13 February 2025
FARGO — The Minnesota North Stars began its inaugural season in 1967, one of six new teams entering the NHL that year. With training camp in Haliburton, Ontario, preseason games were played in that general region near Toronto.
Tom Reid recalls the early training camps in Haliburton, where Wren Blair, the North Stars’ first coach and general manager, used his hockey facility to house the team there.
“We got up there and there’s so many stories,” the former North Stars defenseman and longtime broadcaster told the Sports Time Machine. “We had no TVs, radios. We didn’t have any food up there that we could eat at night. We didn’t have vehicles. We were locked in training camp.”
That all changed in 1968 when the North Stars brought several preseason games to the State of Hockey and North Dakota. Fans in Bemidji, Hibbing, Fargo and Duluth each had a chance to witness professional hockey games in their communities that fall and stir interest for regular-season games at Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota.
“In order to get the fans behind you, you had to get to the fan first, and that’s what it was all about,” Reid said.
The North Stars posted a 51-year-old NHL attendance record with 485,000 in 42 games in 1967, a new high for a first-year team.
Lou Nanne, a former Minnesota defenseman turned executive and broadcaster, told the Sports Time Machine that players had plenty to play for during those preseason games.
“You have to remember, that’s training camp, and people are fighting for their jobs, so they don’t care what size rink they’re on,” Nanne said.
He should know. He cut his eye during a 1968 North Stars exhibition game at Bemidji State’s arena and returned to the game to pick up an assist in a 6-2 win.
It was also a chance to prove to the fans the Minnesota club was no Mickey Mouse operation.
In Fargo that year, it sort of was.
In the first-ever game at the Coliseum (later renamed the John E. Carlson Coliseum) in 1968, a large Mickey Mouse clock kept time. The north Fargo arena was still waiting for its new electronic scoreboard to arrive. The North Stars beat its farm club, the Memphis Stars, 6-2 in front of 3,500 fans.
“It was cool to have a professional team come here. You know, I thought maybe at some point in time, now that we’ve got Scheels Arena, that [the NHL] would come back and play an exhibition game,” said Jim Kapitan, who was the Coliseum’s public address announcer for 40 years.
Still, the North Stars brass was impressed with the Fargo rink.
“This is a fine facility,” Walter Bush Jr, president of the North Stars, told Forum’s Ed Kolpack. “It compares real well with other arenas in which we have played exhibitions.”
Along with lending an assist to open new arenas, communities created events around the team, including youth clinics and parades.
Nanne recalled his aunt, a nun, helped open a senior living facility in Thunder Bay, Ontario. “The city council didn’t give her any help,” Nanne said. “So she built it, and then in coordination with the opening of the senior place, we brought the team up there.”
In the following years, the North Stars played games in Moorhead, St. Cloud, Austin, Thief River Falls, Bismarck and Minot, according to the Sports Time Machine’s research.
“I remember one that sticks out in my mind, I think it was Bismarck, because I was standing in the corner and it was the first time I had seen our first-round draft pick play in that kind of a scene, playing with all NHL players,” Nanne said. “I was disappointed in his game so much that night that I went back and traded him. He never actually played a game for us.”
Moorhead hosted the North Stars in 1981 and 1982 at the Moorhead Sports Arena, bookmarking their Stanley Cup Finals appearance against the Islanders. “We picked Moorhead as a site for an exhibition game again because we have a lot of fans here,” Minnesota head coach Glen Sonmor said at the time.
Regional arenas made financial sense both for the club and for the fans.
“We had games against teams that were closer to us, and because I really didn’t want to be going to Met Center at that time and try and charge our people so much for an exhibition game,” Nanne said. “I didn’t think that was right. So I used it as a tool to help sell the North Stars in other parts of the state, create interest in the game of hockey and also for our telecasts.”
Since the North Stars left for Dallas in 1993, NHL clubs peeled back on using neutral sites for exhibition games. Still, those regional exhibition games solidified its fan base.
“There’s a reason why they call it the State of Hockey,” Reid said. “The fans really have kind of put their arms around the teams here, whether it be the North Stars or the Wild. At the same time, they want a winner. They want the guys to be winning. That’s the one thing we haven’t given them, a Stanley Cup in all the years they’ve had, so hopefully that’s coming sooner than later.”
Notable Outstate Exhibition GamesThis list of games may not be comprehensive since Minnesota North Stars preseason schedules are a rare find. The following games were discovered using various sources, including discovery on newspapers.com and other research.
1968
Bemidji (Sept. 25): North Stars beat Memphis 6-2 with Alt McKechnie, Billy Collins, Mike McMahon, J.P. Parise, Wayne Connelly and Danny Grant scoring. Capacity crowd 3,300 at Bemidji State’s arena. Minnesota’s Lou Nanne suffered a cut over his left eye in the first period, returning to assist on Grant’s goal.
Duluth (Sept. 27): A crowd of 5,689 watched the North Stars beat Chicago 2-1 at Duluth Arena. Parker MacDonald, 34, provided the game-winner, firing in a rebound from a long-range shot by rookie teammate Lou Nanne. Bobby Hull picked up an assist for the Blackhawks.
