He stands, almost motionless, with his eyes trained on the hockey players during a game. Dave Hakstol, coach of the UND Fighting Sioux men's hockey team, approaches each game in a workmanlike manner.
Each game is important. At the end of February, each game is crucial. And, it's crunch time for the Sioux and all of their fans.
It's also crunch time for Hakstol's wife, Erin. Her eyes light up with hope when talk turns to the dream of winning the McNaughton Cup and maybe a national championship.
She wants it for the team, the coaches and, most of all, the fans. "Because," she says, "they are so passionate."
Erin Hakstol attends some out of town games. When the games are in The Ralph, she is there in Section 114 sitting with other coaches' wives and parents of players. She is fairly calm and not too distracted when she brings the two children Friday nights. The Hakstol children are Avery, 5, and Brenden, 2.
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Avery chooses popcorn when Uncle Bill O'Keefe comes around to buy them a treat. Brenden asks for ice cream.
He's just learning to skate, and he likes some support on the ice. "Because," he says, "it's too slippery."
What he really likes are occasional visits to the players' quarters in REA. There he finds the Gatorade machine, and he likes to drink "hockey juice."
Erin O'Keefe Hakstol met her husband 10 years ago -- the year the REA opened. They went water skiing at Pelican Lake. And they were married three years later at St. Mary's of the Lake. The next year, he became head coach of the Sioux.
Their life may have taken on more urgency, but Erin says they like to keep things on an even keel at home. She appreciates the way Dave tries to leave work at work and keep things calm at home.
For them, there usually is a break in June and a couple weeks in August. Then there is downtime at Pelican Lake.
Erin grew up doing competitive water skiing and enjoying the life in Bemidji. She is the daughter of UND Alumni Director Tim O'Keefe and his wife, Becky. She grew up in Bemidji and graduated from high school there in 1994. Then she went on to get a degree in communication from UND in 1999.
"It's really a broad degree with many different paths," she said. For a couple years after graduation, she and a couple friends worked as flight attendants for Northwest Airlines. "It was so much fun."
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Then, she went into advertising and ended up as events coordinator for the UND Alumni Association -- a job she loved because she is a "people person."
These days, her full-time attention goes to her family. Dave drives the children to day care at UND three mornings a week. Erin picks them up at noon.
She is getting back into her favorite activities by teaching classes for toddlers at the Skating Academy at the REA.
She knows all of the Sioux hockey players by name and enjoys chances to visit with them. Of course, she says, some are more outgoing than others. She enjoys meeting and getting to know the parents.
She is not a boisterous fan. She keeps an even keel, but she gets upset if a player gets hurt. "It's hard to see that when you know the kids and they work so hard."
Reach Hagerty at mhagerty@gra.midco.net or (701) 772-1055.
