This year marks the 50th anniversary of Braemar Arena. In celebration, hockey enthusiasts and art lovers alike can help the city acquire a fitting sculpture for the arena. The sculpture, Slapshot, portrays a hockey player holding a stick and was created by local artist Judd Nelson. Nelson started welding at age 15 and now teaches welding at Minnetonka Center for the Arts. The sculpture stands four feet high and consists of 300 pounds of plate steel. Slapshot was first displayed on the Edina Promenade in 2013 as part of Public Art Edina’s rotating outdoor exhibition.
The city of Edina would like to raise $12,000 to purchase Slapshot. Once purchased, the sculpture will be permanently placed outside the front doors of the arena. Any funds exceeding the fundraising goal will be used to finance a companion figure skater sculpture in the future. City council member Ann Swenson is leading the endeavor to purchase Slapshot and considers the sculpture a symbol of the countless boys and girls who have frequented the arena throughout the years. Swenson likes to think that as children enter the arena they can touch their hockey stick with the sculpture’s hockey stick and in doing so receive all of the “good karma” held within the walls of Braemar Arena.
For more information or to make a donation visit the website here.
