The Civic Center addition that will connect it to the free-standing Blue Line Center should be completed prior to the start of the 2007-08 high school hockey season, or about Nov. 1, according to city engineer Mel Odens. The city council approved plans and the low bid this week.
The $1 million project will feature a large, airy lobby with skylights. A long concession stand will run along the north wall and a third locker room will be added to the two that were added in the earlier addition.
An advantage of the lobby is that it will separate incoming crowds from the ongoing activity in either arena. Odens said the lobby would be well lighted with new signage. The Civic Center side will be known as the "Cardinal Arena" and the facility to the west as the "Blue Line Arena."
Other new features will include a small parking lot to the north, behind the addition, for use by game officials, coaches and building personnel. A bump-out in front of the BLC will allow buses to disembark or load without blocking the main traffic lane.
Work is projected to begin April 15 with a 180-day completion schedule. The project will close down two weeks in July for the SonShine music festival.
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One of Gusties' best
Scott Hagemeyer is on the closing leg of his outstanding college career at St. Peter where he's a freestyle specialist for the Gustavus Adolphus swimming team. On Thursday in the opening day of the MIAC meet at the University of Minnesota, he finished second in the 50 free (20.94) to teammate Brad Amundson (20.73).
He later swam on the first-place 200-free relay which set a meet record (1:22.34) and gained an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III meet. He swam on the 400-medley relay team that was second to St. Olaf. Senior Josh Waylander of Montevideo also did a leg on that unit.
Hagemeyer had won seven MIAC individual titles in sprints and backstroke and six relay titles in his first three college seasons.
A bad wound
Trent Fader, sophomore at the high school, is recovered at home this week from an unusual injury. His thigh ballooned up after taking a hit from the knee of an opponent in the St. Cloud Apollo JV game at the Civic Center Feb. 8. At home that evening, ice didn't suppress the swelling or ibuprofen the pain.
He went to the emergency room at Rice Memorial Hospital and was sent to the St. Cloud Hospital, where he could be seen immediately by an orthopedic surgeon. There his thigh was cut open knee-to-hip to reduce the pressure and save the muscle. The wound was left open for a week before being stitched and stapled. Trent could be back for tennis this spring.
State baseball bid
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Bird Island and Willmar will combine for the second time to bid on the Class C/B state amateur baseball tournament. The presentation will be made in June to the board at a meeting in St. Cloud. Three years are at stake beginning in 2010.
Bird Island/Willmar finished fifth of 11 presenters in 2004 with Bill Taunton Stadium still in the planning phase. With the new park at Willmar, Islanders' manager Mike Nagel thinks chances are good for landing the event which runs three weekends, wrapping up Labor Day.
The state board also wants a third field as a backup in case of weather. Both Granite Falls and New London-Spicer are possibilities. The Spicer ballpark is undergoing extensive improvements.
Concerned with attendance, the state board has made several changes to both the Class C and B divisions. The 16-team Class B bracket will no longer be double elimination from the start but will now go to single-elim the first round. Class C will go back to single elimination until the final four when it becomes double elim. The change eliminates games on Thursday and Sunday evenings, since neither draw well and also makes travel difficult for teams from far away.
On the fly
n Jay Kocka (WHS '96) is in his third year as head boys basketball coach at Maple
Valley High School at Tower City, N.D., which is between West Fargo and Valley City on I-94. He previously was an assistant at Valley City after graduating from the state university there where he played basketball.
n Dean Jennisen, who wrestled for Roy Minter in the mid-1980s at the college, is head coach of Annandale/Maple Lake which recently won the Wright County Conference with an 8-0 record. The Staples native, now a middle school principal, coached at Dassel-Cokato for seven years.