Hibbing, Minn. (Sept. 29): Minnesota rallied to beat its farm team Memphis 3-1 before 2,500 fans at Memorial Arena. Parker MacDonald, Jerry Dineen and Claude Larose scored for the North Stars.
Fargo (Oct. 2): Minnesota beat CHL affiliate Memphis South Stars 6-2 to open the new Coliseum on the city’s north side. 3,500 fans. Tickets were $4.50, $3.50 and $2.50. Grossed $10,400 (Minnesota received slightly over $7,000 including the $5k guarantee.). A giant Mickey Mouse clock was used because the electric scoreboard had not arrived.
Duluth (Oct. 4); Four third-period goals by Detroit gave the Red Wings a 5-2 win over Minnesota at Duluth Arena. Attendance 4,187. Lou Nanne scored for Minnesota and 40-year-old Gordie Howe had an assist for Detroit.
1969
Duluth (Sept. 19): The North Stars opened their preseason schedule with a 3-1 win over Chicago at Duluth Arena. Claude Larose, Bob Barlow and Danny O’Shea scored for Minnesota. Blackhawks star Bobby Hull did not play as he was in a contract dispute. The arena used fiberglass boards for the first time. Attendance 3,467.
Bismarck (Sept. 30): Minnesota’s farm team in Waterloo bested the North Stars 4-2 at the new Bismarck Civic Center. A crowd of 3,663 watched Minnesota’s goals by O’Shea, Dick Redmond, Ray Cullen and Tom Williams.
Eveleth, Minn. (Oct. 1): Despite playing without their two Vezina Trophy-winning goaltenders in Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante, St. Louis beat the North Stars 2-0 at the Hippodrome. Andrew Boudrias and Gary Sabourin scored second-period goals against Cesare Maniago. Game played to promote fundraising for the U.S. Hall of Fame building. Attendance 1,850.
1970
Thief River Falls (Sept. 30): Opening the new Thief River Falls Arena, the North Stars fell to their Cleveland farm club 4-2 in front of 2,200 fans. Barons goaltender Gary Curt was awarded a new Arctic Cat motor scooter as the game’s MVP.
1974
St. Cloud (Sept. 25): North Haven, the farm team of the North Stars, beat the parent club 6-2. Henry Boucha scored for the North Stars in the second period, highlighting his much-anticipated arrival in his home state following a trade with Detroit.
Austin, Minn. (Sept. 26): The North Stars tied Kansas City 3-3 at Riverside Arena. Bill Goldsworthy scored for Minnesota using an experimental NHL preseason rule where a player, after an opponent ties up the puck or a goalie holds the puck too long, shoots a free shot from one of the faceoff circles. Attendance: 2,200.
1978
Duluth (Oct. 5): Minnesota skated to a 5-5 tie against Winnipeg at Duluth Arena in front of 4,397 fans. Kris Manery had three goals for the North Stars, Winnipeg tough guy Kim Clackson and Minnesota’s Al MacAdam brought the cheers during a fight. An injured Bobby Hull did not play for the Jets. Attendance: 4,397.
1981
Moorhead (Sept. 27): Dino Ciccarelli lit the lamp at the Moorhead Sports Center just 37 seconds into the game as the North Stars beat Quebec 6-1. The electrifying forward scored twice while teammates Al MacAdam, Bobby Smith, Ron Friest and Bob Suter also scored. Attendance 3,000. An eBay listing shows a stub from the game with a $14 price for a reserved ticket. Minnesota would go on to lose the Stanley Cup Final to the New York Islanders.
1982
Moorhead: Dino Ciccarelli’s breakaway goal with 54 seconds left carried the North Stars to a 4-4 tie against Winnipeg at the Moorhead Sports Center. Mike Eaves, Willi Plett and rookie Brian Bellows also scored for Minnesota. Gilles Meloche stopped 38 shots for the North Stars.
1983
Bismarck (Sept. 22): Team Canada beat the North Stars 6-3 behind goals by University of North Dakota’s Dave Tippett and Dave Donnelly. Bobby Smith scored in the game’s first minute for the North Stars, who also received goals from Neal Broten and Dino Ciccarelli. Attendance 2,769.
Minot (Oct. 2): Willi Plett scored a third-period goal as the Minnesota North Stars tied Team USA 3-3 on Oct. 3 at All Seasons Arena. Steve Griffith, John Harrington and Scott Fusco scored for Team USA while Neal Broten and Brian Bellows also had tallies for Minnesota. Bob Mason was in goal for Team USA and Gilles Meloche for the North Stars. Attendance 4,300.
1984
Minot (Sept. 23): Ed Hospadar scored at the 17-minute mark of the third period as the Philadelphia Flyers rallied to tie the North Stars 4-4 on Sept. 23 at All Seasons Arena. Ken Solehim, George Ferguson, Brent Ashton and Dennis Maruk scored for Minnesota. Attendance: 2,500.
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