On February 2-4, Minnesota Hockey partnered with the St. Paul Capitals Hockey Association to host the Ice Bowl Squirt C Tournament. The event was the first ever youth hockey tournament at the new TRIA Rink in downtown St. Paul, which is now the practice facility for the Minnesota Wild.

Rosemount Gold (pictured) rode a scoring spree all the way to the inaugural Ice Bowl title, posting a three-game total of 22 goals. Winning the championship was the icing on the cake of an extremely memorable weekend for the Irish.

“It was a great experience for our kids,” said Rosemount coach Ricky Saintey. “They were in awe of the facility from the moment we walked in. They kept saying how cool it was to play where the Wild play, and they wouldn’t stop running around and taking in the sights.”

It wasn’t just the winning team that enjoyed the experience either. The St. Paul Capitals, who served as the tournament host, entered two teams into the Ice Bowl, and while both of them fell to Rosemount over the course of the weekend, they came away with great memories.

“It was exciting for our team to play at TRIA Rink, knowing the Wild play there too,” said Jennifer Heitzman, team manager for St. Paul Blue. “All of the kids loved the hats they received with the tournament logo. Our oldest son wore it to his younger brother’s Mite practice, and you could tell there were a few kids who wanted to play in the tournament next year already.”

The Ice Bowl featured a total of eight Squirt C teams from throughout the metro area. Teams from Anoka, Champlin Park, Eden Prairie, and Woodbury also participated.

Squirt C Gold took 3rd place in the New Hope Classic after playing 5 games in 40 hours.  

The Boys started the tourney off with their best game of the season in a 12 to1 win over Buffalo.  The Irish followed that up with a 12 to 0 win against Blaine.  A late Saturday night loss to prior lake 2 to 4 and early Sunday morning loss to Chaska/Chan 4 to 7 setup a Sunday afternoon 3rd place game against White Bear Lake  where Rosemount would earn the hardware in an 8-1 victory.