Roseau Memorial Arena & North Rink

The City of Roseau owns and operates the 1,000 seat artificial ice Memorial Arena. Memorial Arena was erected in 1949 and its wood frame arch structure provides glimpse back into the rich history of hockey in Northern Minnesota. One November 5, 2024 the U.S. Department of the Interior recognized the significance of Memorial Arena to the rich hockey tradition in Roseau and Minnesota by listing it in the National Register of Historic Places.

Memorial Arena has witnessed some of Minnesota's greatest hockey players including current and former Division 1 Collegiate, Olympic and NHL stars as well as playing host to 7 State High School Championship Teams, 34 State Tournament Teams and the Stanley Cup.

MEMORIAL ARENA HISTORY

1908

Archie Alley from Hallock, MN introduced hockey to the town of Roseau in 1906 and it caught on quickly. By January 1908 local men had build an ice rink with sideboards and a town team was formed. When a match ensued on a Warroad rink it was the start of one of the nation’s most enduring rivalries. The Roseau - Warroad competitions became so popular that after the Great Northern Railroad opened between Roseau and Warroad in December 2008 a special game day train was scheduled for the competitions. This unparalleled rivalry continues to this day with the two high schools meeting twice a year every year. Having met over 180 times the Roseau-Warroad high school hockey rivalry has been referred to as “the crown jewel among the state’s handful of precious gems of enduring rivalries,” by sportswriter Loren Nelson. The contest has been covered by national news media including a feature article in the New York Times.

1925

Hockey began to flourish in the late 1910’s with town teams being created in many northwest Minnesota communities. The first non-sanctioned high school team in Roseau began in 1916, and by 1922 the Minnesota Amateur Hockey Association was formed to standardize hockey rules, and new indoor natural ice hockey facilities began being constructed across northwest Minnesota. Roseau veterans returning home from WWI organized the Kaleb E. Lindquist American Legion Post #24 whose members turned to hockey to contribute to the betterment of the community. Post members organized local hockey teams, competitions, and planned for the construction of Roseau’s first indoor arena. Using plans completed by local resident J.P. Grothe and relying on broad community support, Memorial Skating Arena was completed in September 1925 measuring 160’ x 70’.

1942

As the popularity of high school hockey grew across Minnesota, talk of a state tournament increased. In October 1941 the Minnesota State High School League granted permission to Roseau Superintendent C.D. Hollister to host the first sanctioned Minnesota state high school hockey tournament in Roseau. The tournament was to be a three-day event with teams invited from across the state. However, by February 1942, the United States had entered WWII, and tire and gas rations prohibited extended travel for many teams. In the end, the State Tournament was reduced to a two-day seven-team tournament field including: Roseau, Warroad, Eveleth, Baudette, Williams, Hallock and Thief River Falls. First-year Roseau Coach Norman "Babe" Paulsen, an All-American at the University of Minnesota, would lead his resurgent "Roseau Six" into the tournament on a high note having recently beaten Baudette for the first time in five years. Heavy tournament favorite Eveleth was upset in the first semi-final by the Thief River Falls Hornets 1-0. Baudette would get its revenge over the hometown Roseau boys in the second semi-final with a 6 - 5 victory. Though the outcome was disputed, as it was the opinion of many, including one official, that Baudette's winning goal had occurred after the whistle had blown. Thief River Falls would go on to claim the first State Tournament Championship with a 4 - 1 win over Baudette. The next state tournament would not occur until after the war in 1945 in St. Paul. Unfortunately, disaster would befall Memorial Skating Rink just months later when a violent windstorm blew the structure down in July of 1943. Roseau hockey would once again return to outdoor rinks.

1949

The end of WWII ushered in a new era for Roseau hockey. Soldiers and sailors returning home once again turned to hockey as an avenue to serve the community. Roseau’s High School Team was having considerable success under future U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Coach Oscar Almquist, having won the State Hockey Tournament in 1946, led by the "Masked Marvel" Rube Bjorkman. The "green wave" as Roseau was known at the time dominated the '46 tournament with an electrifying final 6-0 win over Rochester. It was now time for a new arena, and in 1947 the Roseau Arena Building Committee, led by Norman Flagstad Sr., initiated the construction of a new indoor ice arena. After visiting rinks across Minnesota and Manitoba the committee settled on a plan with pre-built rafters of western pine mounted on concrete buttresses. It was not until 1949 that construction began in earnest with J.P. Grothe again supervising arena construction. Mr. Grothe, now living in Los Angeles, would come back to Roseau to oversee this monumental undertaking. The arena was a community-wide project, involving thousands of hours of volunteer labor and being almost exclusively dependent on community fundraising. The grand opening of Memorial Arena occurred on December 31, 1949, with a hockey game between the men's amateur team Roseau Cloverleafs of the Northwest Hockey League and a Winnipeg team, followed by a figure skating exhibition. The Rev. T.C. Hanson spoke at the opening ceremony, saying, "This can rightly be called a living memorial. It is not some standing monument or statute upon which you can gaze but means nothing more." Looking out at the hundreds of contributors and volunteers, he concluded that is was "an arena of the people, by the people, and for the people." When the new Memorial Arena opened it was described as the largest and best arena in Northwest Minnesota and was one of only 13 indoor hockey rinks in all of Minnesota at the time. It was one of only two indoor arenas constructed in Minnesota during the 1940's, that same month archrival Warroad opened its new indoor arena.

