Hermantown High School held its annual prom Saturday at the DECC. Joe LeGarde and Danica Lowry were one of 108 couples to take part in the grand march. Check out more photos in our Photos of the Week album.
Peace in Christ Lutheran Church in Hermantown held a Kids for Hunger
event Saturday to help package food for distribution both locally and
internationally. The goal was to fill 80,000 pages of food. Volunteers
helped with the bagging of the food. Check out more photos in our
Photos of the Week section
. More information on the event will be in the May 22 issue of the
Hermantown Star.
by Wade Petrich
Hermantown Star
Hermantown boys’ hockey coach Bruce Plante was a little choked up after watching a video of the community’s hockey history.
He was not the only one.
Hundreds of hockey fans attended an event Saturday night celebrating the history of Hermantown hockey, starting back in 1949.
Held at the Golf Skydome, the fundraiser was a tribute to all those who have helped make Hermantown a successful hockey program. From humble beginnings of playing on local frozen ponds to a state title last season, hockey has a rich tradition in the community.
For many in attendance, the event was a reunion, as former players came together to relive old memories. There were four members of the original 1949 team at the event — Roger Aanonsen, Duane Shaw, Lyle Carlson and Pete Peterson (pictured above.) These players not only did not have an indoor rink to play on like the current squads, but also they did not even have a home outdoor rink. Instead, they practiced at local ponds whenever they could.
Organizers of the event, many who are parents of current high school hockey players, had been planning the event for months. There were team photos on display that drew a constant crowd. Three current UMD men’s hockey players at Hermantown alums — Nick Kemp, Kyle Schmidt and Chad Huttel — signed autographs for fans.
The highlight of the evening, which brought back some fond memories for Plante and others, was a program that included a historical video and live comments from past players and coaches.
Pete Stasuik, who coached the Hawks for parts of three decades, starting in 1967, made the trip from Arizona to be at the event. The Alberta, Canada, native played college hockey for the University of North Dakota and played professionally for Winnipeg.
Stasiuk said he had a lot of good teams and some great players. While the Hawks never made it to state during his tenure, they were often above .500 and made some good runs in the Section 7 playoffs against some strong programs.
Jeff Hady, a 1978 graduate who played college hockey for the University of Wisconsin-Superior, said he learned a lot playing for the long-time coach.
The video portion of the program had clips from state and section tournaments, along with a news segment from WDIO when the Hermantown Ice Arena was completed in 1988. There were a few clips from the first game in the new arena, where the Hawks beat Superior 7-4.
The arena was built 20 years ago at a cost of $1.4 million. Dick Rothe, Ralph Capriglione and Rick Francisco were interviewed about how the community came together to get the facility built.
Brian MacDonald, captain of the 1994 team, the first to go to state at Hermantown, said during the program that being the first team to go to state was a bit overwhelming.
“We did not know what to expect,” he told the crowd. “It was the best experience of our lives. I think most of the city was down there (at the state tournament in St. Paul).”
The program had some emotional roller coasters when the video related about the passing of Pat Andrews, Sr., and how his son a couple years later scored the winning goal in the Section 2A finals against Proctor to send the team to state for a second time. The senior was interviewed after the game and so excited he could hardly speak, giving the audience a good chuckle.
Pat Andrews is the current Bantam coach for the Hermantown program.
That year (1998) the team beat Fergus Falls and upset Red Wing to advance to the state Class A title game, before losing to Eveleth-Gilbert.
The video also paid tribute to Jeremy Byrnes, who passed away from leukemia after the 1999 state tournament berth. His No. 15 jersey is on display at the ice arena.
Highlights from the state championship last March certainly brought back a lot of memories for fans, players and coaches at the event. Ryan Schmidt scoring in the empty Duluth Marshall net to seal the victory still brings goose bumps to many Hawk fans.
Plante, who started coaching the Hawks in 1983 and has been with the program for 18 seasons (he took a few years off to become an NHL scout), told the crowd that watching the video brought back a lot of great memories. He thanked the Hermantown community for allowing him to coach some great young men over the years. He also was thankful for the organizers who put on a wonderful event Saturday night.
