Chanhassen’s Chase: Today’s story is the 10th in an occasional Star Tribune series that has followed the Chanhassen Storm as they pursued and landed the program’s first trip to the boys hockey state tournament. To read the entire series, tap here.
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Chanhassen boys hockey coach Sean Bloomfield remembers apologizing to family and excusing himself from the dinner table to take a call he was certain would spoil the festive mood.
Tanya Hendrickson was calling to let Bloomfield know her son, Kam, the Storm’s standout goaltender as a junior, had decided where he would play as a senior. Bloomfield knew the time for persuasion had passed, so he turned to radical acceptance. Tanya cut the concession speech short by saying Kam’s No. 1 jersey better be clean.
Still in view of his wife, Sarah, both sons and two sets of parents celebrating younger son Paul’s seventh birthday at the Crooked Pint in Chaska, Bloomfield jumped up and down and beamed. Who cared that his dinner, a barbecue chicken flatbread, was getting cold? Chanhassen had just gone from promising to prime for a state tournament run.
Wavering sons all announced their commitment to Chanhassen in the final days before the season’s start date in mid-November. Players with options, such as speedy forward Gavin Uhlenkamp and solid defenseman Owen Buesgens -- even Hendrickson, already in Chicago with the Steel of the United States Hockey League -- would play one final season with the Storm. One last chance to be on the first team to reach a state tournament.
Bloomfield reflected on the rampant optimism, and his team’s remarkable journey, within days after Chanhassen fell 2-1 to Edina in Saturday’s Class 2A state championship game.
”People have been offering their condolences,” Bloomfield said Monday. “They say, ‘Great team, great run,’ with a tone in their voices that conveyed sadness and put a damper on the season. But these kids achieved their dream to play in the state tournament. This is a season none of them will forget.”
