The longtime Minnesota legislator has played an integral role in growing hockey through Mighty Ducks legislation
Last Updated on Friday, 03 June 2016 11:22
By John Hamre
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
Minnesota didn’t become the “State of Hockey” overnight. Years of tradition – wintertime freezes of the lakes, outdoor rinks being flooded, and indoor community rinks developed over time – have all helped grow hockey in Minnesota over the past century. The availability of many skating facilities and ice-time resources as part of public park systems have advanced opportunities of many young hockey players in Minnesota. Availability to ice time has made Minnesota a world-renowned talent producer in hockey, and provides venues for physical activity and recreation.
A couple of hockey-playing generations ago, the vision of John Mariucci, and his belief in Minnesotan players at the highest levels of collegiate and professional hockey, set in motion the next half-century of hockey development in Minnesota and the United States. Opportunities for local players to succeed at the highest levels first had to be provided. The success of these players then served as role models to inspire the interests and passions for youth hockey players of the next generation. The Glen Sonmors, Herb Brooks, Doug Woogs, Mike Sertichs, Laura Halldorsons, Willard Ikolas, Tom Saterdalens, the Gund Brothers, Stanley Hubbards, and the Craig Leipolds of today, and many others have helped live forward Mariucci’s vision and belief in hockey and hockey players from Minnesota.
There are also many iconic figures in government whose work has been critical to support community-owned ice arenas throughout Minnesota. Without the efforts of many within the state legislative processes, opportunities for so many in hockey in Minnesota would not have been possible.
Minnesota State Senator Jim Metzen (DFL-South St. Paul) has been a legendary and iconic figure in Minnesota’s state government. He has remained loyal to his roots, always remembering the streets of South St. Paul and the neighborhood in which he grew up. Throughout his career, he has earned the praise, admiration and respect of the most celebrated leaders within our communities and state.
“Jim Metzen has been a great supporter of Minnesota hockey at every level,” Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold said. “His support was instrumental in everything from returning the NHL to Minnesota and the construction of Xcel Energy Center to the Mighty Ducks legislation that helped to build rinks around the state, providing countless kids the chance to play hockey. Champions like Jim Metzen have made Minnesota the State of Hockey.”
Bi-partisan respect, admiration and support was also shared by the most recent two governors of Minnesota.
Former Governor Tim Pawlenty, a fellow South St. Paul native, shared by phone on May 5: “Jim Metzen and fellow South St. Paul-er Bob Milbert were the Zach Parises of the Mighty Ducks effort in the Legislature. They fought really hard, scrapped and got it done – to the benefit of tens-of-thousands of hockey players for generations to come.”
Governor Mark Dayton shared the following statement on Sen. Metzen: “Jim is a very dedicated public servant and a wonderful man.”
Incidentally, Gov. Dayton will hold the annual Governor’s 2016 Minnesota Fishing Opener on Big Sandy Lake. Both Jim and his brother, Dave, have cabins on Big Sandy Lake, and the area is one the Mighty Ducks legislation co-author, Sen. Tom Saxhaug, represented early in his career.
“The reason the Governor is going up there is because of Jim,” Dave Metzen said. “The Governor is coming to Jim’s cabin on Friday to thank Jim for his service. (Jim) is going to pretend he’s a fisherman – we’ve been on Big Sandy for 40 years and he’s caught two fish.”
“Jim has been an instrumental player in the Mighty Ducks legislation since its inception,” Sen. David Tomassoni, a Mighty Ducks bill co-author, said. “He has been very cognizant of finishing this program. This year, he has been instrumental as the chief author of the bill to fund Mighty Ducks legislation for $15 million. It is these type of things he has dedicated his entire political life to, to the various needs of the State of Minnesota.”
“Jim has always been the guy that’s pushed the Mighty Ducks in the Legislature,” Sen. Tom Saxhaug said. “I’ve always supported him. The Mighty Ducks helps all arenas. This whole thing would be a great tribute to Jim Metzen.”
Doug Woog (left) and Jim Metzen played on the same fifth-grade softball team in South St. Paul.
