As younger skaters prepare to take to the ice in Vancouver, a group of area veterans will face off this weekend in the Grygla Kup, a three-day old-timers competition in the Grygla, Minn., arena.
They are skaters with high school, college, NHL and Olympic experience, including Don Ross, a Roseau, Minn., defenseman who played for UND in "the old barn" in the early 1960s and was part of the 1962-1963 NCAA championship squad. Ross played in the 1964 winter games in Innsbruck, Austria, and the 1968 games in Grenoble, France.
"Our players have been skating twice a week for more than 35 years," Ross said. "We started out as '30 and over' and now we are '45 and over,' with most of us in our 50s and 60s -- and one 70-year-old.
"We do this because of the love of the game, the camaraderie ... and the health benefits."
-- Chuck Haga
