Eveleth, MN isn’t on the radar for most hockey fans, or the hot vacation spot that online travel websites will be pushing deals for. Eveleth is up there, 3 hours north of Minneapolis. It’s not on the way to anywhere, unless you want to see where Christian hockey sticks were made (Warroad), or are into mining (a big industry around the Eveleth area)

I’m not trying to slight Eveleth (but I probably am, so I’m sorry to the residents), as I didn’t get a chance to explore the town much. But I was there for one reason, and one reason only. To visit the USA Hockey Hall of Fame.

(click any photos for a bigger version, and if you want to use any of them, go for it, just give me credit, please)

The hall was founded in 1973, and fell on some seriously hard times, to the point that a few years ago, they were thinking about shutting down. The hall has suffered some remodelations, they used supply and equipment automobiles for a foam insulation installation. There has also been movements to move the hall to a more populated area. The hall remains in Eveleth, though, even though it could use a few more visitors through it’s doors. Right now, the hall is trying to fix the air conditioner it has limped along with since the building was built. They are having http://classicairconditioningandheating.com/residential-solutions/, come and install a new A/C unit.

The hall was actually closed for the day (call ahead for the hours, since the winter and summer hours are quite different), but a phone call to the hall was enough for the nice people who run the place to open it’s doors for me.

When you walk into the hall, it doesn’t look like much. A lobby with a few hockey jerseys in it, a small gift shop, nothing much. But it opens up when you take the stairs to the first main floor.

First, those jerseys in the main lobby. One was the jersey Bobby Ryan wore when he scored the fastest hat trick in NHL history (3 goals in 2:21). The other was a Mike Modono jersey, on display with articles about him being the highest scoring US born player.

On to the hall. Meet Zamboni #4.

I’ve been around the first Zamboni before, and this one was just as cool. Built on the frame of an old Willy’s jeep, this one dates back to the early 1950s.

Beats the hell out of the old way of resurfacing the ice:

The hall had just finished putting up their Herb Brooks exhibit, and it was full of amazing memorabilia from his legendary career, and from the 1980 gold medal winning hockey team:

These are coats from the 1980 Olympics (I believe they were both worn by Brooks):

Photos of the team at the White House:

To save bandwidth for some of you, this all continues after the jump.

Herb Brooks comes home from the Olympics:

Herb Brooks’ jersey from the 1968 Olympics:

Other memorabilia from the 1968 Olympics:

I love this picture of Brooks from the 2002 Olympics at practice, taking a shot. He was lifting the puck just fine:

More stuff from Brooks:

Brooks from the U of M years:

I doubt there will be another coach like Brooks, or another team like he coached in 1980.

Any hall of fame has to have inductees, and the US Hockey Hall of Fame has a wall dedicated to them:

They aren’t the most flattering of artists renderings:

You can find a list of everyone enshrined here.

A few other things in the main floor: Such as the scoreboard from the movie The Mighty Ducks:

The big blue banner behind it is from the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid:

A display of old skates, by which I mean oooooold:

Including this skate sharpener:

Around the back of the Great Wall of Enshrinees were more exhibits with more jerseys and hockey history. This was the display on Eveleth hockey history:

Frank Brimsek, aka Mr. Zero, and his Vezina and Calder trophies from the 1938-39 season:

More historic US Olympic memorabilia:

From the 1960 gold winning team:

There is still plenty more to show, but this is long enough for now. More photos in the next post.