Wednesday, December 22, 2004 7:06:05 PM
Czech players learn what Hockeytown USA is all about
Herald photo by Jackie Lorentz
Gordon (Ginny) Christian (left), United States 1956 Olympic Team Silver Medal winner, talks to Vackav Jachim, the Czech Republic Hockey Association in The Gardens in Warroad, Minn. Jachim has collected over 4,000 NHL autographs over the years and knew of Christian and other Warroad hockey players.
Posted on Wed, Dec. 22, 2004
By Ryan Bakken
GrandForksHerald Staff Writer
WARROAD, Minn. - The mystery of having to travel 2 hours in 30-below wind chills to play an exhibition game was solved soon after going through the doors of The Gardens hockey arena Tuesday.
"We asked why go so far to a city not so big," Czech Republic general manager Petr Misek said. "Now, we know."
They soon found out why Warroad bills itself as Hockeytown USA. A look at the wall in The Gardens lobby told them. So did the fact that a crowd of 1,150 in a town of just 1,800 paid $10 apiece to watch two teams without a recognizable name on a frigid wintry night.
But all they really needed to understand was the significance was a history lesson from Vaclav Jachim, the team's media representative.
The lobby wall has photographs and short bios of Warroad's six USA Olympic hockey players who have won medals. Jachim, a hockey historian/nut who has autographs of more than 3,000 former National Hockey League players, knew about all six.
Jachim also arrived hoping that he would meet Henry Boucha, an Olympic silver medalist in 1972 who still lives here. He was barely through the front door when he recognized Boucha in the lobby.
With Grand Forks resident Laddie Novak helping to translate, Jachim asked Boucha for an autographed photograph. Boucha (pronounced: Boo-shay) went to his vehicle and came back with two photographs of himself in a Detroit Red Wings uniform and wrote personal inscriptions on them.
"I was a little stunned," Boucha said. "He came up and said 'Are you Boo-ka? Are you Boo-ka?' I figured out he meant me. That was a little surprising, but I still get a lot of fan mail from Europe."
Jachim, a 34-year-old who speaks broken English, was asked what he knew of Boucha. "Good defense, good people," he said.
Christian brothers
Few know the world hockey scene better than Jachim. He was thrilled to meet Gordon "Ginny" Christian, who dropped the ceremonial puck for the start of the game between Germany and the Czech Republic. Even through the language barrier, the two spoke at length about international hockey back in 1956, when Ginny won a silver Olympic medal.
"I only won silver while Billy, Roger and Dave (Christian) won gold," Ginny told Jachim of his two brothers and nephew. "In this country, only gold counts."
Ginny ,77, talked in detail of playing three times in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Then, he showed Jachim the framed Czech flag from when the Czech National Team played the Warroad Lakers amateur team in 1960.
The lobby tour continued with a look at the four seats from the hockey arena in Squaw Valley, Calif., where the United States, with Billy and Roger Christian, won its first gold medal in hockey. Jachim looked at the seats as though they were a shrine.
"This is all something special," Jachim said.
Coach Cal
He was disappointed that the other medalists weren't there he also has autographs of more than 400 Olympians. And he was saddened to learn that Cal Marvin whom he called "Coach Cal" recently had died.
"That big building coming into town? Was that Coach Cal's?" he wondered about Marvin Windows and Doors.
Same family, wrong guy. Cal's fame came from hockey, not windows, including the ability to attract national teams from Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Norway, Canada and the United States to play in Warroad.
When the Czechs left town in 1960, the height of the Cold War, the FBI spent a week in Warroad inquiring about their activities. The most damning thing they discovered was that the Czechs had sung their national anthem in the high school.
"Tradition," said USA Hockey's Art Berglund, when asked why Warroad held a game. "I arranged this with Cal two years ago. People know what international hockey is around here."
Warroad had no trouble making its $5,000 guarantee. "It was a mystery how many we'd get," said Mike Marvin, Cal's son. "The school is busy, the Park Board kids are busy, and this isn't the USA or Canada."
But it is hockey.
And Warroad is known for hockey and walleyes. It held up both ends of its reputation here Friday night. After the game, the Germans and the Czechs were fed a meal of walleye, fried potatoes, baked beans and coleslaw.
