 The wait is finally over. We now know the teams and the date of Bemidji's most anticipated event of next year. Hockey Day Minnesota, which for the first time will be held over three days. Things will kick off on Thursday, January 17th, as the Bemidji girls hockey team hosts Woodbury at 7 o'clock. It's so great. I can't wait. I've been watching Hockey Day Minnesota for years now and getting out there to actually play. It's great. It's going to be awesome. I hope they're old enough to really appreciate it. I think all the excitement today is kind of starting to sink in and now we're still waiting until January 19th to get here. January 17th in our case, playing that Thursday night game. The next night, the Bemidji State Men's Hockey Team will play in the first outdoor men's college game during Hockey Day Minnesota as they host Michigan Tech. Our sport is full of experiences and this is just another experience that everybody's going to be able to have. Again, not only the coaches, the players, but also the fans. So we're really excited about it. It's going to be a lot of fun. I mean, just from the support here today, we know it's going to be a big event. There's going to be a lot of people watching and it's pretty special that it's going to be here in Bemidji with the strong hockey community we have and obviously the state of Minnesota, so yeah, we're really excited. Kicking off the main event on Saturday, January 19th is Minnetonka and Andover Boys Hockey. At one, the Bemidji girls team hosts Minnesota State Mankato outside live on FS North. They have the opportunity to be on FS North, to have it televised statewide. Not just for our program, but just for women's college hockey, for girls hockey all over the country. It's really, really cool. When I was younger, I definitely dreamed about it as a young girl and now I'm here and I've worked so hard. So it's very exciting and very humbling and I'm really excited to be able to play in front of everybody that I know. And at 4.30, the main event, the Lumberjacks Boys Team, taking on Greenway. It's going to be fun, you know, growing up, you play on the outdoor rinks, but you know, having it live on TV and everybody watching, it's going to be awesome. I look forward to it. Our team looks forward to it. We just can't be any happier than looking forward to January 19th next year. We can't wait either. There you see the first half of the schedule. The Beaver's Men's Team will also wrap up the weekend with another game against Michigan Tech inside at the Sanford Center and the Wild will host Columbus in St. Paul. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.