Hockeytown USA®
After the 1956 Winter Olympic Games, Warroad welcomed home Dan McKinnon and Gordon Christian, both members of the USA Men’s Hockey team, who proudly sported shiny new silver hardware. In the 1957/58 season, with five players and a head coach on the US National Team roster all hailing from Warroad, Mayor Morrie Taylor dubbed Warroad as “Hockeytown USA”. At the next Olympic Games in 1960, Gordon’s two brothers each brought back a gold medal lending further credibility to Taylor’s claim. Warroad would return to the games six more times, including the Miracle on Ice game of 1980. A total of five silver and four gold medals have been earned between the eight Olympians from who have competed in the games.
No US Men’s Hockey team has ever won gold without a Warrior on the roster.
“As everyone knows, Warroad has had a fantastic hockey tradition going back decades, and the fact that ice time is free for all kids who want to play hockey is something that is amazing to hockey people in other communities,” stated Dennis Fermoyle, a former Warroad High School Boys Hockey Coach. Between 1989 and 2015, Fermoyle served as a JV coach, an assistant coach specializing in goalies, and a co-head coach in the program. During his 27-year tenure, the team made it to the state championship 11 different times, taking home the State Championship title in four of those years. “I definitely miss high school hockey! And it has been an absolute thrill to follow the NHL careers of two young men that I had the privilege to coach, T.J. Oshie and Brock Nelson.”
Nelson and Oshie are just two of the TEN WHS alumni who have gone on to play at the professional level. After his 2018 Stanley Cup win with the Washington Capitals, Oshie brought the Cup home to Warroad in a grand ceremony, giving a tangible piece of inspiration to all the youth hockey dreamers in attendance.
Gigi Marvin, is another Warroad alumni who is a three-time Olympian with the US Women’s Hockey Team and also played for the Boston Pride in the PWHL. She now broadcasts with the MN Wild and runs an annual hockey camp right here in Warroad, always bringing her medals (two silver and one gold) for the players to see. In addition to the impressive number of Olympians and professional level players that Warroad has produced, there are five US Hockey Hall of Fame members and have been more than 80 (mens and womens combined) Division I players.
How does a town with a population just shy of 1800 manage to produce such a hockey legacy?
Because this isn’t just any town, its Hockeytown USA®.
Hockey is deeply woven into the fabric of the life here. It’s jokingly stated that kids learn to skate before they walk in Warroad, but this tongue-in-cheek comment isn’t far from the truth. A Skater Tots program invites little ones and their families to get on the ice and learn to skate as early as age two. While this isn’t specifically geared toward hockey, it does allow them their first taste of the sport.
Warroad’s Pee Wee A’s at Districts, now heading to Regions.
Photo courtesy of Annie Lund.
This feeds into a robust youth hockey program offering unlimited free ice time, provided under the motto of “Come Early, Stay Late, Skate Every Day”. This access to free ice time is often touted as the key to the success of the program, but the commitment of the players and coaches extends far beyond time spent at the rink. Many families create their own backyard rinks, some of which are quite impressive! Doc’s Rink on the Warroad River is open to the public and players have congregated there for years, and in 2020, the Riverbend Skate Path was created, connecting that rink to the many other residential river rinks on a 2.5-mile-long path.
Warroad Bantam A’s after winning Districts.
Photo courtesy of Lindsay Hontvet.
As the old adage goes, “practice makes perfect”. For these players, that might look like a couple hours of practicing with their team, then staying late to skate with another team’s practice, then leaving the arena and meeting up to skate the now 5+ mile long Riverbend Skate Path and play a pickup game at Doc’s, all before heading home to get another hour or two in on their own rink! Many also hit the ice before school, and for a time there was even an outdoor rink available during school recess!
#1 Seed WHS Boys Hockey Team
Photo courtesy of Wade and Sara Photography
After spending years competing in youth hockey, players shift from 12U and Bantams to proudly wearing the WHS black and gold jersey. The years they spend wearing this jersey and playing on this team are recalled by many as the best years of the sport. Currently, the Warrior Boys Hockey Team is ranked as the #1 Seed in Section 8A and will head into the quarterfinals on Thursday with a regular season record of 21-3-1. They are eager to make it down to the State Championship this year after a narrow double overtime loss in last year’s section 8A championship game.
The Warrior Girls Hockey Team will be heading to the State Tournament for the seventh consecutive year after winning the Section 8A Championship game in a 7-0 shutout. This will be their 13th appearance in the State Tournament since the varsity program was launched in the 1999. “The success of the girls program, much like the boys program, is rooted in the most incredible hockey culture of any town in the world,” says Stephanie Erickson, assistant coach of the Warroad Varsity Girls Hockey Team. “When players put on the Warrior jersey they are taking part in a legacy set forth before them by countless college, professional, and Olympic champions. When the jersey goes on, the players engage in an unspoken contract to carry that legacy forward. The expectation is enormous, but is met with a love for the game, nearly unlimited free ice time, and a massive community support structure.”
Lady Warriors after winning the Section 8A Championship. Photo credit to Stephanie Erickson.
Erickson, a WHS alumni from the class of 2004, is one of those stereotypical Warroad kids that learned to skate at age two. “I played in the boys hockey program until the girls program was started and was on the Warroad Girls Varsity Hockey team from its inaugural season, as an 8th grader, through my graduation.” Although the team hasn’t won the State Championship title since 2011, Erickson is confident the team will win it all this year. “We are most excited to win a state championship and hang another banner in the Gardens. Those banners are forever reminders to the players of their success and a source of inspiration to those yet to wear the jersey.”