Edina Hockey Tradition Began in 1950s

Now an established hockey power with 11 state high school boys’ hockey championships, Edina’s hockey program was in its infancy in the 1950s.
   
Edina had its first taste of success in 1955, when it entered the State High School Tournament for the first time (only to lose). But that was enough to draw about 50 boys to the newly formed Edina youth hockey association the following year.
   
The boys played on the city’s first and only hockey rink, outdoors at Arden Park and competed against other Bantam level teams in the Belt Line League, composed of towns near Highway 100.
   
“Each year, the program grew, as more boys came out and the leagues kept forming younger and younger teams,” said Bob Kojetin, former Edina Park and Rec director. “So even as the child population dropped in Edina, more kids played hockey.”
   
By 1969, the program was so strong that Edina High School won its first state title, and youth teams were winning championships at every level. “Good high school hockey players … get to be so because of solid feeder programs at the grade school and junior high school level,” noted reporter Mike Wilkinson, writing about the 2011 death of Bud Sorem, one of the early advocates of Edina’s youth program.
   
Edina boys’ hockey participation numbered around 800 in 1975, and soon after, the girls’ hockey program began, making the sport second only to baseball and softball in number of participants. From just 50 players in 1955, the hockey association now has more than 1,300 boys and girls playing hockey in Edina.