A Minnesota varsity hockey team was forced to postpone their game after a thief stole more than two dozen hockey sticks, police say.
The Mankato West High School’s varsity hockey team initially had to forfeit their Heritage Holiday Classic tournament game against Anoka High School on Saturday after realizing that more than 30 of the players’ sticks had been stolen.
Each hockey stick costs between $250 and $450 and most players have two sticks.
“I’m a little bit in shock you know it’s an unfortunate reality of where we’re at in this world today,” Nate Olsen, the head coach of the Mankato West Scarlets toldValley News Live after postponing the game. The sticks had been stored on the bus, Olsen said.
Around 10:50 p.m. on Saturday, Duluth Police responded to a report of theft of the sticks. A few blocks away from the reported theft, officers located a man walking with “a few of the items” that had been reported stolen. The man said he had found the items behind a nearby homeless shelter, police said.
“The male didn’t match the description of the suspected individual and was lodged at the county jail for an unrelated warrant,” authorities said.
Two days later, on Monday, Duluth Police arrested 23-year-old Cole Saice, who was charged with a felony count of theft, Saint Louis County Jail records show. Authorities returned more than 30 hockey sticks to the Mankato West team.
After the sticks had been stolen, the local hockey community launched a GoFundMe page to help raise money to replace the hockey sticks.
“Mankato West Hockey fell victim to bad actors who stole the player’s hockey sticks from their bus overnight,” the page said. “All funds above our asking goal will go towards supporting Mankato’s High School Hockey program and it’s athletes.”
The fundraiser garnered nearly $6,000 before it closed.
The game against Anoka will be “made up later this season,” the team wrote in an X post. “Thank you to all who have supported us the last 24+ hours. A big stick tap to @DuluthMNPolice for their prompt investigation and continuing it. We believe the majority of the missing sticks have been recovered – unsure on condition. We’ll know more in the coming days.”
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