Thief steals Mankato West High’s hockey sticks, throwing shadow on weekend tournament in Duluth

Mankato West High School boys hockey coach Nate Olsen has talked often to his young team about how the lessons learned in hockey can mirror what they’ll face in life.

“But never in a million years would I have expected that some of the adversity they’ll face in life has someone stealing their hockey sticks,” he said.

Sometime between 2 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Saturday, someone went into the Scarlets’ team bus, which was parked near their hotel in downtown Duluth, and stole their hockey sticks. The theft forced Mankato West to postpone its game against Anoka High School in the Heritage Holiday Classic, leaving the sophomore-dominated squad with a sour end to its road trip up north.

Lt. Michael Tinsley of the Duluth Police Department confirmed in an email that police responded to the theft, in the 200 block of W. 1st Street, shortly before 11 a.m. Saturday. The investigation was active, and “officers are working to follow-up any leads,” he said in the email.

Olsen said police were reviewing video footage from several cameras in the area and were hopeful “they’ll provide some insight.”

Mankato West, which has only five seniors among its 14 varsity skaters, had played and lost two close games — 2-1 in overtime to Superior High School on Thursday and 4-3 to Apple Valley/Burnsville on Friday.

At 7 a.m. Saturday, the team arrived at the Essentia Duluth Heritage Center for its morning game against Anoka and began unloading their gear.

“All of a sudden, we’re going, ‘Where are the sticks?’ ” Olsen said.

Thinking they must have left the sticks at the rink the day before, Olsen said calls to the other teams turned up nothing. A review of surveillance camera footage confirmed that the team manager had loaded the sticks onto the bus shortly after the Scarlets returned to their hotel around 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Olsen figures someone boarded the bus after dark and took the bag of sticks. Maybe, he said, they didn’t know what was in the bag. Maybe they’ll try to sell them. The coach figures the loss to be $9,000 to $10,000.

Mike DeStasio of Cottage Grove, whose son was playing in Duluth for Park High School, said:

”I hope someone steps up and helps them out because the hockey community in this state is pretty tight-knit.”

Tom Pearson, athletic director for Duluth Denfeld High School, the tournament host, said the apparent theft put a damper on the event. Families traveled to Duluth from a long distance to see the game between Mankato West and Anoka, he said.

”It impacts a lot of different people, in a lot of different ways,” Pearson said.

A post on the Mankato West girls hockey page on X summed up the overall feeling of disappointment — and perhaps a bit of optimism.

“This is so disheartening to hear about what happened to our brother program,” the post read. “It is however great to see the hockey world come together at moments like this and to others stepping up to help out. Best game in the world! Hope the guilty are found, justice is served.”

Olsen has taken some comfort in the outpouring of support from Minnesota’s high school hockey community. By late Saturday, he said he had received 20 to 30 texts and calls from other coaches asking how they can help.

The game against Anoka will be made up at a date yet to be announced. Meanwhile, Mankato West’s next game is on Thursday at Osseo. It will be a chance for his kids to learn a lesson in life as well as hockey, Olsen said.

“I’m pretty confident we’ll get a lot of help to be ready,” he said. “After all, this is the State of Hockey.”