Minnesota Featured in NHL Stadium Series Games

Minnesota is, of course, The State of Hockey, so it was cool to see the Land of 10,000 Lakes take center stage this past weekend during the NHL Stadium Series.

Yes, the Gophers (and Vikings for the past two seasons) football home of TCF Bank Stadium was taken over and transformed into one really big ice rink earlier this month, as the NHL helped create the festivities for two different outdoor games.

The NHL Alumni Game, featuring former greats from both Minnesota and Chicago, took place Saturday afternoon, and started off with... a fight!  Kind of. Take a look...

While we didn't go to the game, my wife and I did watch some of it while grabbing dinner early Saturday night. It was pretty cool to see he classic North Star jerseys and logo again, and to hear those names from Minnesota hockey's past.

Then, of course, the current-day Wild went on to beat the Blackhawks 6-1 on Sunday, to round out a great weekend of hockey in Minnesota. And, if you've ever wondered what it took to convert a football stadium into an NHL-quality ice rink (complete with fake snow, seeing as it was too warm in Minnesota this weekend to keep much real snow around), check out the video below.