Hailing from South St. Paul, Sen. Jim Metzen has been a guiding force within the Minnesota State Legislature for over 40 years. He has supported the ongoing growth of boys’ and girls’ hockey, and the maintenance and development of ice arena facilities. The significant and ongoing legislative effort known as Mighty Ducks legislation is one of Sen. Metzen’s significant legacies from his lifetime of service to the State of Minnesota, and to hockey players growing up within the state. Sen. Metzen is currently in the advanced stages of terminal lung cancer.
The Metzens grew up in an athletic neighborhood – in a time when alleyways were playgrounds for childhood friends. Jim and Dave Metzen, Bob Milbert, Doug Woog and others grew up together in the same neighborhood of South St. Paul.
“He’s been a very good friend in my life, and done so much for hockey and Mighty Ducks legislation in all of Minnesota,” Woog said.
Jim Metzen was not as talented a skater as his brother, or Woog, so he became a goaltender in the neighborhood. His competitiveness later brought tremendous athletic success as he backstopped the talented 1962 South St. Paul High School team to the state tournament and a third-place finish. Metzen set and held for a period of time the state tournament record for saves in a game.
When asked to comment on the 1962 state tournament, and his memories playing for South St. Paul, Sen. Metzen shared facetiously, “I’ve got a bad memory. One went off the boards, it hits the back boards, came back to the front and deflected in.”
There is a story that while playing goaltender for the old semi-professional team, the South St. Paul Steers, Metzen was kicked out of a game – and then returned with a different mask and jersey to finish the game.
“True story,” he said. “I slashed some guy and was kicked out. I was the only goalie. I switched uniforms and went undetected. We had good hockey back then. There were only eight teams in the NHL, and not as many opportunities for players to keep playing.”
The Metzen brothers’ father, Butch, had served as a South St. Paul City Councilman and as a County Commissioner. Butch Metzen had a profound and inspirational effect upon the lives and careers of public service his sons followed him into.
“Our dad died when Jimmy was in junior high school,” Dave Metzen said. “Jim then became a city council member. He ran when he was 21 or 22 and made it. He’s been running for something all these years since, and now he’s 72 years old. It takes a lot of effort to do that! He’s only lost one election in all those years, and that one he probably shouldn’t have ran for. Jim always ran as an underdog in his own mind, and then outworked and out-communicated all others in his campaign efforts.”
Jim Metzen was elected to and served on the South St. Paul City Council from 1967 through 1974. He was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives for the first time in 1974, and five times thereafter, serving in the state House from 1974 through 1986. In 1986 he was elected to the Minnesota State Senate, where he has served continuously for 30 years. Metzen served as the President of the Minnesota Senate from 2003 through 2011. He announced in January of 2016 that he would retire from the Minnesota State Senate at the end of the present term. During his career in the Minnesota State Senate, Sen. Metzen served on and chaired various committees.
“You see a lot of both parties dig in their heels now,” Dave Metzen said. If you read through the Senate testimonials, the Republicans thanked him immensely for how he treated them as the minority when he was Senate President. That speaks volumes to his legacy of service. He’s a throwback to how politics used to be done. He found compromise, and because of how he was respected, he got much done for the South St. Paul area, too.”
Sen. Jim Metzen stands outside of the State Capitol. (Photo: Erin Hinrichs/South-West Review)
Mighty Ducks legislation funding has provided approximately $18 million for arena improvements and hockey-related funding grants. From 1994 through 2004, the grants were originally to help provide for the growth of girls’ hockey in Minnesota. It is estimated that approximately 90 schools were helped in growing their programs, and approximately 61 new sheets of ice were created as a result. Since 2013-14, the emphasis on Mighty Ducks legislation and funding has been to help arenas upgrade and meeting Environmental Protection Agency standards. Since 2014, funding has gone to help transform cooling systems using R22 (freon) as a coolant to EPA-conforming refrigeration systems.
Sen. Metzen has been a lead proponent of funding support for hockey from the legislature throughout his career. He has been a lead proponent of the Mighty Ducks legislation in order to help the many community-owned ice arenas needing to change out aging and non-conforming ice cooling systems.
