Apr. 12—GRAFTON, N.D. — The names of Grafton-Park River hockey stars of decades ago flow effortlessly from the mouths of the town's current hockey leaders.
Campbell. Kalbrener. Brodeur. Demers. Miller. Hills. Markusen.
"There are a lot of towns where they can't name the high school stars from 30 years before but if anyone asked about Lee Brodeur in my age group, they could all tell you he was an excellent player," said former Grafton-River player and youth hockey coach Andrew Petersen, a 2006 Grafton High School graduate. "It was almost mythical who was on the state championship teams. Growing up in Grafton, it wasn't so much about playing college hockey. We were all about Spoiler hockey."
Brodeur, a 1984 Grafton graduate, was selected No. 65 in the 1984 NHL Draft by the Montreal Canadiens — the highest drafted North Dakota prep until Fargo's Tyler Kleven in 2020 (No. 44).
Grafton has long been a hockey-crazed town. From 1963 to 1985 playing as just Grafton and 1989 to 2013 as the Grafton-Park River co-op, the Spoilers went to every North Dakota state boys hockey tournament in those spans except one (1999). The Spoilers won five state championships (1978, 1985, 1991, 2002 and 2008).
As Roseau and Warroad have built reputations as hockey-obsessed communities in Minnesota, Grafton once held that distinction in North Dakota. Like Roseau and Warroad, Grafton was a small town punching up against big-city peers.
Until it no longer did.
Since 2013, the Spoilers have been to state once (2018) and have now missed the tournament for seven straight seasons. Grafton-Park River finished 4-18 in 2024-25, with two of those wins against Mayville-Portland.
In the last decade, the Spoilers have been positioned more on the outer edges of the Eastern Dakota Conference tournament than the cusp of the state tournament, let alone knocking on the door of state titles like they once did.
It all begs the question: Can Spoiler hockey ever rise again to be among the state's elite programs?
Grafton-Park River hockey leaders say there's reason for optimism.
The resurgence starts with participation numbers.
The North Stars youth hockey program — which pulls from the towns of Grafton, Park River, Minto, Drayton, St. Thomas, Hoople, Lankin, Fordville, Adams and Edinburg — reached 174 kids this year. North Stars director Kylen Kostrzewski said that number is up about 50 from seven years ago.
In addition to the pure numbers, coaches and administrators are just as excited about the local tradition-rich hockey families returning to the sport.
"It was a culture," Kostrzewski said of what made the Spoilers successful previously. "Now we're having guys coming back into the program doing some coaching that were part of the program when it was winning. It was that hard-nosed, little-guy-going-against-the-big-guy mentality. It was instilled everywhere. Eventually, we just lost the numbers, and it was already an uphill battle. We pick 13 kids out of 27 and go play Grand Forks and its bantam program has 120. It's David and Goliath."
At the high school level, one important indicator of progress is a junior varsity team. For a few years recently, Grafton-Park River only fielded a varsity program.
This past season, the Spoilers had enough for a partial junior varsity squad but coaches foresee a full JV team in 2025-26. The North Stars expect three squirt teams — two teams for any age group of Grafton's size is considered a success — for the next few years and had 44 mites this year.
"We had guys who needed JV minutes," said Spoilers varsity head coach Joe Demers, a 31-year-old who graduated in 2012 after playing in four straight state hockey tournaments as a Grafton-Park River player. ...
