SPORTS FEEVER by Chris Fee of KROX Radio – email chrisjfee@yahoo.com
This column is a little light this week, but the Minnesota Hockey Hall of Fame is moving to Inver Grove Heights, there were a bunch of signings and milestones over the last week!
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The Minnesota Hockey Hall of Fame (MNHHOF) is excited to announce the City of Inver Grove Heights as the official location of the future MNHHOF, a 120,000-plus square-foot, multi-purpose facility. The project will be located on approximately 40 acres adjacent to Interstate 494 and just east of Vikings Lakes and the Minnesota Vikings training complex.
The project is a partnership between Consumer Science North, a private Bloomington-based development company, and the MNHHOF, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which is guided by a diverse advisory board made up of some of Minnesota’s most influential hockey figures, and supported by an ambassador program of more than 150 men and women who have made lasting contributions to the game in Minnesota.
More than a museum, the Minnesota Hockey Hall of Fame will function as a dynamic, interactive destination. Current plans include:
- 30,000-square-foot museum featuring a Great Hall and five exhibit wings
- state-of-the-art ice rink
- 20,000-square-foot performance venue
- hockey-themed restaurant and taproom
- multiple signature event and community spaces
In addition to honoring Minnesota’s hockey heritage, the Hall will focus on advancing the sport through grassroots programming, traveling exhibits, and statewide youth education initiatives.
Consumer Science North and MNHHOF hope to break ground in 2026, with a grand opening projected for late 2028.
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There have been a bunch of milestones over the past week!
Red Lake County Rebel Boys Basketball Coach Steve Philion recorded the 700th win of his career this week when his team beat his former team, Cleabrook-Gonvick.
Kate Thayer of Northome/Kelliher Girls Basketball, recently had 10 steals in a game and broke the Minnesota All-Time Career Steals Record (Boys or Girls) of and now has 925 career steals.
Roseau Ram Girls Basketball’s Brooklyn Hulst scored the 1,000th point of her career last week.
Roseau Ram girls hockey’s Jasmine Hovda, a St. Cloud State Women’s Hockey commit, recorded the 200th point of her career last week.
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There have been a lot of signings over the past week.
Crookston’s Ava Martin has signed to play Golf at Gustavus Adolphus.
Fertile-Beltrami’s Katrina Hitchen has signed a National Letter of Intent to run track at the University of North Dakota, joining her older sister.
Roseau’s Trey Mertens has signed a national letter of intent to play baseball at Mayville State University
Roseau’s Madelyn Magnusson has signed a national letter of intent to play softball at Northland Community and Technical College.
Fertile-Beltrami’s Tori Gorder has signed to play Volleyball at the North Dakota State College of Science.
Kittson County Central grad Ty Vig has announced he will transfer from junior college to play football at UND.
Fertile-Beltrami’s Gage Henrickson signed to play football at Mayville State University.
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The University of Minnesota Crookston volleyball team had two student-athletes named to the Academic All-District Team selected by the College Sports Communicators (CSC). Emma Malek (Jr., Plainfield, Ill.) and Madison Carsten (Jr., Wadena, Minn.) received the prestigious honor.
Malek has a 3.74 GPA in exercise science and wellness. She started all 28 matches as a junior, averaging 1.63 kills per set and hitting .203. Malek also averaged 0.45 blocks per set. Carsten posted a 4.00 GPA in exercise science and wellness. She also started all 28 matches as a junior, notching 3.69 kills and 2.91 digs per set.
The 2025-26 Academic All-District® Women’s Volleyball teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes women’s volleyball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.
The CSC Academic All-District® teams include the student-athletes listed on the following pages. Academic All-District® honorees were considered for advancement to the CSC Academic All-America® ballot.
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The University of Minnesota Crookston had 27 student-athletes named to the 2025 NSIC Fall All-Academic teams. The Golden Eagles had 16 student-athletes earn accolades on the NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence, while 11 were named to the NSIC All-Academic Team.
| To be eligible for the NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence, a student-athlete must have a 3.60 cumulative GPA or higher, while NSIC All-Academic Team members must have a 3.20 cumulative GPA or higher. Additionally, the student-athlete must be a member of the varsity traveling team, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at her/his institution (true freshmen, red-shirt freshmen and ineligible athletic transfers are not eligible) and must have completed at least one full academic year at that institution. Connor Thoennes (Sr., Coleraine) and Lane Hoefs (Jr., Wadena) were named to the NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence for men’s cross country, while Taylor Johnson (Jr. Lake Park, Minn.), Chase Werner (So., Marshall, Minn.), and Zach Hanson (Jr., Farmington) earned NSIC All-Academic Team honors. Madison Hilliard (Sr., Jacksonville, N.C.) earned NSIC All-Academic team of Excellence honors for women’s cross country. Emma Williams (Jr., Nashwauk), Eva Robinson (So., Cavalier, N.D.), and Caroline Kuehne (So., Long Prairie) were named to the NSIC All-Academic Team. Emmah Burnes (Jr., Tulare, Calif.), Anna Kuecker (So., Marshall), Tessa VanOverbeke (Jr., Hartford, S.D.), Callie Holthaus (So., Richmond), Elise Lefers (So., Brookings, S.D.), Marsia Green (Jr., Waconia), Evelyn Dupont (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev.), Kali Yates (Jr., Hedgesville, W.V.), Sydney Christopherson (So., Sioux Falls, S.D.), Julia Finch (Sr., Woodbury), and Riley Martin (So., San Dimas, Calif.) were selected to the NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence. Emma Dudycha (Sr., Austin, Minn.), Andrea Cuenca Medina (So., St. Paul), and Jordan Metz (So., Lino Lakes) were named to the NSIC All Academic Team. Madison Carsten (Jr., Wadena), Kailee Waasdorp (Jr., West Fargo, N.D.), and Emma Malek (Jr., Plainfield, Ill.) were named to the NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence for volleyball. Lauren Schnettler (So., Clarissa) was selected to the NSIC All-Academic Team. |
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The 2025 Crookston Hockey Alumni games/scrimmages will be held on Saturday, December 27, at the Crookston Sports Center.
