Hockeytown, Montana

Dear Editor:

Last weekend our Lewistown hockey teams had the good fortune of spending a weekend in Glasgow and enjoying some friendly competition with your children and adults.

Hockey is a brand new sport for us in Lewistown, and last weekend was the first time we have had a kids' team travel to another town to play. As one of the coaches, I can assure you that we were all a little nervous about how the weekend would play out. 

It turned out to be a weekend our kids and parents will treasure for years to come, and we owe your community a big thank you for making that happen.

Roger Hystad and Aaron Johnson welcomed us with open arms and went out of their way to make our players feel right at home. Your Ice Dawg coaches could have picked out their top players and probably won easily over our young squad; instead, they put together players that allowed both teams to be competitive and have a great time.

For most of our kids, it was their first time skating on indoor ice, and they were blown away by the Valley Event Center. What an outstanding facility your community has built, and what a great model for us to work toward in Lewistown.

But I think the biggest thing that we took away from our weekend is Glasgow is the sportsmanship your players displayed.

After each of our three kids' games, win or lose, your players shook hands with every one of our players and then came over and thanked us as coaches for coming. But then your players did something I had never seen before: They formed two lines on either side of the door to the rink and they congratulated our players as we left the ice. It was pure class all the way.

Much appreciation goes to Roger and Aaron for a great weekend and to the Glasgow players, coaches and community for providing us with an experience we will never forget.

Jacques Rutten

Lewistown