Hockey Day Minnesota — a Fox Sports North creation, and a very good idea at that — is set for Saturday, with a full slate of high school, college and pro hockey.

The high school action, traditionally played outside for Hockey Day, is at a unique venue this year: Holman Field in St. Paul. Yes, that's the small airport near downtown St. Paul, and we had a look at the site this afternoon… and yes, it literally almost pushing right up against the tarmac.

We spoke to a few crew members still working on the boards, ice and bleachers, and the word was that they were hustling to the finish line. They had hoped to be done already by the time we got there at 3 p.m., but the cold temperatures set the work back. It was going to be a sprint to finish by their noon Thursday deadline, but they said they were confident they were going to make it.

As for the site itself … it looks pretty cool. There are bleachers on both sides, and from some vantage points fans will be able to see downtown St. Paul in the distance (as shown in the photo).

If you need a break from all the local sports negativity, you could do worse than to check out the high school action Saturday, both in person and on FSN.