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GRAND FORKS — An ideal title game for Grand Forks fans led to a big boost in attendance this season for the championship of the North Dakota state hockey tournament.
The final between Grand Forks state hockey powers Central and Red River, on March 1 at Ralph Engelstad Arena, drew 6,750 fans, the highest attendance for a hockey state final in North Dakota in a decade, according to data provided to the Herald by the North Dakota High School Activities Association.
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It was a perfect storm for high school hockey fans. Heading into the weekend, there was nice weather and the two Grand Forks teams met in the final for the third time since 2021.
“With winter sports in our state, weather, geography and matchups are the three things you can’t control that sometimes align,” NDHSAA Executive Director Matt Fetsch said. “There are times where programs haven’t been in that situation in a number of years, but those are the key factors for us.”
Last year in Fargo, 5,096 attended the final between the Roughriders and Knights at Scheels Arena. The previous title game in Grand Forks, the 2023 state championship between Red River and Fargo South-Shanley at REA, had an attendance of 4,112.
The 2025 tournament at REA saw an increase in attendance each day as 2,902 attended Wednesday, 3,376 attended Thursday, 5,020 attended Friday and 6,750 attended Saturday.
The state and the committee have gotten into a comfortable spot with switching hosting duties between Grand Forks and Fargo every other year after Grand Forks hosted exclusively for many years. Available facilities play a big part in that.
“Every other year, it seems UND is home that weekend and Fargo has been able to host in those years. Beyond that, there hasn’t been a real serious discussion at the tournament committee level,” Fetsch said.
The 2002 attendance of 9,191 for a state title game between Grand Forks Central and Grafton-Park River in a newly built REA is officially listed as the all-time single-game tournament record. The Spoilers beat the Knights 6-2.
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The last Central-Red River championship game played in Grand Forks was in 2005 and had an attendance of 4,640.
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