 All eyes will be on Bemidji next January as the city will host the 13th annual Hockey Day Minnesota. With the announcement made, now the work begins to put the city on a regional stage. In a city that has deep roots in hockey, a committee of organizers thought it was only fitting that Bemidji should play host to Hockey Day Minnesota. It took a few years of planning, but when the official announcement was made Saturday evening, reality began to set in. We really wanted to bring it here and so in about 2015, we sat down for lunch and decided to form a committee and we did site visits to Duluth and Stillwater and of course now St. Cloud that have hosted the event before us and compile a bunch of good ideas. Since it began in 2007, Hockey Day Minnesota has grown in size, giving each host city a chance to add their own twist to the event. It's really difficult to speculate on what that twist will be, but I can guarantee there will definitely be a Bemidji Northern Minnesota twist on the event and now once we can start working on these logistical things to share them up, that's when we're going to be able to really determine what this will all entail. With such a large event, the host city will need to pull resources and help with planning to pull off a successful event. The city is going to need to be at the table. We want to be at the table with this event and we're here to help as much as we can, whether that's in traffic control or in assessing how we can feed utilities and move crowds and so on and so forth. While many details haven't been formally announced, organizers say that a decision on location will be made soon. We needed to have the announcement public first before we could shore up the necessary approvals for the land. We should know that in a few weeks. One location being closely looked at is Lake Bemidji South Shore. The city will have the opportunity to showcase the city and the lake to the rest of Minnesota. Now the Bemidji City Council will hold a work session next Monday to discuss plans for the 2019 Hockey Day Minnesota. Coming up in sports, Colin will have reaction from local coaches and players about the big announcement. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.