Today (and every day) is Hockey Day Minnesota

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According to Minnesota Hockey, 49,912 youth hockey players registered to play on teams this season, which is 10,676 more than in Massachusetts, the next closest state. Of those, 18,435 were 8 years old or younger, which is 6,012 more than in Massachusetts. The great gains in girls hockey continued too, with 13,760 players registered — 5,511 of them 8 and under — both totals far surpassing Massachusetts, let alone the other 48 states.

Many Minnesota kids lacing up skates aspire even higher, and relative to other states, Minnesota leads those lists, too: 249 men from 68 high schools played on Division 1 teams, more than double the 117 from Massachusetts or the 113 from New York, 111 from Michigan and 70 from Illinois. Women’s D1 rosters were replete with North Star State stars too: 205 players from 61 different Minnesota high schools, more than the second and third states combined.

And beyond college, Minnesotans score as well. Fifty play in the National Hockey League, the eighth straight year at least that many are represented in the NHL, a level no other state has ever reached. And 18 Minnesotans compete in the Professional Women’s Hockey League, more than the next two states combined.

So it would seem that every day is hockey day in Minnesota. But today, Saturday, Jan. 25, is Hockey Day Minnesota, the 19th annual outdoor-ice event celebrating the sport woven into the state’s athletic and cultural fabric.

This year’s HDM takes place in Shakopee and features a spectacular backdrop: Valleyfair Amusement Park, which will operate for the first time in winter while the games are playing. But at least for players and fans at the customized outdoor rink, the real thrill ride will come on the ice, which over four days (the event officially started on Wednesday, with the culmination coming on Saturday) will have 24 youth games, 11 high-school games, a game between the University of Minnesota and the Bemidji State University women’s teams, as well as a college-alumni scrimmage.

And, per tradition, Hockey Day Minnesota will be capped off with an NHL game at the Xcel Energy Center between the Calgary Flames and the Minnesota Wild — the team that’s the “mothers and fathers of Hockey Day Minnesota,” according to Erik Radtke, the vice chair for Hockey Day Minnesota Shakopee.