Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall PeeWee B hockey players take the ice before their youth “Spotlight Game” against New Ulm/Sleepy Eye on Thursday at Red Baron Arena. The Tigers and Eagles were treated to a special event from the Minnesota Wild.

MARSHALL – Many athletes get to experience what a typical gameday is like on a day-to-day basis. For one night, a few of them got a one-of-a-kind experience at what it’s like at a professional-like atmosphere.

The Marshall and New Ulm/Sleepy Eye PeeWee B hockey teams were surprised on Thursday night by the Minnesota Wild with a youth “Spotlight Game”, presented by U.S. Bank, with the Wild implementing several of their gameday elements for the players and fans at Red Baron Arena and Expo. From pregame warmups to the post-game interviews, the PeeWee players and fans of the teams were treated to some of the best traditions the Wild had to offer.

Little Minnesota Wild Learn to Play program director Christian Becker said the atmosphere was electric and a joy to watch.

“The atmosphere was just amazing,” Becker said. We were pretty close to having what we consider a sold-out crowd and I think this was the biggest crowd the Red Baron Arena has seen since its inception and probably the biggest crowd Marshall hockey has ever seen.

With close to 900-1,000 roughly in attendance, the Wild made sure the players and fans saw an experience they’d never forget. Each player received a custom jersey along with a Wild duffle bag, water bottle and commemorative puck. The two locker rooms were also decorated in Wild-themed fashion.

A pair of former Wild players also served as honorary coaches for the game. Wes Walz, who played center for Minnesota for seven years and served as a captain, was the coach of the Marshall team while Keith Ballard, who spent two of his 10-year career as a defenseman for the Wild, was the coach for the New Ulm/Sleepy Eye team.

It was Walz’s first trip to Marshall. He didn’t know what to expect coming in, but was very impressed with the facility of the Red Baron Arena.

“It’s really, really cool; I didn’t know what to expect as far as what the arena would look like out here in Marshall,” Walz said. “I didn’t expect it to be this nice, I expected it to be like one of those typical Minnesota, cold, one-sheet rinks but the facility they have here is amazing. What the city has done for these kids and to be able to have two sheets for these kids to skate is really cool.”

After Wild National Anthem singer John deCausmeaker got the loudspeakers warmed up with a rousing rendition, Marshall mayor Bob Byrnes belted the three words hockey fans love to hear: “LET’S PLAY HOCKEY,” Byrnes exclaimed.

After a back-and-forth start to the game, the Tigers were able to get on the board late in the first period, as Isaac Gross found the back of the net on the assist from Noah Myhre with 1:29 left to give Marshall an early 1-0 lead after one.

The Tiger offense wasted very little time in getting going to start the second, flying down the ice before Gavin Falde connected with the back of the net on the assist from Brenden Weller just 15 seconds into the frame. Marshall quickly struck again on the ensuing faceoff, this time with Weller finding the net off an assist from Falde just 15 seconds later, pushing Marshall’s lead to 3-0.

New Ulm/Sleepy Eye would have an answer, however, as it got on the board with 2:31 to go in the second with Casey Koop scoring off the assist from Eli Gieseke and Sean Newman to cut the deficit to 3-1. In the opening minutes of the third, NU/SE struck again, as Ben Alfred found the net on the assist from DJ Kral 1:16 into the frame to bring the deficit to within one at 3-2.

A few minutes later, the Tigers would get a strong opportunity when Falde found himself with some skating room off the assist from Austin Quist and strategically placed a back-handed shot over the shoulder of the NU/SE goaltender to extend Marshall’s advantage back to two goals at 4-2 midway through the third period. New Ulm/Sleepy Eye would get another chance to make things close with a power-play goal from Alfred on the assist from Kral to cut it to one at 4-3 with 2:08 to go, but the Tigers were able to hang on in the closing mintues to tally win No. 1 on the season.

New Ulm/Sleepy Eye outshot Marshall 21-18 on the game. Justin Dwire earned the victory in net for Marshall, recording 18 saves on the night.

Walz and Ballard were the honorary coaches during last year’s events. Walz said it’s a fun experience to be able to meet new players and teams each year and it was fun to watch the two teams show off their skills.

“It’s good for the kids. We get to meet new kids and we talked to the kids a little bit about playing hard and together as a team and how much you can do,” Walz said. “The team that I was coaching, Marshall, had not won a game yet this year, so for them to get their first win of the season had to feel really good.”

The players weren’t the only ones who got to be surprised. The first 500 fans to the game received a custom orange Youth Hockey Spotlight T-shirt, a foam puck and pompoms as well as complimentary food while every fan received a Spotlight rally towel. In between the second and third period, a Chuck-A-Puck contest was held, with proceeds being split between the two hockey associations.

Becker said it was amazing to have the support from the community the way they did.

“It was amazing to have all of the support from the local organizations to be able to donate 500 meals, 500 T-shirts for the event, hand out pucks and pom poms and have the whole community “Orange out” the arena, which was the goal of this,” he said.

Due to clear guidelines, the event had to be kept under wraps from the public until shortly before it began. Lauren Deutz, who works with Marshall CVB, said it was difficult to try and promote the event without public awareness, but it needed to be done that way in order to keep the event as special as it was.

“When the Wild came in, they had some very clear guidelines that in order to make this event as special as it was for the boys, it needed to be kept under wraps. With the day and age of technology and word of mouth, we really had to be sure we kept it secret until they walked through the front doors,” Deutz said. “Unfortunately, we would’ve loved to have been able to tell everybody sooner, we’ve been excited about it, but in order to make this event really what it was, it just needed to be kept under wraps.”

This is the third season the Wild have hosted a youth hockey Spotlight Game. Executive director of Minnesota Hockey Glen Andresen said they go to one non-Metro area each year and they just felt Marshall was a perfect fit.

“When it came to picking locations for this youth hockey spotlight, we go to one non-Metro area every year and we hadn’t been to southern Minnesota yet, so we thought ‘Beautiful rink, people are going to get excited about it, good volunteers, this makes a great fit for this,'” Andresen said. “They proved it; the crowd was awesome and did a great job and it was really fun.”

Deutz said they’ve been working on this event for several months and it was extremely worthwhile to see the reactions of the kids as they watched this event unfold before their eyes.

“We’ve been working on this for a long time. I started with the CVB back in August and this was one of my first big projects,” Deutz said. “To work with an organization that’s so passionate about youth hockey and for them to recognize how special our community and arena is, every single factor really made you feel like you were a part of their team. And for a community like Marshall that doesn’t always gets seen as a hockey town, I feel like we’re one step closer to being there. Hopefully this is an event that these boys will remember for the rest of their lives. The faces they made and just that shock and happiness is something that makes this job worth it every single day.”

Andresen said this program, along with the Wild, does an excellent job of recognizing how special and important hockey is at the younger levels and it’s a one-in-a-lifetime experience for youth hockey players in the state of Minnesota.

“Minnesota Hockey we really value our partnership with the Minnesota Wild and what they’re so good at is recognizing that the Minnesota Wild is just part of hockey in Minnesota and they realize how important youth hockey and high school hockey is here in the state,” Andresen said. “For them to do a program like this and putting this on and making kids across the state feel special is just fantastic and helps make hockey what it is in Minnesota.”