Jay Richards

Jon had his first Spring/Summer tourney this past weekend, playing in the Elite Classic tourney with the Bantam North team.



It was a tough weekend in the win loss column but chalk it up as good experience. There were a few scouts watching a couple players from the metro and had the chance to talk to one from the Portland Winterhawks (who recently signed MN native Keegan Iverson). There aren't many MN players in the WHL but a few more opting that route. Anyways, interesting to pick his brain a bit and get his thoughts on development. Hockey in the twin cities is a different world compared to the scene around here with a ton of options that make it a year round 3-7 days a week for some kids.


All games played at the Super Rink in Blaine. 7 sheets of ice. There has to be a big pile of snow from the zamboni action but I couldn't find it. My guess is they melt it down in the middle. Instead, found a station for stick cutting.
Heading down Thursday afternoon allowed the chance for the streak to ski 30 days in a row on snow/frozen surface. First stop was Elm Creek at dusk before Jon had practice. Jack and Jon rollerbladed on the nicely paved surface and I went in circles, up and down around bottom of tubing hill as a steady rain kicked in to gear. Friday in between games, we snuck down to Hyland (photo above) and went up and down a nice steep slope that had a thick base.
Driving around Hyland afterwards, scoped out the area terrain, thinking it would make for some great short course mountain biking. There is a nice long access rd that would make for a good climb. I am not sure if anyone has tried to look in to making singletrack there and maybe there is in the area. I can imagine the tape to cut through is thick to build or expand in the park.

Saturday over to Buck Hill which was probably the toughest snow of all days. It cooled down enough the night before and was early before the snow loosened up. Kind of odd skiing in the fog and hearing the sounds of interstate below and not being able to see the cars zoom by. Fun times though. Sunday morning went east to Afton (photo above) which had the most snow out of the metro locations I hit. The snow was perfect and fun to ski the bumps in the upper right. All areas did have a weird film on top, probably from something added to snowmaking or just the way it melts down. We stayed at Uncle TJ and Tanta Vals place which is conveniently located in the heart of metro ski town USA. Thanks again for the hospitality.


Monday was the birthday and I have had a pretty good streak of being able to ski on my birthday as many years back as I can remember, mostly all at Maplelag. Not a option this year so went north for the closest option which was Buena Vista outside Bemidji. Slim picking on snow options but enough to call it good. The snow was the best I had been on the last 7 days and was bumming there wasn't more as it was silky feeling and gliding very nice. Brought the mountain bike along to make the morning complete before heading back and hit up the new Movil Maze singletrack. I rode what the trail builders had completed last spring and since then, they have added some great new tech sections, opening things up a bit so it isn't so tight turning. Great flow and berm stuff near the end of the most recently completed loop making for a fun loop.
Back home for a nice family supper, final viewing of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly capping a great bday!