1955

Memorial arena played host to many community events throughout the early 1950’s and improvements continued to be made including the addition of wooden bleachers accommodating up to 2,000 spectators, a public address system, a large lighted scoreboard and a concession stand. It was a source of community pride, as a newspaper writer stated: "Anyone who sees the Roseau arena and doesn't agree that it is one of the finest in the country can find quick argument among the hundreds of men who worked there, women who served coffee and lunch, and onlookers who came to gloat over the good seats they'll have come hockey season." However, the grand arena was lacking for even basic locker, shower and toilet facilities. So in the spring of 1955, there was a community effort to construct a new warming house befitting the arena and its 50,000 annual visitors. In the fall of 1955 construction began on a 50 x 100-foot concrete block warming house facility on the east end of the arena. Designed by local resident Art Salpacka the simple concrete structure added locker rooms, restrooms, concession stand and a heated viewing area. During this period the Roseau High School hockey team soared, winning state titles in 1958, 1959 and 1961. Only a major upset to Warroad in the regional tournament kept Roseau from another title in 1960. Under the guidance of Oscar Almquist (The Big O), Roseau appeared in the State Tournament fourteen times, with four State Titles, four Runner-Up Titles, and one third place finish from 1942 - 1967.

1969

By the 1960’s, ice time was hard to schedule, with a backlog of public skating, open hockey, figure skating, and high school games and practice. There were club teams for young men, sponsored by local businesses. Saturday morning leagues for youth down to third grade, sports clinics, and the semipro Cloverleaf team. In 1964, the city constructed a 65’ x 165’ enclosed ice rink adjacent to Memorial Arena. This was a simple metal frame structure with galvanized roof and walls. But like Memorial Arena it depended on natural ice and its small size made it inadequate for competitions. The reliance on natural ice could play havoc with early season schedules. Through the late 1960's new indoor arenas were flourishing across Minnesota of which three-quarters were utilizing artificial ice to extend their seasons. Finally, in 1969, the city made the decision to install artificial ice in Memorial Arena to extend the availability of ice into the fall and spring seasons. A new concrete floor was laid with refrigeration pipes, and an ice plant was installed in the warming house basement. At the same time the concession and viewing areas were renovated with wood paneling over the concrete block. The extended season proved beneficial for the Roseau Hockey program with the 1970’s producing some of the most legendary teams in Roseau history with the Neal and Aaron Broten, along with line mate Bryan "Butsy" Erickson leading powerful Roseau teams to State Tournaments in 77, 78 and 79, each time falling to perennial hockey powerhouse Edina East. For Roseau, there were no high school championships in the 1970's and 1980's, however, the three Broten boys, Neal, Aaron and Paul, brought glory to the town. Neal Broten, took Roseau High School to three state tournaments, scored the game-winning goal for the University of Minnesota in the 1980 NCAA championship and took home the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" Olympic Gold Medal. Neal would also win the Stanley Cup as a member of the 1995 New Jersey Devils. In a 2009 contest sponsored by the Minnesota Wild, Broten was named the greatest Minnesota-born hockey player of all time.  

1989

In 1989 the city approved a significant expansion and renovation to Memorial Arena. The work included extending the west end of the arena 50 feet to accommodate a regulation size ice sheet (85’ x 200’) and to provide space for a Zamboni room on the arena’s west end. Memorial Arena also gained heat for the first time using a heat reclamation system from the condenser unit. A wood framed, pitched steel roof was added by the school construction class on the top of the warming house to conceal and house much of the air-handling equipment. In 1990, the Roseau Rams would be rewarded with their 5^th State Hockey Championship. Roseau would be the last one-class State Champion, as the Minnesota High School League, following considerable debate, moved to split the state tournament into two classes. Initially the format was to take the top tier and bottom tier teams in each section and put them in their own tournament. The two tier format would be replaced two years later with a two class format based on school enrollment where Roseau would be assigned to Class A. After a brief stint of playing in Class A, Roseau would opt to participate as a Class AA team, becoming the smallest public school to win the Class AA State Tournament in 1999.

2002

As interest in hockey continued to grow in Roseau, pressure began to build within the hockey community to replace the old North Rink with a new facility that could host games, practices and open hockey session. A significant fundraising effort was initiated and volunteers again came forward to erect a new North Rink with dimensions of 120' x 225 with artificial ice to replace the aging natural ice facility. However, in June 2002 tragedy would once more befall Memorial Arena when the Roseau River would spill over its banks and flood the entire community. Memorial Arena experienced catastrophic water damage to its ice plant and other mechanical systems. Nevertheless, the community would rally to restore Memorial Arena to its previous grandeur as well as completing the construction on the new North Rink practice facility. In 2004 the Roseau Youth Hockey Association would embark on a significant construction project to add a new lobby to the North Rink that would add a warming area, locker rooms, training facility and lobby connection to Memorial Arena. In 2007, the Roseau Hockey Team completed the community’s recovery efforts by hoisting its 7^th State AA Championship banner in the rafters of Memorial Arena.

2024

On November 5, 2024, the U.S. Department of Interior recognized the historic importance of the Roseau Memorial Arena and approved its listing in the National Register of Historic Places. On its 75^th anniversary, Memorial Arena stands as a community cornerstone. Hockey is central to Roseau’s cultural identity, “This is a hockey town” said Norm Flagstad Sr. who pushed for Memorial Arena’s construction. It is more than just a hockey rink and hockey journalist John Millea has called Memorial Arena “one of Minnesota’s hockey cathedrals.” Hockey has provided continuity among the generations and formed the core of the community. Rube Bjorkman, who led Roseau to its first state title in 1946, won two Olympic silver medals stated, “It’s the intangible thing that keeps the community together.” As Bob Lund, a Roseau player, coach and longtime fan, said, “It just might last forever.”