It’s that time of year, and the boys’ Minnesota State High School hockey tournament is underway. It’s exciting, but it’s also bittersweet because Lou Nanne, one of the tournament announcers, is retiring, and it’s his last tournament. Anyone familiar with Minnesota hockey knows the name Nanne despite him not being from Minnesota. He was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, but he may as well have been born in the “State of Hockey.”
When most people think of the state tournament, they also think of Nanne. After finishing college, he played some junior hockey before going on to the NHL. However, in 1964, he started what would become a 60-year career, calling the state hockey tournament. For many, he’s been the only voice they’ve heard call the names of players over the years, but now that is coming to an end. In this article, we’ll take a brief look at Nanne’s history with the state tournament.
Nanne Equals State Tournament
In Minnesota, the boys’ and girls’ state hockey tournaments are basically statewide holidays. Some towns give their kids the day off of school so they can drive down and watch their classmates compete on one of the biggest stages in hockey. For those who can’t make the tournament, there’s no need to worry about missing it. A local television station picks up the games, and most are able to watch without an additional charge.
The boys’ tournament has existed since 1945, and Nanne has been involved in it since 1964. For those who watch Wild games on TV, Anthony Lapanta and his rotating cast are mainly Wes Walz and Ryan Carter. While those names are synonymous with Wild hockey, that’s what Nanne is to the high school tournament.
They’ve changed the play-by-play person over the years, but Nanne has remained with his color commentary and recalling past tournaments. He got to call tournaments with his sons playing and witnessed them both win a state championship which is equal to the Stanley Cup for high school hockey. You expect to hear his voice whenever you turn on the AA tournament. He used to do the A tournament but dropped to just AA for a while now.
Nanne Has Witnessed History
Over the years, there have been some outstanding high school hockey games, and Nanne has been front row for the majority of them. He’s seen overtime games, upsets, dynasties, and even his family. He’s witnessed his sons and grandsons, and while it wasn’t the state tournament, he was a guest for the Wild’s broadcast and was able to call his grandson Vinni Lettieri’s first goal with the Minnesota Wild.
He’d seen some of the great NHL players before they became the stars they are today, when they were just high school kids. Names like T.J. Oshie, Blake Wheeler, Anders Lee, Mark Parrish, Neal Broten, and the list could go on and on. Think of the best Minnesota high school boys’ hockey players from 1964 to now, and if he played in the state tournament, Nanne has watched them play.
It’s jaw-dropping to think about the number of games he’s watched and the outstanding goals he’s seen over the past 60 years. He’ll be able to tell stories for hours after he’s done, and hopefully, someone will write them up so we have plenty of history to look back on.
Nanne’s Future
While we’ve discussed plenty about Nanne’s history with the state tournament, we also have to talk about what he plans to do without the tournament. Especially after he was quoted saying last season he planned to do this for a lot longer but suddenly decided to stop. He is 82 years old and going to the tournament in the usual winter conditions can be difficult. This season, however, gave him a nice reprieve from the typical snowstorm to send him off into the sunset.
He was quoted in an article by local news station Kare11 about a situation he encountered last season, “Driving home after Thursday, I had been there for 14 hours, and it was 10 (minutes) to 12 at night, and I have no coat, and it’s freezing outside, and I’m driving in a snowstorm. I hit a pothole, and I didn’t know what to do. I’ve never changed a flat. I just couldn’t get help and I just drove 12 miles on a flat tire and I say, ‘what am I doing here. I should be back home in Florida. It was 85 when I left.’ Then after I said, you know what, maybe a guest appearance will suffice.”
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It’s easy to understand why he wants to leave the tournament and only make a guest appearance. It’s a lot to do for anyone, but the older you get, the harder it is. Still, the tournament is lucky he’s willing to come back as a guest and not completely leave. He’ll get a warm welcome no matter when he decides to appear, as he is a fan favorite, myself included. It seems like he’ll just stay in his Florida home enjoying the sun rather than the freezing cold. He hasn’t exactly stated what he’ll do but it’ll likely have something to do with hockey.
Nanne Deserves to Relax
After 60 years in your chosen career, anyone would be ready for a break, and while hockey has been Nanne’s life, especially high school, it’s time for him to relax. He has earned the chance to decide when he comes back and for how long. It’ll be hard for fans not to hear his voice, and for many, it will be sad because they look forward to his iconic calls. However, they’ll get used to whoever is chosen to fill the void, but that person will have big shoes to fill.
They won’t be able to replace Nanne, but they will be able to work without him. Someone new will come along and make their own identity. Hopefully, they will be as talented as Nanne is because that will make the transition smoother, but regardless, he is one of a kind and will always represent the state tournament for years to come.