National Sports Center for the Disabled history

In January, the Herb Brooks Training Center was dedicated in front of a capacity audience that included Governor Tim Pawlenty, past Governor Wendell Anderson, the Herb Brooks family, and several of Brooks’ players from the 1980 Olympic gold-medal winning U.S Hockey team.

Paul Erickson announced on July 23 that he would retire late in the year from his position as Executive Director of the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission (MASC), where he has served since its creation in 1987.

In 1990, the original state capital investment was under $15 million, and currently the state has invested just over $40 million.

In 1998, the original four rinks of the Schwan Super Rink were funded by a cooperative of eleven local governments partnering with the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission.

Todd M. Johnson, a board member of the National Sports Center Foundation since 2008, was chosen from a group of two finalists from an original pool of 132 applicants.

Several hundred local fans gave the team a final send-off as the team departed for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.

The NSC plans to hold the event at the new Sport Expo Center on March 8-10, 2013.

There is intense interest in the camp for the older players, as the final Olympic roster for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games was just weeks away from being announced, on January 1.

USA Hockey and the Schwan Super Rink hosted a training camp for the United States, Finland and Denmark U18 National Hockey Teams prior to the 2016 IIHF U18 Men’s World Hockey Championship which were held in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

The gazebo roofs had been damaged by hail in a severe thunderstorm that hit the Blaine community on June 11, 2017.

The project would continue for a full year, with the winter off, due to be completed before USA CUP in 2018.