Minnesota hockey hair gets the spotlight in ESPN special episode

Whetting America's appetite for a glimpse into a truly Minnesota thing, ESPN has unveiled a video trailer that teases its "Minneflowta" episode airing Tuesday, when viewers will be clued in on the wild hairdos the State of Hockey's players come up with every year for the State Tournament.

During this past season's Class AA and A tournaments in March at the Xcel Energy Center, ESPN's Barry Melrose had a hair ball of a time focusing his attention — and the camera's — on the players who let the flow go for their pregame introductions on television and on the big screens above center ice.

The creativity has spawned one hockey hair fanatic in the Twin Cities to post on YouTube an annual all-Hockey Hair team soon after each season's champions are crowned. These postings, which popped up in 2011, have inspired the players to go all out on their locks — letting them grow or choosing an array of hues.

ESPN's 67-second trailer for the "E:60" episode opens with a shot of 7th Street Barbers in St. Paul, where Barry Melrose — the former NHLer and current hockey commentator of longtime hockey mullet fame — quizzes some of the guys about hockey and hair, and hair and hockey.

"Hockey and great hair goes together like peanut butter and jelly; it really does," skater Jake Jones declares, his flow down to his collar in the back and the sides shaved close.

Jones, who plays for Litchfield-Dassel-Cokato, was No. 2 on the All-Hockey Hair Team 2016.

And to the robust strains of "Ode to Joy," there are slow-motion shots of the players walking in packs. They stroll by, one after the other, the boys' long locks seemingly wafting in unison.

"Minneflowta" runs Tuesday at 9 p.m. Watch the trailer here.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482