supports growing the game of hockey and creating opportunities for all children to learn the game of hockey,” Pastor Jarvis Glanzer at Watermark Church said in the column titled “Adding value” published in the Stillwater Gazette.

The festival consisted of clinics for skills training and a tournament with over 50 mites teams participating from the metro Twin Cities, northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota. Players also had the opportunity to meet and greet former NHL players and 1980 Olympic gold medal athletes. Governor Mark Dayton as well as Goldy the Gopher also made appearance.

“I think it was a total success. I saw so many families of their seven or eight year old kid play hockey, it was such a great family event. There’s never anything for the mite level for those kids. For Oliver, that was the first tournament he has ever played in. Finally for once he got to go to his first tournament and play with his friends, they got tournament jerseys and he felt a part of it, like the whole thing was for him. And that’s what he loved about it,” said Jennifer Ligday, a hockey mom of a mites player who participated in this tournament.

A number of local businesses in the Stillwater community including Watermark Church, Team Boo Real Estate, Discover Stillwater, Acapulco, Events by Eastman and Gartner Studios sponsored this event and were huge contributors in putting on this event.

“Jarvis Glanzer, the pastor of Watermark Church, was the person who brought it up, all the businesses in Stillwater and the city itself was supportive and helped. Doug Brady at the St. Croix Rec Center was very cooperative to help us,” tournament director Jim Boo, a Stillwater resident, Real Estate agent and former NHL player said.

“Sticks in Stillwater” helped promote the passion for hockey, giving children the opportunity to learn and play the game in the state of hockey. It is hoping to grow even bigger and be the world’s largest mites festival.

“We look forward to doing it again. For its first year it was a success on a number of fronts and it was a great event for everybody starting with Stillwater and all the family members able to participate with it and all the businesses that had enjoyed the extra activity during this weekend,” Boo added.