Minn. Guardsmen bring hockey craze to Iraq - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Minn. Guardsmen bring hockey craze to Iraq

Minnesota Air and Army National Guard members didn’t let lack of ice stop them from celebrating Minnesota Hockey Day on Jan. 17 at Joint Base Balad, Iraq.

"It was nice to see both components come together for Hockey Day in Minnesota,” said Army Chief Warrant Officer Jeffery Pratt, standardization officer, 34th Combat Aviation Brigade. “We work for separate branches of the service, but we all are from Minnesota and hockey brings people together, especially Minnesotans."

Dozens of the Air and Army Guardsmen chipped in to build a makeshift floor hockey “rink,” complete with painted side boards, on a concrete aircraft parking pad. Center “ice” had its own custom-made Minnesota Hockey Day-Iraq logo.

"I could not have dreamed up such a great day," Senior Master Sgt. Steve Samuelson, a quality assurance inspector with 148th Fighter Wing out of Duluth, Minn., said in an Air Force news release. "The weather was perfect, with a chill in the air; the competition was great and the sportsmanship was outstanding."

Once the puck was dropped, the screams of the fans and the click of the sticks set the stage.

"You could really feel how much people miss the sport of hockey by the way everyone put everything they had out on the rink," Samuelson said. "The fans really made the day special too, their cheers and chants made me feel that I was at an actual hockey game."

In the end, the airmen of the 148th beat the soldiers of the 834th Aviation Support Battalion, 4-2.

Being beaten on the rink didn't faze the soldiers. "I think that being able to take time away from a busy day to play the great game of hockey brought lots of joy to many people. Everyone played well together," said Spc. James Riely, a CH-47 Chinook mechanic, with the 834th Aviation Support Battalion.