In a fitting way to end the event, the Hermantown cheerleaders and band led those in attendance with performing the Hawk dance, a staple at many high school sporting events.
Many local businesses stepped up and helped make the fundraiser a success through donations and in-kind services. There were both a silent and live auction, along with drawings for prizes for those who purchased a ticket to the event.
There are more photos of this event in the April 24 issue of the Hermantown Star. E-mail news@hermantownstar.com or call 218-727-0419 to order copies.
Hermantown schools are closed today (Friday) with just about every other school in the area. Blizzard conditions, including high winds, are expected to last through Saturday morning. While snow has been light through Friday morning, high winds have made it nearly impossible to see for motorists.
There also have been reports of power outages in Hermantown, along with Piedmont and Duluth Heights neighborhoods in Duluth.
by Wade Petrich
Editor
After 10 years of being a landmark in the community, the Golf Skydome will be coming down for good on April 20.
Owner David Kolquist said a variety of issues led the decision with the biggest one coming down to costs.
“Energy costs have tripled since we started,” Kolquist said Monday. The cost to heat the dome per month has jumped to $15,000, up from around $2,000 to $3,000 a month when it first opened.
At $7 per bucket of golf balls, Kolquist said raising the price any higher would not be a sound business decision. He added that golf was bigger, especially with the youth, when Tiger Woods starting playing on the PGA Tour. Like all sports, golf has seen its popularity come and go over the years, and right now golf is not as popular.
While the dome has been a hot issue in recent years regarding its status as a temporary or permanent structure, Kolquist said the dome was not coming down with hard feelings. He had disagreements with city officials and the fire department with regards to the dome, but the biggest problem was finding answers and solutions.
“This is an unique business and completely new around here,” Kolquist said. “No one has one in northern Minnesota, and that was part of the struggle with finding answers.”
Read the complete story in the April 3 issue of the Hermantown Star, along with details of what Kolquist plans to put in place of the dome.
Skyline Rotary had a special guest on Friday during its noon luncheon. Murtadha Al-tameemi, an Iraqi foreign exchange student attending Habor City International School in Duluth, spoke about what is going on in his country and what he has been learning from his stay in the United States. Read his story in the April 3 issue of the Hermantown Star.
The Keith Johnson family has a new snow sculpture in their front yard along Stebner Road. It is a replica of the ore boat, Reserve. Read about it in the Feb. 28 issue of the Hermantown Star.
We have our mass mailer coming out this week (Feb. 14). Once again there are some great stories and photos, including the new city hall dedication, a report on the successful Blizzard Tour, the Hermantown Middle School honor roll and the latest on the local sports.
After months of negotiations that left both sides frustrated, the Hermantown School Board approved the 2007-09 teachers’ contract Tuesday night.
It took the board just three minutes to approve the contract, which the union had approved earlier in the day. All five members present voted in favor of the contract. Board member Jim Knapp was unable to attend the special meeting.
Todd Aanonsen, who served on the board’s negotiating committee, said the vote from the teachers was not unanimous, but majority were in favor of it. He said he believed over 90 voted for it with around 13 voting “no”.
Superintendent Brad Johnson stated the increase in the teachers’ salary will be 2.8 percent for each of the two years of the contract. In a Jan. 15 report by Education Minnesota, it stated that salary schedule improvements averaged about 2.49 percent and 2.38 percent for each of the two contract years among districts in the state.
Hermantown was one of 150 districts in the state that still had not settled a contract by early January.
Along with the salary increase, the contract will increase health insurance preminums by $30 per month ($585 total) the first year and $25 per month ($610 total) in the second year.
Other details in the contract included increases in the severance packages, with those under the new plan receiving an increase of $1,000 and those under the old plan receiving three more days.
Staff will have three personal leave days per year without having to state a specific reason for the leave.
Under the new contract, a first-year teacher receives $31,779. A teacher with 11 years experience and a master’s degree plus 45 credits will be compensated $62.932.
Johnson said even though the contract talks were heated at times, the board of education does value the teachers in the district.
No one from the teachers’ union attended the special meeting Tuesday.
