Virginia/MIB Boys Hockey to Face Rivals Eveleth-Gilbert in Final Game at Miners Memorial Building

The Miners Memorial Building will be torn down this summer, making Saturday's section 7A boys hockey quarterfinal the final game to be played there. Puck drop between the Blue Devils and Golden Bears is set for 4:00 p.m

VIRGINIA, Minn. – When you walk into the Miners Memorial Building in Virginia, the rich hockey history hits you right away.

“You can see all of the people that have played here, the pictures up on the wall. There’s just a lot of history and you feel that when you come in the building,” head coach Cale Finseth said.

“[Matt Niskanen], all of these great players and being able to play on the same rink they did, it’s a pretty cool thing,” senior forward Ryan Scherf added.

Since the 1950s, countless memories have been made and generations of family members have hit the ice.

“All of those weekends as a little kid, as long as I can remember being in here, playing hockey,” senior defenseman Tom Nemanich said.

“When we were very little, dreaming of playing in the front rink. All of our practices are on the back rink as a little kid and then as soon as you get to the Pee Wee, Bantam age, you get to start practicing and playing on the front rinks so it’s a pretty big deal,” Scherf added.

But this summer, the building will be torn down and the Blue Devils will be moving to a new rink.

“We have a month in June of ice for our summer ice and then after we’re done, they’ll be tearing down the Memorial and then tearing down the back rinks,” Finseth said.

Saturday’s game will be full of emotions for many reasons, as the Virginia/MIB boys hockey team will host longtime rivals Eveleth-Gilbert in the final game at the Miners Memorial Building. Then two years down the line, these rivals will become one.

” The 2022-23 season, we’ll be coming together as Rock Ridge,” Finseth said.

“Tensions are high obviously now but I always think it’s funny that they’re combining with those high tensions,” Nemanich said.

But before that time comes, the Blue Devils want to take care of business one final time at the Miners Memorial Building: beat their rivals and advance in the section 7A playoffs.

“It’s really exciting, about as exciting as you can get,” Nemanich said.

“That last game at the Miners before they finally demolish it, it’s going to be a pretty cool opportunity,” Scherf added.

The section 7A boys hockey quarterfinal between Virginia/MIB and Eveleth-Gilbert is set for this Saturday at the Miners Memorial Building with puck drop set for 4:00 p.m.