Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1542712
MINNESOTA IS COMPRISED OF MORE THAN 130 COMMUNITY ICE HOCKEY ASSOCIATIONS OF VARIOUS SHAPES AND SIZES, all doing their parts to grow the game and give their boys and girls a place to play, develop skills, represent their home- towns and make memories that will last a lifetime. For some of the smaller communities, particularly those far from the highly populated Twin Cities and in more rural areas, sustaining growth can be a challenge. What you often hear about these sorts of hockey towns is how much pride its residents have in the place they live and how hard they all work together to create as positive an experience as possible for their kids. The unincorporated community of Twig, located 15 miles northwest of Duluth with a population of about 60 peo- ple, is one of those places. "It's hard to put into words what makes hockey in Twig so unique," said John Seguin, who grew up in Twig and now serves as president of the Twig Amateur Hockey Association (TAHA). "But I think it's a core-memory factory for our community. It's the place where so many of us have started lifelong friendships over frozen toes, hot chocolate and snow-cov- ered socks. It's where you'd 'rink-rat' until they shut the lights off. I think that's special." AS GRASSROOTS AS IT GETS With three teams (two Mites, one Squirt) and about 32 total skaters (plus 10 more players that have registered for Twig 's girls-only 15 JAN/FEB 2 0 2 6 | M H J ON L I N E . C O M Twig Hockey Twig Hockey was granted was granted organizational status organizational status in 1969, but in 1969, but unofficially it has unofficially it has been around for been around for much longer. much longer. WI. 35 MN. DULUTH TWIG