Hi-Line Living: Hi-Line Hell Freeze

Hockey in Havre makes sense. It doesn't take much straining to see why one of the coldest places in Montana - in the U.S. - would embrace a sport that started in another winter town, Nova Scotia, Canada, at a time before indoor ice rinks.

Before the Havre Ice Dome was built in the mid-1990s, people played hockey on the outdoor rink on Fifth Avenue. Once the Ice Dome was built, hockey fever exploded, local experts say.

Hockey enthusiasm on the Hi-Line encompasses a wide age range. The Havre Youth Hockey Association allows kids to be registered as young as 5, in the termite division. The adult division posts no age limitations.

This past weekend, the Ice Dome hosted the eighth annual Hi-Line Hell Freeze Adult Hockey Tournament. People trekked northern winter roads from all over Montana and places in Canada to play in the tournament. The four-day local tourney has been a chance for guys and gals who once played competitively, or have just recently started slipping into skates and pads, to play and watch mostly nonstop, hockey. On two of the days - Friday and Saturday - the action went from morning to late into the night.

Brett Patrick of Havre is the HYHA director and the Hell Freeze tournament organizer.

"It's a good time. It's adults, get together, get a chance to play again, get to play some competitive hockey," Patrick said. "And it gives us a chance to make some extra money."

Patrick was there when the first tournament puck dropped. Patrick and friends put on the first Annual Hi-Line Hell Freeze Adult Hockey Tournament in January of 2011.

"Cody Mclain and myself came up with the idea to start an annual hockey tournament for adults here in Havre. We both recently moved back to Havre after finishing college and were playing weekly adult hockey at the Ice Dome. We wanted a way to grow adult hockey, while also helping the youth program out," he said.

Five teams competed in that first tournament year, and $2,000 was raised for the HYHA, Patrick said.

The tournament has since grown. Fans who watched this year's tournament were able to see 13 teams in three divisions. Five of those teams, including the top tier, championship winning Havre River Rats - composed of former Ice Hawk players and local association youth coaches - were local teams.

The tournament raised $10,000 this year, Patrick said, $2,000 more than the previous year. The money made from concession and beer sales, and the $300 team registration fees, goes to the Havre Youth Hockey Association. There was no entry fee for fans.

Thirty-six-year-old Chad Olsen of Havre played goalie for two teams during the weekend, the low rec division and the beginners division Havre River Rats.

Olsen waited until later in life to lace up the skates, he said. He picked up hockey at 30, after his son's involvement with the sport struck him with interest.

"It's a good adult sport. It's kind of a lifelong sport. You can play it at any level. It's a minimal contact. You don't have to worry about getting hurt."

Olsen had just glided off the ice after his River Rats had just beat a Lewistown team 5-3 Saturday afternoon.

"It's kind of fun to throw everyone together and watch everything happen," he said.

Olsen's cousin, Kelsey Smith, was watching behind the glass.

"Good job, Chad," he told his cousin as he walked off the ice.

Smith said he drove up from Missoula to play with his cousin.

"I play in a couple leagues down in Missoula," Smith said. "I've been playing for 10 years now. I'm not real good now, but it's a lot of fun. Makes the winters go by real quick."

Smith was also enjoying the cuisine served at the concession stand.

"They do a good pulled pork spread over there," he said.

Pulled pork, pulled pork nachos, pulled pork fries, pulled pork taco in a bag - "anything you can pork on" - was served and just about sold out, said Erin McLain, who worked the concession stand.

McLain said she'd worked the tournament in previous years and this year might just have been the biggest turnout she has seen. Lots of families attended, she said, attributing that as a major reason for the event's popularity.

"A lot of people bringing their kids, a lot of kids," McLain said.

The Knutsons of Rudyard were one of the many families who spent their weekend at the Ice Dome.

When he wasn't playing for the top tier division River Rats, Shaun Knutson was watching the games with his wife, Brandy, and his 3-year-old daughter, Kimber, in the stands. Their young son was in the corner of the complex, where a group of boys were having their own hockey game.

The Knutsons are a hockey family. Shaun Knutson, who is originally from East Grand Forks, Minnesota, said he had been playing hockey since he was 3. But, as a family man with a road construction job, he doesn't get to play as much as he'd like to.

They do, however, travel to Havre for their son who plays in the termite division, he said.

"Tournaments like this are a good opportunity for people who don't have a chance to play every day to get out there and have some fun," he said.

The Havre Youth Hockey Association started in the '80s, Patrick said. In the early '90s, before the Ice Dome existed, the association began renting the Fairgrounds' Bigger Better Barn during winter. The Havre Ice Dome was built between 1995 and 1997 with the first event being the 11 to 12-year-old Montana Amateur Hockey Association State Tournament in March of 1997, Patrick said.

"This program was started by a bunch of volunteer parents and community members that wanted skating and hockey to be a part of Havre and the Hi-Line. The Outdoor Rink and Bigger Better Barn were set up and maintained by volunteers committed to keeping hockey going in this community," Patrick said. "The Havre Ice Dome was constructed by volunteers and local businesses that had the same goals of keeping hockey alive as well as affordable to the area, in a facility that they could truly call their own. This place today is still run completely by volunteers with those same goals in mind, and hockey is thriving here on the Hi-Line with over 125 youth hockey players and more than 50 adult hockey players."