Fighting Hawks: Hockey in the Prairie Cold
Near Grand Forks, North Dakota
In Grand Forks, college hockey is not merely a sport. It is a civic identity. The University of North Dakota hockey program, competing as the Fighting Hawks since two thousand sixteen after a lengthy nickname controversy, is one of the storied programs in college hockey history.
The team has won eight national championships, more than almost any program in the sport, with titles spanning from nineteen fifty-nine to two thousand sixteen. The Ralph Engelstad Arena, opened in two thousand one, is widely considered one of the finest college hockey facilities in the world, with seating for eleven thousand and a level of finish that rivals professional arenas. Built with a hundred million dollar gift from Ralph Engelstad, a Grand Forks native who made his fortune in Las Vegas hotel development, the arena dominates the southern edge of campus.
On game nights, the population of Grand Forks effectively relocates to the Ralph, as locals call it, and the noise generated inside its walls is audible across the surrounding neighborhood.
