Hockeyland: the Minnesota towns where high school players are stars

A new documentary looks at how entrenched the sport still is in a state where practically everything else has changed

Hockey is still such a big deal in the Iron Range town of Eveleth, Minnesota, that a 110ft, 10,000lbs stick can be found less than a mile from the US Hockey Hall of Fame over on Hat Trick Avenue. The big stick, a real wooden stick, sits in front of a big puck.

Between the stick and the hall is Eveleth-Gilbert Senior High School, home of the Golden Bears, who won five of the first seven Minnesota state hockey championships as Eveleth High. Both the 1960 and 1980 USA gold-medal Olympic hockey teams included players from Eveleth.