Former MLB and NHL players come together on icy 'Field of Dreams' in Minnesota
Former MLB MVP Justin Morneau admits that baseball wasn't the only sport he fell in love with as a kid. The New Westminster, Canada native has also always shown great passion for the game of hockey.
This has led him to create a hockey rink that would be similar to baseball's «Field of Dreams.» Weekly in the western suburb of Minneapolis, Morneau and some of his retired professional athlete buddies gather in the backyard of his astonishing home to play a pickup game of hockey. The lighting resembles that of an NHL arena, with smells of a wood-burning fire next to the rink. The outside is decorated with Christmas lights streaming from the fence and bushes surrounding the rink.
Typically there is only one problem, how to pick the teams.
«How are we going to pick teams?» Justin Morneau asks after they agree to split the players into four groups of three.
«Lefties vs. righties?» somebody responds.
«Tall guys vs. short guys?» asks another.
«How about Canadians vs. Americans?»
«What about our old uniform numbers?»
«Why don't we put our sticks in the middle?» Joe Mauer pipes up.
«Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's old school,» says Wes Walz.
«Buff, Buff, Buff, where are you?» Paul Martin yells out.
«Right here!»
«Buff, we need you. Get out here,» Jordan Leopold yells.
Buff, the nickname for former NHL defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, also comes out to play with the group of guys. Among some of the other players include Mark Parrish, Nate Prosser, and Paul Martin.
Morneau grew up in Western Canada with hopes of playing in the NHL, and started this Wednesday night hockey tradition 3 ½ years ago. He established the rink and built a barn that is also a maintenance shed and warming house. The barn also is a locker room with stalls for gear and a fridge especially for beer.
«I feel like we're the last generation of just calling your buddies up from down the street and asking them to come over and play,» says Morneau, wearing a New Westminster Royals hockey jersey. «I never wanted to leave the clubhouse because I knew at some point I wasn't going to be allowed back in.»
A video of the rink can be seen below.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Patrick Maroon | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Lukas Reichel | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Travis Konecny | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Noah Cates | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sean Couturier | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Matvei Michkov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Bobby Brink | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tyson Foerster | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Connor Murphy | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Rasmus Ristolainen | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Travis Sanheim | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Craig Smith | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nolan Allan | - | - | - | |
| Joey Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Michael Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Emil Andrae | - | - | - | |
| Mikael Backlund | - | - | - | |
| Kevin Bahl | - | - | - | |
| Connor Bedard | - | - | - | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||