Hockey Day North Dakota at UJ

Jamestown  (UJ)   A three-day, statewide event celebrating hockey at the University of Jamestown January 18, 19, 20.  “Hockey Day North Dakota” brings the sport back to its roots with an outdoor rink, and events on the rink and surrounding it. Teams of all ages, from all over the state, come together to compete and celebrate hockey. Saturday photos for CSiNewsNOW.com by Matt Sheppard.   More Photos at Facebook.  Like & Share.

UJ Head Hockey Coach, Cole Bell says, “Our main goal of this community event is to bring people and the state together in celebration of our great sport.”

The event is hosted by Pure Hockey Skills and the University of Jamestown. The outdoor rink is built on the University of Jamestown’s Allen Field. Teams of all ages from youth and high school teams to the college level – including the University of Jamestown and the University of Mary – will have the opportunity to play on this outdoor rink during Hockey Day.

President of Pure Hockey Skills, Jeff Romsdahl says, “I grew up playing on the outdoor rink in McElroy Park in Jamestown and currently have our own backyard pond hockey rink built annually which our youth and adults spend time on having fun, building skills, and creating memories.  We wanted to build an official outdoor rink, right here on the UJ campus to bring our hockey passion back to those roots; it’s going to be a lot of fun for the players and fans of the game.”

The event will also feature VIP seating and other hockey events and activities.

Hockey Day North Dakota fire pits are being distributed around the spectating area for warmth.  A VIP tent in the Southwest corner of the ice will have  diesel heaters and a fire pit.

The tents were donated by R.M. Stoudt and Wilhelm’s.

RH Rebel Storagehas provided  four storage containers as a “locker room” for players containing benches, lights and heat, as Hand and foot warmers will be given out to each player and coachh

University of Jamestown will also open the cafeteria located at theBadal Nafus Student and Alumni Center/Westminster Hall serving hot food.

The campus will open other buildings if needed.

WDAY reports that, at intermission Saturday night, Hockey Day will retire the jersey of Aaron Nordstrom, a 10-year-old boy who beat cancer, then died in a plane crash in 2016. He would have played pee wee hockey this year.

His father, Eric Nordstrom, said he has contributed hundreds of hours of volunteer time to Hockey Day so other kids can have a special day.