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12 Photos / La Crescent-Hokah Hockey, Minnesota State Athletics HE TOWN OF LA CRESCENT, MINNESOTA, celebrates its rich history and industrial prowess with an annual celebration known as Applefest. Fittingly, its boys high school hockey team is among the leaders in the state for producing "apples" (hockey slang for assists), as the Lancers finished a mem- orable regular season with 180 goals scored and a stellar 23-2 record. Star senior forward Wyatt Farrell shat- tered the La Crescent-Hokah program scor- ing record—set by his own coach—and led the entire state with 48 goals and 86 points. It's a remarkable story for a program and an area (population: 5,000) that doesn't get much attention. Head coach Eriah Hayes' group has put the State of Hockey on notice: La Crescent hock- ey is for real, and the best may be yet to come. "I feel like we're the hidden gem of the region," said Hayes, who grew up in La Crescent and played for the high school squad, captained Minnesota State, and made it to the NHL. "We want to create a mini-Warroad down here and would like for people, when they think of La Crescent, to think of hockey. We're trying to have a hockey hotbed down here in the corner of the state." 12 MINNESOTA'S APPLE CAPITAL CULTIVATES HIGH-POWERED HOCKEY PROGRAM b y S T E V E M A N N THE SWEET SPOT T M H J ON L I N E . C O M | M A R C H 2 0 2 4 12 LA CRESCENT, MINNESOTA Senior captain Wyatt Farrell broke head coach Eriah Hayes' program scoring record last month. Farrell finished the regular season with a state-best 48 goals and 86 points.