Travel warnings were issued by the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s District 7 office on Wednesday. Considering that much of the state is facing the brunt of a major winter storm, the messages were not surprising.
At 11:06 a.m. this was posted: “No travel is
advised on all state highways and I-90 in Nobles & Rock counties in SC MN.
Blowing and drifting snow is creating blizzard and whiteout conditions.
Motorists are advised not to travel in these areas until conditions improve.”
And at 2:07 p.m. came this even more serious,
all-caps post: “TRAVEL ALERT: MnDOT has closed state highways & I-90 from
Worthington west to the South Dakota border, and from Worthington south to the
Iowa border due to blizzard conditions creating blowing and drifting snow and
significantly reducing visibility.”
The Rock County seat is Luverne, which is also
home to one of the 16 girls hockey teams competing in this week’s state tournament.
When the first warning was issued, the Luverne
Cardinals hockey players were warming up in a corridor near their locker room
inside Xcel Energy Center. When the second post hit Twitter, the Cardinals were
in the midst of a Class A state quarterfinal game against Orono. (The final score
was Orono 6, Luverne 0).
“Our
schedule didn’t change one bit,” said Luverne activities director Todd Oye. “We
came to town Tuesday, practiced at Ridder Arena and went to the banquet Tuesday
night.”
One downside
of the weather and road conditions was that none of the Class A schools
competing Wednesday were able to bring students or adult fans on buses to Xcel
Energy Center. With virtually every school calling off classes Wednesday and
Thursday, that situation will remain the same when the Class 2A quarterfinals
are played Thursday.
But while some people freak out about the
weather, there was a sense of normalcy inside Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday. Other
than the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s difficult if not impossible to remember an
MSHSL state tournament being called off or postponed because of weather.
In the days and hours before the tournament, the
Twitter freak-out experts were in high gear. Here are a few examples …
“If the storm occurs as predicted, what happens
with the Girls Hockey Tournament?”
“Hockey should be pushed to Friday Saturday
Sunday start at 9 am Friday play at games at Xcel semis at Xcel Saturday and
third place and title games Sunday.”
“looking at girls state hockey in the upcoming
days, and the weather forecast… what could cancellations/postponing look like
for this type of scenario?”
We have been through this before, and school
officials, coaches and fans know what to do. The basic plan is to plan ahead,
travel early and get to town ahead of the storm. Hotels in and near downtown
St. Paul were busy Wednesday, not just with fan of Class 1A teams and fans but
also Class 2A contingents.
Mankato East, which lost a 4-3 decision to
Proctor/Hermantown on Wednesday, also arrived in the Twin Cities on Wednesday.
That was the plan all along, although there were some thoughts about arriving even
earlier.
“Tuesday night, we came up for the
banquet,” said coach Amber Prange. “But
last Friday, we had already started talking about maybe leaving early. But activities
director Todd Waterbury was (joking about), ‘You’re going to play so we might
get stuck there and have to spend a little bit too much time together.’ But we
knew we were going to play so we were planning on it.”
This Tweet
was posted by MnDot District 7 at 6:07 p.m. Wednesday: “A No Travel Advisory has been issued for
portions of state hwys & I-90 in Brown, Cottonwood, Jackson, Martin &
Watonwan counties in SC MN due to due to dangerous driving conditions. Several
state hwys & I-90 in the SW corner of MN remain closed overnight.”
Stay safe,
friends.
--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of
Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn
and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts.
Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org
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