Few things are more Minnesotan than the High School Hockey Tournament. It’s special. A crowd of 23,000 is rarely present for an NHL team, but that’s the record-breaking crowd that came out to watch two boy’s high school semi-final games on March 4 at the Xcel Energy Center. The atmosphere isn’t the only renowned aspect of the tournament; the player’s hair at the tourney has even garnered national attention with the “All-Hockey Hair Team.”

Growing up in Edina, I got to experience the tournament throughout my youth, and learned pretty fast that everyone there hates us. You also learn that people shut up pretty fast when your team wins two state titles in a row. Regardless of winning and losing however, it was a staple of growing up in Minnesota.

However, not all Gustavus students share my experience. I caught up with some freshmen from out of state, to learn what their initial impressions of this great Minnesota tradition were.

Freshman Jason Alper came to Gustavus from Agoura Hills, California, and watched his first tourney on TV.

“We don’t even high school hockey in California, so it’s a totally different culture in Minnesota,” Alper said.

What stood out to Alper the most about the tourney was just how invested everyone was in a high school sport, especially if their team was playing.

“People are pretty obsessed with it. It was crazy that if someone’s high school wasn’t in it they still watched it,” Alper said.

Even if their high school was in it, Alper still noted that the loyalty to a high school after graduation wasn’t present out west.

“The community of hockey definitely seems like a Minnesota thing…everyone here seems to know everything about their high school and people care about their high school teams more after they graduate than they do in California,” Alper said.

Minnesota hockey is often compared to Indiana basketball, and the Friday Night Lights of Texas Football. Freshman Josh Curtis comes to Gustavus by way of Houston, and experienced Texas football firsthand. But last week Curtis drove up to the cities and got his first taste of Minnesota hockey.

“I thought that the tourney was a totally new experience, it was a good time, I met a lot of new people, and watched a lot of good hockey even though I didn’t quite know what was going on,” Curtis said.

Everything may be bigger in Texas, but as far as the Texas football vs. Minnesota hockey debate goes, that may be false.

“I would say they are both evenly matched because you can tell the pride of Minnesota is it’s hockey, and Texas’s is its football,” Curtis said.

As far as high school sports in California goes, Alper couldn’t find a comparison.

“Nothing in California compares to the tourney here, the closest thing that compares is the high school basketball tournament I guess, but it’s just nowhere close to as big,” Alper said.

Alper noticed first hand how invested Gustavus students were in the games.

“It is the state of hockey, and that definitely showed during the tournament, kids were more concerned with watching it on their laptops in lectures than taking notes,” Alper said.

The large student sections at the tournament, and their school spirit struck Curtis the most.

“The dedication of each high school, having their whole student body coming out to watch their team in state, and it kind of reminded me of back home for football,” Curtis said.

As far as the hair goes, Alper was impressed.

“Watching the Tourney and the All-Hockey Hair videos, I thought it was really cool. We did some fun stuff for baseball playoffs in California, but it was more along the lines of kids bleaching their hair. The crazy mullets and mustaches here take the cake for sure though,” Alper said.

Curtis noted the hair culture also reminded him of back home.

“The hockey hair was nothing that new, we would dye our Mohawks blonde, or get ‘the boz’ [modeled after former Oklahoma Sooner and Seattle Seahawk Brian Bosworth] back in Texas for state,” Curtis said.

As special as the Hockey tournament is, it would appear that the true power of Minnesota is its ability to make hockey fans out of Californians.

“I watched a little bit of Hockey in California, but I’ve definitely gotten way more into it since I’ve gotten here,” Alper said.