Alumni from Crookston Central High School, Crookston High School, Cathedral, and the Mount will be back/are invited back to participate in this year’s games. The schedule and info are listed below –
GAME 1 – 2:30 to 3:45 p.m. – 2015-2025……Odd vs Even
GAME 2 – 4:00 to 5:15 p.m. – 2014 – older ……..Odd vs Even
GAME 3 – 5:30-6:45………PIRATE GIRLS vs GIRLS ALUMNI
GAME 4 – 7:00-8:15……….PIRATE BOYS vs PIRATE ALUMNI
Cost – $10.00 (Make checks out to Pirate Hockey)
Social at the Crookston Eagles Club from 9 PM to 1 AM with live music.
Mail registration forms to
Steve Biermaier
PO Box 496
Crookston, MN 56716
or email steve.biermaierchiro@midconetwork.com
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JOKES
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How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST. Email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com
Teagen Lubinski is a freshman playing football at St. Scholastica
Addie Fee is a freshman playing tennis and hockey at Wisconsin-Superior.
Kambelle Freije is a freshman playing hockey at Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Riley Helgeson is a freshman playing football at Northern State.
Emily Bowman is a freshman playing Softball at North Dakota State College of Science.
Halle Winjum is a sophomore playing basketball at Minnesota Crookston.
Blake Melsa is a sophomore playing soccer and baseball at Alexandria Tech
Jackson Reese is a sophomore playing soccer at Alexandria Tech
Matt Contreras is a freshman playing baseball at Concordia College.
Naomi Johnson is a freshman playing soccer at Alexandria Tech
Paul Bittner is an assistant coach on the University of Wisconsin-Superior Men’s Hockey team.
Reese Swanson is a sophomore playing hockey at St. Olaf.
Carter Coauette is a sophomore playing football at Minot State.
Isaac Thomforde is a sophomore playing Tennis at Northwestern College in St. Paul.
Halle Bruggeman is a Junior on the University of Wisconsin-Stout Women’s Rugby team.
Ethan Boll is a Sophomore on the University of North Dakota Football team.
Breanna Kressin is a Junior on the Hockey Cheer Team for THE University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey team.
Jacey Larson is a Junior playing hockey at Dakota College at Bottineau.
Aleah Bienek is a Senior playing hockey at Trine University in Indiana.
Ty Hamre is Senior playing football at Bemidji State University.
Seth Heppner – Head Coach of Men’s and Women’s Golf at Jessup University
Brady Heppner – Head Coach of Women’s Golf at UMC and Assistant Hockey Coach
Crookston School District Coaches
Blake Bergeron is the head Pirate Wrestling Coach.
Jason Cassavant is a Jr. High Baseball Coach and Head American Legion Baseball coach
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Marley Melbye is an assistant girls golf coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ben Trostad is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Ethan Magsam is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach
Non-Crookston High School coaching/Admin/etc
Elise Tangquist is the Head Girls Golf Coach at Horace High School in Fargo, ND.
Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson is the head Little Falls Volleyball coach.
Tim Desrosier is an Assistant Coach for Warren-Alvarado-Oslo Pony Boys Basketball
Pat Wolfe is the head wrestling coach for Fosston/Bagley.
Austin Sommerfeld is an Assistant Athletic Director for Strategic Communication at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.
Collin Reynolds is the head baseball coach for the University of Colorado Buffalo Club Baseball team.
Trent Stahlecker is a School Security Specialist & he works for the Brevard Public Schools, Florida.
Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown.
Josh Edlund is the head football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach at Champlin Park
Jeff Olson is the Head Wrestling Coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.
Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.
Matt Harris is an Assistant Principal/Athletic Director at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.
Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of North Dakota.
Mike Hastings is the Wisconsin Badgers Men’s head Hockey coach.
Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Grand Forks Schools.
Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football, volleyball, and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for Bison media relations.
Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College.
Chris Myrold is the Director and Fitness at Mission Ranch and Fitness in Camel, California.
Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis
Jaren Bailey is serving our country and is currently in the Marines’ Boot Camp.
Ben Andringa is serving our country in the Army and is now a Ranger.
Philip Kujawa class of 2004, from Crookston High School. He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.
Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome
That’s it for this week. Thanks for the comments, and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call. Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com.