"It's shore lunch," Marvin said.
Herald photo by Jackie Lorentz
Gordon (Ginny) Christian (left), United States 1956 Olympic Team Silver Medal winner, talks to Vackav Jachim, the Czech Republic Hockey Association in The Gardens in Warroad, Minn. Jachim has collected over 4,000 NHL autographs over the years and knew of Christian and other Warroad hockey players.
Posted on Wed, Dec. 22, 2004
By Ryan Bakken
GrandForksHerald Staff Writer
WARROAD, Minn. - The mystery of having to travel 2 hours in 30-below wind chills to play an exhibition game was solved soon after going through the doors of The Gardens hockey arena Tuesday.
"We asked why go so far to a city not so big," Czech Republic general manager Petr Misek said. "Now, we know."
They soon found out why Warroad bills itself as Hockeytown USA. A look at the wall in The Gardens lobby told them. So did the fact that a crowd of 1,150 in a town of just 1,800 paid $10 apiece to watch two teams without a recognizable name on a frigid wintry night.
But all they really needed to understand was the significance was a history lesson from Vaclav Jachim, the team's media representative.
The lobby wall has photographs and short bios of Warroad's six USA Olympic hockey players who have won medals. Jachim, a hockey historian/nut who has autographs of more than 3,000 former National Hockey League players, knew about all six.
Jachim also arrived hoping that he would meet Henry Boucha, an Olympic silver medalist in 1972 who still lives here. He was barely through the front door when he recognized Boucha in the lobby.
With Grand Forks resident Laddie Novak helping to translate, Jachim asked Boucha for an autographed photograph. Boucha (pronounced: Boo-shay) went to his vehicle and came back with two photographs of himself in a Detroit Red Wings uniform and wrote personal inscriptions on them.
"I was a little stunned," Boucha said. "He came up and said 'Are you Boo-ka? Are you Boo-ka?' I figured out he meant me. That was a little surprising, but I still get a lot of fan mail from Europe."
Jachim, a 34-year-old who speaks broken English, was asked what he knew of Boucha. "Good defense, good people," he said.
Christian brothers
Few know the world hockey scene better than Jachim. He was thrilled to meet Gordon "Ginny" Christian, who dropped the ceremonial puck for the start of the game between Germany and the Czech Republic. Even through the language barrier, the two spoke at length about international hockey back in 1956, when Ginny won a silver Olympic medal.
"I only won silver while Billy, Roger and Dave (Christian) won gold," Ginny told Jachim of his two brothers and nephew. "In this country, only gold counts."
Ginny ,77, talked in detail of playing three times in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Then, he showed Jachim the framed Czech flag from when the Czech National Team played the Warroad Lakers amateur team in 1960.
The lobby tour continued with a look at the four seats from the hockey arena in Squaw Valley, Calif., where the United States, with Billy and Roger Christian, won its first gold medal in hockey. Jachim looked at the seats as though they were a shrine.
"This is all something special," Jachim said.
Coach Cal
He was disappointed that the other medalists weren't there he also has autographs of more than 400 Olympians. And he was saddened to learn that Cal Marvin whom he called "Coach Cal" recently had died.
"That big building coming into town? Was that Coach Cal's?" he wondered about Marvin Windows and Doors.
Same family, wrong guy. Cal's fame came from hockey, not windows, including the ability to attract national teams from Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Norway, Canada and the United States to play in Warroad.
When the Czechs left town in 1960, the height of the Cold War, the FBI spent a week in Warroad inquiring about their activities. The most damning thing they discovered was that the Czechs had sung their national anthem in the high school.
"Tradition," said USA Hockey's Art Berglund, when asked why Warroad held a game. "I arranged this with Cal two years ago. People know what international hockey is around here."
Warroad had no trouble making its $5,000 guarantee. "It was a mystery how many we'd get," said Mike Marvin, Cal's son. "The school is busy, the Park Board kids are busy, and this isn't the USA or Canada."
But it is hockey.
And Warroad is known for hockey and walleyes. It held up both ends of its reputation here Friday night. After the game, the Germans and the Czechs were fed a meal of walleye, fried potatoes, baked beans and coleslaw.
"It's shore lunch," Marvin said.
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