“The advent of girls’ hockey was what really triggered it,” Metzen said. “We needed ice time. They were skating at 3 a.m. They needed ice time and somewhere to go for hockey.”
According to the official Minnesota Legislative Reference Library online, “In the early 1990s, Minnesota legislators recognized the need to expand opportunities for boys and girls participating in winter sports such as hockey and figure skating. Minnesota girls had taken up hockey with great enthusiasm. In 1994 the Minnesota State High School League was the first in the country to sanction girls’ ice hockey. The first girls’ state hockey tournament in the country was held in February 1995 at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood. Growth of ice sports at all age levels increased the demand for ice time for practice and games. The legislature created an Ice Arena Task Force in 1994, which in 1995 identified more than 90 Minnesota communities or schools in need of indoor ice facilities.
“Guided by two strong supporters, Sen. Jim Metzen and former Rep. Bob Milbert, the Legislature appropriated funds annually, beginning in 1995, for an ambitious program to leverage local money for facilities to support ice sports in Minnesota. As related on the Minnesota Amateur Sorts Commission website, over $18 million was awarded to help communities build new ice facilities, producing a net gain of 61 new sheets of ice statewide. In 2014, the Mighty Ducks program came back into focus with the news that the U.S. government will no longer import freon (R-22) in 2020. A new Mighty Ducks bill was introduced to help small cities and hockey associations pay to replace expensive refrigeration systems for indoor ice facilities. Some of the legislation was passed in the omnibus capital investment bill that year.”
Continuing on the strong role Woog played in the early days of the Mighty Ducks legislation while he was the University of Minnesota men’s hockey coach, Sen. Metzen explained, “(Doug Woog) testified for it. Actually, he did a log of work. I carried the Ridder Arena (legislation). Woog really helped us on that, too. Governor Pawlenty helped, too. He was good.”
The official Minnesota Legislative Reference Library online continued, “In 2015, a few bills propose additional funding for the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission to make grants to replace ice arena refrigeration systems.”
“The problem we have now is with the freon,” Sen Metzen said. “The communities can’t afford to fix (the arenas) up themselves. Many of the smaller town communities have a population of 750 people, for example, and the cost of changing out the arena refrigeration system can be $250,000 to $300,000. They can’t afford it.”
Sen. Metzen described the strong bi-partisan efforts to support Mighty Ducks legislation and hockey in Minnesota. He said that both Governors Pawlenty and Dayton have been supportive of the efforts towards Mighty Ducks funding. He also described the support received from recent governors, and a bond held between brethren goaltenders.
“We do talk about hockey,” Sen. Metzen shared on his relationship with Gov. Dayton. “I didn’t know he had gotten chopped across the neck to end his (hockey playing) career.”
On this year’s Mighty Ducks legislation currently in the Minnesota Legislature’s budgeting process, Sen. Metzen shared, “The Mighty Ducks legislation has been wonderful. There is a $15 million in the bill on the Senate side. The real question is with the House and how much they will do. It’s all regional. It’s not skewed. It’s based on Congressional Districting and fairly distributed. It’s a good use for state money. The towns cannot afford to do this entirely by themselves. It’s not one area – it’s the whole state!”
“I’ve been on the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission since 1994-95,” Milbert said. “We did a task force to see what we could do to help more kids. There were 29 people on the task force – Walter Bush, Herb Brooks, and on. The task force came back with the recommendation to provide $250,000 per sheet of ice, and give out grants by Congressional District. Herb Brooks was a big part of this, and he talked Arne Carlson into doing it. Jim was the guy who secured the money in the Senate. It never would have happened without his help in the Senate. You have to get the House, the Senate and the Governor. Herbie got Gov. Carlson, who was a basketball guy. It was like a three-legged stool – Herbie convinced the Governor, I had the House and Jimmy had the Senate.”
On how the legislation became named Mighty Ducks, Milbert described the situation for ice time faced by high school programs. Every high school has a gym, but hockey programs have to go out and find ice time. There wasn’t enough ice time to go around for the schools, and community association programs. Without new ice rinks, many kids would be cast aside like teams in the Mighty Ducks movies, hence the name of the legislative efforts supporting ice arenas in Minnesota was coined.
