Despite the winter storm, many fly into Fargo from warmer places to play some hockey

FARGO — Roughly 900 young athletes from 64 teams are all in the Fargo-Moorhead area for the Squirt International A Hockey Tournament. Many of them are from around the Dakotas and Minnesota, but some are flying in from around the country, sacrificing 70-degree weather for a chance to skate on Fargo's ice.

"The Vegas Storm is here," said Chris Burk while collecting baggage at Hector International Airport on Thursday, Feb. 23. "The Vegas Storm is here for the storm."

You read that right. Chris Burk and his hockey army came in from Las Vegas, excited to be in Fargo. We had to ask if they at least looked up the weather forecast before coming from a literal desert to this arctic tundra. Temperatures were below zero when they landed.

"We got about 60s for the high, right? And a little bit chillier at night, but not like this," Burk said, recalling the weather in Vegas when the left.

When we asked the young hockey players from Vegas what they are looking forward to most about playing hockey here, some of the answers were, "winning," "playing hockey," and "trading pins. Pins and hockey."

But it is not just pins and glory. The lightning-fast youngsters really look forward to our ice.

"The ice, how they do the ice here, the Zamboni and all that stuff, they like the ice better than in any other hockey tournament," Burk said.

So even though the storm got so bad that even a garbage truck had to get towed out of an apartment complex, even though the airport is packed with hopeful departures fixing to escape to a warmer destination, know that there are still a considerable number of people wild enough to come to Fargo for their weekend getaway.

The teams from around the country start tearing up the ice Saturday, Feb. 24, spanning across several rinks throughout Fargo-Moorhead.