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HOME ICE: St. Luke's Proctor Sports & Event Center DISTRICT: PRESIDENT: Kevin Bryant 11 Rails NICKNAME: 140 2017-18 REGISTRATION NUMBERS: M H J O N L I N E . C O M | M A R C H 2 0 1 9 12 of STATE HOCKEY Proctor State of Hockey Spotlight WHY THEY'RE AWESOME In an effort to relieve some of the heaving and shifting brought on by northern Minnesota winters, the boards inside Proctor's old hockey arena were held together by ratchet straps. It wasn't uncommon to stop a hockey game in order to put the boards or glass back into place, and the facility's structure and safety were questioned with the start of each new season. "Every year we went into the season knowing we were going to bandage and bandage, and you can only do so much of that," said Proctor Amateur Hockey Association president Kevin Bryant. "There were a lot of those little issues that were becoming bigger issues, so we were really pushing hard to try and figure out how we could get something newer, or how could we get this place fixed." That all changed in September 2017. Thanks to a partnership between Proctor Public Schools and St. Luke's, construction began on a brand new sports and event center. After years of planning and fundraising, St. Luke's Proctor Sports and Event Center was completed in September 2018—just in time for the new hockey season to begin. Through more than a decade serving in various capacities with the associa- tion and a handful of years as its president, Bryant said he has never witnessed so much enthusiasm from players and volunteers alike. "It's absolutely awesome," Bryant said. "We were in that old arena for 46 years. My father was the one who was president back then in '72 and helped get Photos / Derek Montgomery Photography; Proctor Amateur Hockey Association A new facility in Proctor has revitalized the historic program. by Elizabeth Boger