The Parking Lot Volume 26
Welcome to October Hockey
Welcome to October Hockey
There’s something about October that just feels like hockey.
The air gets a little colder, the days get a little shorter, and suddenly standing around in a rink parking lot after a game doesn’t seem like such a ridiculous way to spend your evening.
By the time some of you are reading this, the Twin Cities Tournament will already be underway. The first puck drops at 3:30 Friday afternoon, kicking off a full weekend of hockey and everything that tends to come along with it.
Tournament weekends have always been a little different from the normal week-to-week grind. You play a lot of hockey in a very short amount of time. You spend way too many hours at the rink. You run into people you’ve played with or against over the years, and somehow a game from three seasons ago finds its way back into the conversation like it happened last week.
By Sunday, everyone is a little more sore than they were on Friday, the gear probably smells worse than usual, and hopefully you’ve made a few more memories along the way.
This year, everyone playing in the tournament will also be going home with a SotaStick shirt as a gift! It’s a little something to remember the weekend and another shirt to add to a hockey wardrobe that, if you’ve been around the AHA long enough, is probably getting pretty impressive.
October also puts us in that strange little stretch of the hockey calendar. Summer is behind us, but the winter season hasn’t quite arrived yet.
It’s the last month before we get back into the weekly routine. Before the standings start to matter again. Before we start figuring out which teams are going to be trouble this year and which Monday morning conversations begin with, “We probably should have won that game.”
Soon enough, we’ll all be back at it.
For now, enjoy the tournament, enjoy the last few weeks before the winter season gets rolling, and enjoy one of the best times of the year to be a hockey player in Minnesota.
Player Spotlight
Name: Joseph LaVigne
Hometown: Moorhead, MN
Team / Tier: C1 Northern Gators
This season will be my 14th playing in the AHA with the Northern Gators, although when I first joined, we were still known as the Ice Gators, a name that was often mistaken for “Ice Skaters.”
I joined the team at the D1 level after some persistent encouragement from Ralph Herda, my first boss out of college. It was my first experience playing organized hockey, and I quickly found out just how much fun it could be.
A few years later, during the 2015–2016 season, I took over captain duties for the Ice Gators. Not long after that, we changed our name to the Northern Gators.
Like any team that has been together for a while, we’ve had our ups and downs. There have been playoff runs, tournaments, great seasons, and plenty of memories along the way. Winning the C3 championship during the 2016–2017 season is still one of the highlights of my adult hockey experience.
But when I look back at my time in the AHA, the wins and championships aren’t really what stand out the most.
Team sports and competition have always been an important part of my life. The AHA has given me a way to keep competing, have fun, and be part of a team as an adult. Some of my favorite memories are simply the time spent with teammates sharing stories after games and enjoying a beer or two in the parking lot on a cold winter night.
I’ve been lucky to share the ice with so many great teammates over the years. We still look back on old seasons and tell stories about the games and moments we shared. That camaraderie is also what has made serving as captain such an easy and rewarding role. Fourteen seasons later, I still look forward to lacing up my skates, putting on the Gator sweater, and getting back on the ice with the guys.
To all of my teammates, past, present, and future, thank you for making this sport such a perfect fit for adulthood. Here’s to more games, more stories, and, of course, a few more postgame beers.
See you at the rink!
— Joseph LaVigne
Plenty of Hockey Ahead
If it feels like there’s a lot happening around the AHA right now, that’s because there is.
The Player Development Clinic and Skating Refresher Clinic are both underway, the Twin Cities Classic is happening this weekend, and we’re only a few weeks away from the Duluth Classic. Meanwhile, the last few winter evaluations are coming up for anyone still hoping to join the AHA and find a team for the upcoming season.
Basically, there aren’t many quiet weeks on the hockey calendar right now. And that’s a pretty great problem to have.
If you’d like to be featured in a future Player Spotlight, or if there’s someone around the league whose story you think we should tell, reach out and let us know. Don’t be shy about nominating yourself, either. Everyone has a hockey story, and I’d love to share more of them.
Contact us at communications@ahahockey.com
| Program | Start Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 Fall League | Sept 13th – Oct 25th | IN PROGRESS |
| Evaluations | Oct 8 & Oct 19th | REGISTRATION OPEN |
| 2026 Twin Cities Classic | October 2nd-4th | FULL |
| 2026 Duluth Classic | October 16th-18th | FULL |
| Player Development Clinic | Sept – Oct | IN PROGRESS |
| Skating Fundamentals & Refresher Clinic | Oct 7th – 28th | REGISTRATION OPEN, ONLY FEW SPOTS LEFT! |