Paul Erickson is the former Executive Director of the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission (MASC). He served on the MASC for 28 years and retired a year ago. Erickson was a part of the Mighty Ducks program from its inception.
Once Mighty Ducks funds are approved by the legislature and signed by the Governor, the MASC is charged with reviewing applications and awarding grants to communities for rink projects under the Might Ducks program.
“Jim Metzen and Bob Milbert were the two heroes and champions of the Mighty Ducks legislation,” Erickson said. Jim Metzen was the chief author in the Senate, and Bob Milbert was the chief author in the House. Together they made it happen. No one has had more enthusiasm and passion for this program. Jim Metzen wanted this bill to be for more ice time for both boys’ and girls’ hockey. It really had a massive impact for hockey in Minnesota. It was a win-win for boys’ and girls’ hockey. There is no one at the Legislature more passionate about hockey than Jim Metzen. He is a champion of boys and girls hockey, and a tremendous person.”
The Let’s Play Hockey article, “Replacing Minnesota’s aging ice arena systems” (Feb. 2, 2015), illustrated the current and ongoing need for Mighty Ducks funding for ice arenas in Minnesota by profiling the dire predicament faced by Baudette’s ice arena condition. The broader issue among arenas can be traced to the original cooling systems installed in many of these facilities, which utilize the refrigerant R-22 (commonly known as freon). Freon was once a cheap and efficient refrigerant, which is now very expensive.
Environmental concerns and subsequent policies arose in the early 1990s which are impacting arena operations now. If leaked, R-22 has a detrimental effect on the earth’s ozone layer, the concern of the EPA, and can remain in the atmosphere for an estimated 12 years.
The conversion of an ice arena cooling system is costly. A changeover in equipment can vary in cost from $50,000 to over $1,000,000. The environmentally-sound, long-term pathway for many ice arenas is to refit their ice-cooling systems with natural refrigerants of zero ozone-depleting potential – if they can afford to. There are two such refrigerants: CO2, and anhydrous ammonia (R 717). In Minnesota’s climate zone, the latter is the only natural refrigerant industry experts recommend.
“We desperately need a Mighty Ducks grant to help us replace our R-22 direct (ice refrigeration) system and floor,” Barry Westerlund of the Baudette Area Arena Association said in the article. “The system was installed in the 1970s. The compressors have been rebuilt several times and every year or two we are repairing leaks in the floor due to a bad concrete pour that has caused the steel pipes to corrode.”
The Baudette Ice Arena was one of the most recent recipients of a Mighty Ducks grant, funded by the Minnesota State Legislative process, and administered through the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission.
“We just started replacing our floor and the old R-22 refrigeration system,” Westerlund said on Wednesday. We started our project about a month ago. We couldn’t have done anything without the Mighty Ducks grant. Hopefully we’ll get the project done by the end of June. We’ve removed the floor, as an in-kind voluntary project. We’ve dug the trenches to put in the new anhydrous cooling system. Hopefully, we’ll be pouring a new floor by June. There is a whole list of direct R-22 systems that won’t make it without the Mighty Ducks help.”
On Sen. Jim Metzen, Westerlund said, “We’re very grateful to the man. It’s amazing what this (Mighty Ducks program) has done. It’s all for the kids. Without the money there won’t be the ice time. Our community is thankful for it.”
Quoted in 2014 by the National Conference of State Legislatures, Sen. Jim Metzen said, “I tried to be fair and inclusive and serve the entire Senate on both sides of the aisle. I would often let my Republican colleagues participate and even appointed them to chair committees.”
“Jim is notoriously popular because he is such a wonderful guy,” Milbert said. “He has just as many friends on the Republican side as on the Democrat side. Jim is the end of an era.”
During a 22-year coaching career, John Hamre has coached PeeWee, Bantam, high school, NCAA Division I, Junior A and minor professional hockey. He was most recently the Director of Hockey Operations for the University of Wisconsin men’s hockey team. Hamre was the video coach for the 1994 USA Men’s Olympic Team, coached within the USA Hockey NTDP, and at many USA Hockey festivals. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
