Remembering 1st hockey tourney

BY DEBRA NEUTKENS STAFF WRITER

For a man of 93, John Resler has an uncanny memory for names and places.

For instance, he remembers the first player to score the first goal in the first-ever state high school hockey tournament: Bears defenseman George Kieffer. Or the tall Thief River Falls star forward (and future Olympian) who shot the winning goal from the blue line to beat White Bear Lake 3-2: Bob Baker.

If there is consolation, it is that the Bears placed third in that history-making tourney. Thief River Falls lost to Iron Range powerhouse Eveleth, 4-3.

The year was 1945. Resler recalls the event clearly because he was there on the ice playing right wing for the Bears. He was 15.

His foremost memory though, about that inaugural game? “Not winning,” Resler grumbled.

“I swear John remembers the day he was born,” quipped wife Virginia. “The tourney was a highlight of John’s life, and he’s never forgotten that they lost (twice).”

A well-thumbed scrapbook lovingly compiled by his late mother certainly helps jog any fading

“Most of us started as strangers, and came together as a team to pull this off,” Roberts said.

He also noted how the tagline for the event is “more than a game.”

“This sport is so rooted in the community that it is more than a game; it's their lives, in a lot of respects,” Roberts said.

To anybody who hasn’t yet decided whether they’ll attend, Roberts said they won’t regret getting tickets and experiencing Hockey Day.

“It’s going to be a spectacle,” he said.