EDINA, Minn. — When you grow up playing hockey in Minnesota, you dream of playing in a state tournament at the Xcel Energy Center.
The girl’s tournament kicked off Friday morning, with games scheduled throughout the weekend.
Though the venue hasn’t changed, nearly every other aspect of this time-honored Minnesota tradition is different this year.
"It’s going to be a very different experience,” Edina girls hockey coach Sami Reber says.
The Edina girls’ team knows its way around the state tournament.
The team has won three state titles in a row.
Coach Reber says players love coming to the tournament because it gives them a chance to see the Xcel Energy Center up close and to meet up with friends and former teammates from across the state.
Most players will arrive at the arena hours before their game, so they can walk the halls and take in the experience, but this year, with COVID, players won’t be allowed to do that.
“This year the players have to come fully dressed, minus their skates, and we can only show up 20 minutes before we hit the ice,” Reber says.
“It’s sort of in and out. You get dressed at home, drive to the arena, play, and then you go back right back home.”
The tournament also has strict limits when it comes to fans.
“It’s 250 fans for the whole venue, which normally seats 19,000. So, people are going to be spread out and it’s going to be so quiet you’re going to be able to hear a pin drop,” Reber says.
Reber says her team was given 114 tickets for the first round of the tournament.
She says luckily the ticket limits go up with each round.
“By round two it’s a few thousand people,” Reber says.
But despite all these restrictions, for the Edina team, it's not the strangest thing that's happened this tournament.
"Nothing is really shocking anymore. I really feel for these kids,” hockey mom Kristie Chorske says.
Chorske’s daughter Hannah is a senior, and co-captain of the Edina team.
She says parents were notified on Wednesday that Edina’s first game of the tournament was going to be cancelled this year.
“It was quite a shock,” Chorske says.
Edina’s first round opponent, Centennial High School, posted an announcement on Twitter that said one of the team’s players had tested positive for COVID and due to state guidelines, the team had to forfeit the tournament.
"It's just so sad. I feel horrible for that player and that whole team,” Chorske says.
Coach Reber says there wasn’t enough time for the league to find another opponent for Edina to play in the first round of the tournament.
So, Edina will have a first round bye and will automatically move on to the 2nd round of the tournament.
“It’s not supposed to happen like that. With the top eight teams in the state, you’re not supposed to get through without having to play,” Reber says.
"It's a game you absolutely want to play. So, it broke my heart but now you gotta move forward."
It’s another priceless experience taken by COVID, but in a year filled with disappointments, Reber says even a strange, restriction-filled tournament, is better than no tournament at all.
"I think if you ask anyone on our team they wouldn't trade it for anything."
The Edina girls hockey team was scheduled to play Saturday morning, but they'll have to wait until next Thursday to play the winner of the matchup between Alexandria and Minnetonka.
This weekend is the kickoff for tournament season this year.
Boys hockey and boys and girls basketball will start up on Tuesday.