Giving Back to Their Roots: Crosby Comets Alumni Host Hockey Camp at Andrist Arena

By Michelle Svangstu

It might be sunny and warm outside this week, but inside Andrist Arena, the ice is frozen and one of Crosby’s favorite winter sports is back in action.

Dakota Roots Hockey Camp, back for its 5th year, was founded in 2019 by Evan Eriksmoen and Lance Knudson, both Crosby Comet Alumni. “We were roommates at the time, and just started talking about hockey camps we had attended when we were younger, how we wished we’d had an opportunity to have a camping opportunity in our hometown, rather than having to travel to bigger cities all the time. We knew there were kids in Crosby who would come, so we made a plan and pitched it to the BlueLine Club Board, got approval in June and held our 1st camp in July,” noted Evan. “I knew that I had college friends, guys I had coached with who enjoy seeing kids succeed,” shares Lance. “We’re fortunate they’ve kept coming back each year.”

The crew of coaches includes a line-up of highly qualified and experienced players and coaches. In addition to Lance, who teaches math and is the head coach for Dickinson High School Girls Hockey, and Evan, who currently teaches business at Shiloh Christian school in addition to coaching football and golf, six others have joined the staff at Dakota Roots. Marshall Tschida is the head coach for Mandan High’s Boys Hockey and Kyler Moore just completed his inaugural season as the head coach for the hockey team at the University of Oregon. Coach Drake Hunter is the owner of Pace Puck, Mallory Olson is the owner of Oka Skating Academy, and Nate Speidel is the owner of Goalrobber Hockey School. Michelle Landsverk, another Comets Alum and current player at Dakota College in Bottineau, is also assisting with this year’s camp. “We have a great team with a wide-variety of expertise,” says Lance. “It’s been great to have coaching consistency – these guys really take ownership of their role in camp.”

Dakota Roots has had a few changes since its inception, based on feedback from the players themselves. “We were blown away, usually kids don’t want to do skating and edgework, but the feedback we got was them asking for more,” notes Knudson. Adds Eriksmoen, “We structure our week to include ice sessions with Mallory on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to increase skating skills and confidence, and in addition to the on-ice, they also do some dryland training, learning about exercises and other tools they can take with them to care for their body during the season.”

Players focus on a different skill each day of the week, including shooting, stick handling and passing. While shooting and stick handling have a lot of basic skill principles, the coaches say that passing isn’t so cut and dry. “Passing is worked on based on each kid’s abilities – it’s not a one-size fits all approach,” notes Eriksmoen. “While there are a couple of basics, each kid has their own style, and it’s our job to push them out of their comfort zone. Some kids have a great ‘front hand,’ so we encourage them to work on their ‘back hand,’ or put them in situations they haven’t been in before to expand their game. We want them to leave with skills they can work on in their off-time.”

And while the onice skills are important to the game, both Knudson and Eriksmoen agree that the work off the ice is what makes it all come together. “We do 45 minutes of classroom every day,” shares Lance. “And while we go over all the x’s and o’s, we spend a lot of time encouraging the kid’s to think about the mental side of high performance, taking care of ourselves and how the things we do affect others. We work on treating each other kindly, picking up after ourselves – getting pucks off the ice and keeping our locker rooms clean. It starts with the small things.”

Evan agrees. “We want them to understand that how they respond to a situation, whether it be a bad call made by the ref, something your coach tells you to do, or a mistake you make on the ice – it’s going to have a direct effect not just on you, but your team. We walk through different ERO’s (Event, Response, Outcome), and hopefully that will help them think through a situation before they act. For example, if you get a penalty during the game and throw your stick, you’re probably going to get tossed out – hurting your- self and your team – but if you get that penalty, go sit in the box and serve your time, you’ll be back out on the ice in a couple minutes and the game goes on.”

Both Knudson and Eriksmoen say that their passion for bringing Dakota Roots Hockey School back to Crosby each year is rooted in seeing the kids succeed. Shares Lance, “We get to see these same kids, see them grow into the players they are now. And it’s pretty cool to see all the kid’s that come from out of town too, to see them share their passion and spend time with their grandparents.” “Just knowing that we can give [these kids] an opportunity to skate in the summer, give them the op-

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out the families that entrust us with their kids year after and year, or without all the volunteers – everyone who helps get the ice in, Gerald Brady who maintains it for us, our moms who do the cooking, our wives who sacrifice the time to let us be here while they maintain our homes and care for our kids - It’s pretty awesome that we can give back to the Blueline Club and community that helped build us.” portunity to have this here in their hometown, that’s why we do it. Hopefully one day they can look back and appreciate the opportunities they’ve had right here in Crosby,” says Evan.

Both coaches also expressed appreciation for the community support.

“We couldn’t do this with-

This year’s camp runs through July 28th, with both Fridays being open to the public to come and watch the players scrimmage. Anyone interested in learning more about Dakota Roots Hockey School can call 701-339-2217 or email dakotarootshockey@gmail. com.