The Legends
This historic game will show our young players what hockey used to be all about.
The concept to host an outdoor hockey game was initially discussed by local hockey enthusiasts several years ago. Why? Because this area has an historic reference to, "pond hockey." Young skaters, hoping to play for a team, would begin skating on the Baudette Bay, or on the frozen ravine in Williams, as soon as shore ice would be considered safe. And, in some cases, earlier! Remember old time ice hockey when you practiced all your best moves on the early winter ice on Baudette Bay? Area legends recount some of their fondest memories:
Fred "Punk" Goudet of Rainy River, Ontario
His Legend: Was the first to organize a hockey team in Baudette.
His story begins on a cold winter day in Baudette in the 1930s, when a rag-tag bunch of young men were playing hockey on the frozen river and bay. At that exact moment in time, an adult named Fred "Punk" Goudet, from Rainy River, just happened to be walking across the bridge. Watching the young men skate their hearts out, Goudet thought, "I could make a hockey team out of those boys!" And that’s just what he did. The local team became organized under Goudet and in 1938 went on to play in the State Tournament in St. Peter, MN. Unfortunately for the team, in 1938, the ice melted during the tournament!
John Hoscheid of Baudette
His Legend: Former professional player and local hockey fan.
"You felt like you could skate forever on the bay." John’s dad, Wesley Hoscheid, along with the local VFW Club for financial support, began the organized youth hockey program in our area. The reason hockey is so important to the youth in our area, according to Hoscheid, is because it, "...gives young people the concept of working on a team, and they will later realize in life how important this is as they begin working in their community."
Barry Westerlund
His Legend: Skated for miles on the Rainy River
"I liked to play hockey because it was fun and fast. By Thanksgiving we’d push the season and be out on the Baudette Bay skating. Once the river froze we’d wait for a strong northwest wind, and then we’d skate all the way to Clementson! We’d be so tired, we could barely climb up the bank at Art Roberts’s house to call our Dads for a ride home."
"In addition to the bay and river, there were also numerous little rinks all around town. Every time there was a vacant lot, the city would come over and flood the lot. The families could then use those as rinks, and the neighborhood Dads would maintain them."
"We finally got into our arena in the fall of 1964, and during that year, we never lost one single game."
Ken Moorman
His Legend: Former hockey player who began skating on the Baudette Bay
Ken Moorman recalls living in a home on the bay’s shoreline in the 1950s when, "You just waited, and waited for the ice to form along the shoreline. Then, over Thanksgiving break, Wally Olds, Mike Murray and I would skate out onto the bay, with the ice just cracking behind us. I remember the exhilarating feeling of being able to stay just ahead of the crack." Moorman recalled that, "Wally Olds was an incredible hockey player. I would spend literally hours trying to get the puck away from him... he would calmly and easily move the puck back and forth as you tried desperately to grab it." Moorman stated that these were some of his best childhood memories.
The Baudette Bay Hockey Classic has historic ties to two great hockey players.
Wally Olds
His Legend: A 1967 graduate from the Baudette High School, played for the United States Olympic team in 1971.
Herb Brooks
His Legend: Will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this November. Brooks graduated from St. Paul Johnson.
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