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this is sort of a tangent off of why are minnesotans so good, but how much does it cost around the state for a sheet of ice or to try out for the highschool teams do some varsity programs get free icetime? i know where i come from the upfront cost is $350 before tryouts.

Minnesota is a much less expensive state to play hockey, whether at the youth or varsity level. I know there are exceptions but in general that is the case. Many youth programs still use some degree of outdoor ice, and this helps keep cost down. ALso, many of the travel programs in MN are better able to attract some sponsorship than in other states, and hourly ice fees are generally lower in MN because many of the arenas are owned by municipalities as opposed to "for profit' investors. In other states with AAA hockey, it is not unusal for the parents team fee to be in the $2500-$3000 range for ice, games, etc., with travel costs on top of that.

At the varsity level, most of the programs that I am aware of have a $100-$300 fee for the season, which includes everything. Again, I know there are exceptions but most would fall within that range.

Warroad has free ice time from Tiny Mites through Old Timers, high school included. I know for HS sports there is a fee, not exactly sure what it is though, 50-$100 i would guess. Not really a fee for ice time, just to help cover other expenses.

I know up north the fees were about $75-$100/hour for rentals. In Anchorage you can't touch arena ice for under $250/hour. Are the Twin Cities like that?

Hockey in a lot of MN communities is actually a service. As stated above, city taxes build and maintain rinks for the common good just like city taxes provide law enforcement and garbage removal.

Access to affordable or in some cases free ice, like SB talks about, is what makes Minnesota different than most any other state.

Rinks in the real world are built to turn a profit, nothing more nothing less. Where that occurs, it's $thousands$ a season to play. I must believe there are some city or suburban schools paying a lot for ice and are holding practices at some bad times of the day to field teams.

SB24 wrote:Warroad has free ice time from Tiny Mites through Old Timers, high school included. I know for HS sports there is a fee, not exactly sure what it is though, 50-$100 i would guess. Not really a fee for ice time, just to help cover other expenses.

That's not entirely correct...the school gives the arena @$50,000/yr+ for the use of The Gardens. The Hockey fee I think was $250 and the Equipment fee was $150 plus the hockey ticket sales. Parent's cover the ticket sales and the score box. The HS kids do have a Christian brand factory discount on sticks too.

The youth hockey fee's are covered and I think you have the "Hot Dog" fund for $20 plus parent's time for the consession stand and the tourney for your group.

Overall, not a bad set-up.

Ok, when i was in hs there were no fee's for hockey. I had heard that there was now a fee of some sort, i wasn't aware of the equipment fee though. Thats too bad.