Well, hockey fan or not,
here in Minnesota, you've likely
heard the phrase let's play hockey,
but you probably didn't
realize where it came from,
and you might be surprised to learn
it was actually born from tragedy.
Boyd Hooper has a story of heartache that
spurred a search for the perfect words.
Took our knocks in the penalty box.
Football has its coin toss.
Born a child of the strong,
Idlewild baseball has playball.
Thank you for
coming to Excel, Energy Center
and hockey in Minnesota.
Let's go Wild has its own way of starting.
Let's play a three word phrase.
Echoing outside Excel Energy Center and in.
But who came up with it?
That was my dad, Bob Utech. Bob
Utech right here. From frozen rinks
to father to Jeff, Greg and Jennifer,
this is our dad, Bob Utech
to the Minnesota North
Stars rink announcer who was
there on the teams darkest night
listening to it on the radio.
I can remember just hearing Bill
Masterton is down, he's unconscious.
Just this huge sadness that came
over us, you know, January.
13th 1968 unhelmeted norstar Bill
Masterton hit his head on the ice
then and now the only skater ever
to die playing in an NHL game.
Yeah, it was a tremendously
difficult moment. So
what is a rink announcer to say after
the memorial that started the next
home game? He was thinking about
it all day, all day. Tense,
nervous till the memorial ended. And
Bob Utech came up with the words
he would say for the first time.
It's time. Let's play hockey. Simply.
Yeah, yeah, perfect. And he did it.
Every game that he announced.
Four years later, Bob repurposed
his catch phrase to name the
hockey newspaper he founded
that just celebrated 50 years.
The phrase that morphed into
an empty promise. Stuff.
When? 30 years ago this
spring. One final rousing. The
North Stars broke Minnesota's heart
when the team left for Dallas.
We're done. We we no longer exist.
Or so it seemed. Now we talk
National Hockey League action
until seven seasons later.
Welcome to the Xcel Energy Center, and the
National Hockey Leagues returned
to Minnesota. And who better
to signal the start of the
Minnesota Wild's first home game?
It's time now, so let's play hockey.
We aren't the North Stars,
and we weren't going to be the North Stars,
but we could honor a lot of the things
that fans remembered and celebrated
about the NHL team that had left here.
So Bob was invited back 20O2
again and again, and in between
visits, Bob had help.
Let's play. It's part of the
fabric of being out of Wildcat,
and on it goes from the pros,
ladies and gentlemen,
to Minnesota's backyard rinks.
Let's play hockey
on it goes even without Bob,
who was 86 in September of
twenty 06. And the father of
the phrase was welcome to the ex
for the last time,
even though he was using a Walker by then.
Yeah, it's time now. Nothing was
gonna keep him away from doing it.
So let's play hockey.
Nine months later,
the Navy vet received military honors
at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.
This was my dad's. Wow.
It's like a treasure, you know?
And and where else to bring it.
But the hockey game?
Greg Utech goes to a lot of them now.
Ladies and gentlemen,
as rink announcer for Eastview
High School #16, Nick Karam.
Care to guess how he'll
start tonight's game?
Alright,
it's time. Now let's play hockey.
I love doing it. It it,
it it just makes me feel like I'm
back with my dad from generation
next to the next.
Next generation hockey.
Max and Colt Kurtz,
one day shy of five years old,
say let's play hockey and
about to get their shot.
They know it well.
We watch it all the time.
Wild plays at home.
It's let's play hockey spurred
by a tragedy. Bob Utech
created something lasting.
We just stand back and watch
it and go. That's really cool
that we're connected to that,
from the Utech
family to Max and Colts family.
Time to bring the energy
to the state made for the phrase let's play.
Boyd Hooper, Carol Levin News, Saint Paul.
Just fantastic. And now some
people don't know that story.
I was asked to do that.
One time I didn't tell
you was so nerve wracking,
but what a phenomenal tradition.
Thank you Boyd for that story.