Unveiling The 8 Great Hockey Rinks In North Dakota

This weekend, we will crown another North Dakota State Hockey Champion in both boys' and girls' high school hockey.

This weekend sure takes me back. Growing up in Grand Forks, I attended the state tournament just about every year since I was able to walk.

Although I grew up playing basketball (mostly because my parents couldn't afford to have us kids play hockey), I was always a hockey player deep inside. I didn't play organized hockey until intermurals in my freshman year at UND, and I was hooked.

I then went on to play city league hockey in Grand Forks and had the chance to play against some of my childhood heroes who played for UND while I was growing up.

It was all so fun discovering the sport I knew I was destined to play but never had the opportunity.

Then my son came along. There was no doubt he was going to be a hockey player. True story: he didn't learn to walk until he was 16 months old, but he was skating in the backyard rink I made for him at 2 years old.

Hunter went on to play youth hockey in Grand Forks (I was lucky enough to coach him when he was in Termites and Squirts). His teams had a lot of success over the years, and state championships were the norm.

We then made a very unexpected move to Bismarck right before his sophomore year of high school.

He attended Grand Forks Central before the move, and he was set to play on the high school team. I was very proud of how he handled the move and how difficult it must have been to leave his friends at that age and start all over at a new school.

In an ironic situation, he would then face his childhood friends and former hockey teammates when his Bismarck High Demons would face Grand Forks Central in the first round of the North Dakota State Hockey Tournament in 2019.

It didn't go well, as his former high school, Grand Forks Central, shelled Bismarck High. His old high school would then go on to win the state championship that year and one more time during Hunter's senior season.

To his credit, I never once heard him say I wish we would've never moved. He handled everything with class and was very grateful for his time with Bismarck High.

He would go on to have a pretty decorated high school career that would give him the chance to play some junior hockey and college.

When my son played his final high school game at the West Region Tournament, I can't tell you enough how emotional that was for my family and me.  Three years went by in the blink of an eye.

All those 20-below nights in the backyard with frozen toes holding a hose working on the backyard rink for your kid.  The many weekend hockey road trips with strangers who soon become your lifelong friends and all the pageantry and excitement of high school hockey.

This weekend, we celebrate North Dakota's high school hockey's finest teams at the state tournament in Grand Forks at the Ralph.

I thought I would share "The 8 Great Hockey Rinks in North Dakota." 

As a hockey dad for about 20 years, I've seen just about every rink in the state.  Here's the best of the best.