Here in Minnesota, hockey is strongly woven into our fabric of life. Our state high school tournament regularly sells out. College hockey gets higher television ratings than some college or pro basketball broadcasts. The Minnesota Wild average more than 100-percent capacity at the Xcel Energy Center. Indoor and outdoor rinks dot the landscape of the North Star State. Learning to skate, shoot and stickhandle  is a rite of passage for countless Minnesota kids every winter. And the Let’s Play Hockey Expo in St. Paul during the state tournament is the largest consumer hockey show in the world (shameless plug). 

But why does this sport have such a stranglehold in Minnesota? I’m pretty sure the six-month-long winter has something to do with it, but I also know what has drawn me to the sport of blue lines, power plays, saucer passes and Zambonis.

What better way to explain this than by compiling a not-quite-exhaustive list of why I love hockey as much as I do?

In an effort of full disclosure, I grew up in the cake-eater hotbed of Edina, played youth hockey in both Edina and Germany, enjoyed a three-year “career” as Goldy Gopher for the men’s hockey team at the University of Minnesota, worked for four years at the ‘U’ as the men’s hockey team’s sports information director and was a longtime season ticket holder at Mariucci Arena. 

Without further ado and in honor of Let’s Play Hockey’s 46th year as a publication, I give you 150 reasons to love hockey:

1. Freshly-sharpened skates

2. A clean sheet of ice

3. Hockey hair 

4. Playoff beards

5. Toothless smiles

6. Hockey moms and dads

7. The Minnesota State High School Tournament

8. The pre-game introductions at the state tournament

9. Skating cheerleaders

10. The horn after a goal at a Wild game

11. The sparks from a skate sharpener

12. Hockey nicknames. I’m Kurtty.

13. A lengthy cycling of the puck

14. Goal celebrations with special mention of the “Goldy Shuffle”

15. The sieve chant with special mention of the crowd at the Kohl Center

16. Slap shots

17. Slap Shot

18. The Miracle on Ice

19. Miracle

20. Pond hockey

21. The Mighty Ducks

22. The hockey Twittersphere

23. The hockey blogosphere

24. The skill involved to skate, stickhandle, shoot/pass all while someone is trying to knock you off the puck

25. The cool look of goalie equipment

26. Fan reactions to goals/big hits/bad calls

27. The fan/player relationship

28. Big goals

29. Players standing on the blueline for the National Anthem

30. The X

31. Mariucci Arena

32. The Ralph

33. The DECC/Amsoil Arena

34. Yost Arena

35. Ridder Arena

36. Braemar Arena

37. Sold-out arenas

38. Backyard rinks

39. Playing hockey in the dining room/kitchen/family room/living room/garage/driveway with my two hockey-obsessed boys

40. TV interviews of hockey players – no matter what the player’s age, these interviews always seem the same

41. Jack Blatherwick, John Russo and Kevin Hartzell columns in Let’s Play Hockey

42. Goldy Gopher

43. Mascot hockey games

44. Team pictures

45. Team celebration photos around the trophy

46. Hot apple cider in the stands

47. The Let’s Play Hockey Expo

48. Team USA vs. Team Canada

49. NHL players on Olympic-size ice

50. Goalie masks

51. Breakaways

52. A quick glove hand

53. Bubble hockey, especially the vintage USA vs. USSR version

54. The Gopher women’s hockey team

55. The way players rip off their helmets and gloves after winning a championship game

56. The Stanley Cup

57. The MacNaughton Cup

58. The lack of TV timeouts compared to other sports

59. Doug Woog

60. Doc Emrick

61. Michael Russo

62. The rivalries – too many to list

63. The hockey culture – humble, tough

64. Goalie fights

65. Pick-up hockey at the John Rose Oval

66. John Buccigross

67. Bucci’s Overtime Challenge

68. Hanging banners

69. The large number of college hockey games broadcast on TV/online

70. Power plays

71. Penalty kills

72. Penalty shots

73. The hat trick

74. The captaincy

75. Street hockey

76. Winter hockey at the park

77. Shinny

78. Knee hockey with mini sticks

79. Using a baseball glove when playing goalie in street hockey

80. Herb Brooks 

81. Hockey lingo like apple, bucket, chirp, dangle, sauce, snipe and celly.

82. The Minnesota Rouser

83. Michigan Tech’s hockey band

84. The number of Minnesotans/former Minnesota collegians in the NHL

85. The number of Minnesotans in junior, college and pro hockey

86. Wally Shaver

87. The way Wally Shaver says “again” or “about”

88. Bob Kurtz

89. The Mr. Hockey Award

90. The Ms. Hockey Award

91. The Reed Larson Award

92. The Hobey Baker Award

93. The Mike Richter Award

94. NHL ‘94

95. Names like Gump Worsley, Cal Clutterbuck, Hakan Loob and Jeff Beukeboom

96. Three Stars of the Game

97. Zach Parise’s effort on the ice

98. Stacking the pads

99. A wraparound goal

100. Getting chippy

101. The five hole

102. Memorable playoff goals 

103. The hip check

104. The Frozen Four

105. Hockey sweaters

106. Third jerseys

107. Getting a five-minute power play

108. Killing off a five-minute major

109. One-timers

110. Team huddles around the goal

111. Lou Nanne

112. Being a fan of a niche sport

113. Smart hockey fans

114. The nearly non-stop action

115. The sound of the blades on the ice

116. The sound made when a puck hits a pipe

117. The fact that each team is only allowed one timeout

118. The stick salute – special mention of the Golden Gopher stick salute following a two-game home sweep

119. The Battle Hymn of the Republic

120. Sled hockey

121. Chain link or chicken wire “glass”

122. The Wild’s flag bearer

123. Chuck-a-puck

124. Ponytails coming out the back of the helmets of the ever-growing number of girls’ and women’s hockey players

125. Ceremonial faceoffs

126. Open-ice hits

127. Mite games during intermission

128. Goal lights, especially in the red rotating beacon style

129. Going top shelf

130. Knocking the water bottle off the net

131. Tic-tac-toe

132. Community-based teams

133. Beer leagues

134. Hard hits or shots that shatter the glass

135. The fog that forms on the ice when it’s hot and humid outside

136. The Stanley Cup Playoffs

137. Playoff overtime

138. NHL players who refuse to touch the conference trophies

139. Players getting the Stanley Cup for a day

140. NHL players who refuse to touch the Stanley Cup until they win it themselves

141. Players who won’t take off their equipment after a season- or career-ending loss

142. Fans singing their national anthem

143. Hockey superstitions

144. The Mario vs. Gretzky argument

145. The Bobby Orr counterargument

146. How you hardly notice the stench of hockey locker rooms if you’re around them enough

147. The Zamboni

148. Season openers

149. Senior Night

150. Let’s! Play! Hockey!