Welcome
We are developing a display to honor the history and legacy of the youth hockey programs that have called the John V. Hoene West St. Paul Ice Arena and local skating rinks home.
Key features
- List and feature those who went from kids on their hometown ice to being college hockey players and beyond
- Tell the history of hockey in the area
- The associations
- The West St. Paul-Richmond Kings international exchange weekends
- Sibley High School and local player State Tournament teams
- Arena history
Design aesthetic
The visual design language will draw from the heritage of the youth hockey programs that have called this arena home since it opened in 1973: the red and black of the original West St. Paul association; the blue and yellow of the Mend-Eagan association; and adding gold to the red and black as Sibley Area and the new West St. Paul associations have. The overall aesthetic is professional, bold, and deeply local—unmistakably Minnesota community hockey.
Initial concept is for the area below viewing position to look and feel like hockey boards. The boards themselves would provide the link to the legacy Mend-Eagan blue, white, and yellow with the area above (possibly with panels framed in stations like the glass around the rink treated with the red, black, white, and gold of the other legacy programs and current Two Rivers High School.
Wall installation footprint
| Section | Width | Height |
| Panel 1—65″ TV (left) | ~45.4″ (3’9.4″) | ~97″ (8’1″) |
| Panel 2—65″ TV (center-left) | ~45.4″ (3’9.4″) | ~97″ (8’1″) |
| Panel 3—65″ TV (center-right) | ~45.4″ (3’9.4″) | ~97″ (8’1″) |
| Panel 4—community, monitor, and display case (right) | ~45.9″ (3’9.9″) | ~97″ (8’1″) |
| Total—all four sections | ~182″ (15’2″) | ~97″ (8’1″) |
Supplemental display content
When alumni profiles are not in rotation, screens will display:
- Team schedules and upcoming game information
- Sponsor/donor acknowledgment slides and advertising content
- Fun facts and local hockey history like: The pond hockey scene in the 1986 movie Youngblood was filmed on the old farm (Burow) pond near Victoria and Marie (find still of video from movie); Feature on the history of the West St. Paul-Richmond Kings annual exchange; Feature on the old, single penalty box and fans right on top of the benches; feature on Emri’s skate sharpening.
In addition to the large video monitor displays, there would be a glass-front display case area for rotating displays of artifacts such as jerseys, trophies, patches, tournament programs, and more. There would also be solicitation for donations or loans of such items. This area would have either another small monitor to display information about the physical item(s) or a place slotted document holder.
In development
As we develop content for this website and the arena display, we ask for your help.
- View our player research files and help us determine which players had a history here. Our goal is to not miss anyone.
- Submit content to make this project better. That can include:
- Tournament programs featuring our teams from Squirts to High School and Juniors
- Shots of our players from your photo collection
- Trophies from major wins by our programs (to be displayed in a rotating exhibit section of the display)
We’ve been searching hockeydb.com, eliteprospects.com, and college athletics websites to find players who list West St. Paul, Mendota, Mendota Heights, Lilydale, Sunfish Lake, or Eagan as their hometown. That only gets us so far (especially in the case of Eagan where a small subset would have played Mend-Eagan or Sibley Area youth hockey). And some records are incomplete or list St. Paul as hometown.
You can browse our research files and help verify the local connections.
Our NCAA Division I players