US Olympic hockey history has been given an outsized boost from a tiny, proud Minnesota town

The pursuit of a gold medal that has eluded the U.S. men's hockey team since the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980 appears to be on sound footing.

The return of the NHL players after their absence from the last two Winter Games ought to provide a significant boost, but the inclusion of one of player in particular checks a unique box.

Brock Nelson, the 34-year-old center for the Colorado Avalanche and first-time Olympian, hails from Warroad, Minnesota. He is the eighth Olympic hockey player native to the tiny lakeside town a few miles from the Canadian border that has supplied players for both of the previous men's teams to win gold.

Nelson's grandfather, Bill Christian, and great uncle, Roger Christian, were first-line forwards on the 1960 squad that beat the Soviet Union and Canada to take the title in Squaw Valley, California. Nelson's uncle, Dave Christian, led the famed 1980 team in assists on the way to the improbable semifinal victory over the Soviet Union and gold medal win over Finland in Lake Placid, New York.

“It’s hard to explain Warroad, just the environment there. You just grow up playing hockey. Hockey is a way of life," Nelson recalled before a recent Avalanche game. “Thinking back to my early memories of the game, it’s just growing up with the same guys and playing outside on the river at a buddy’s house or my grandparents' house.”

Living in a harsh winter climate with fewer than 2,000 people will naturally steer a youngster toward the ice. It's all over town, of course.

From the mouth of Lake of the Woods, the Warroad River snakes through the middle of the city limits, a few blocks from the headquarters of Marvin Windows and Doors, the employer as synonymous with the town as the sport of hockey. The river is regularly groomed for skating for miles by a network of volunteers. If the outdoor conditions are unfavorable, chances are someone around will have a key to one of the two indoor rinks.

“It’s pretty cold up there, so not a whole lot going on. I feel like it’s hunt, fish or hockey. You get involved in it early and have that camaraderie with the group, the families,” Nelson said. "It holds a special place in my heart. I feel like hockey’s life up there, and everyone’s kind of involved in some capacity.”

Another one of Nelson's great uncles, Gord Christian, played on the Olympic team in 1956. Bill Christian and Roger Christian also were on the 1964 team. They started the Christian Brothers hockey stick manufacturing business after that, an equipment line that provided jobs for dozens of aspiring players in the area over five decades until it was eventually bought by a Canadian company.

“Growing up, we all worked for Brock's grandpa,” said David Marvin, who also had Bill Christian as his bantam level coach as a middle-schooler and is now the girls hockey coach for Warroad High School. “They were our neighbors and our friends. We didn’t need NHL idols or people to look up to. We had them here, and we continue to have them here, and I think that's what sets Warroad apart.”

Marvin's niece, Gigi Marvin, won a gold medal with the U.S. women's team in 2018 and played in three Olympics. She recently retired from the Professional Women's Hockey League.

Her high school classmate, T.J. Oshie, had a 16-year career in the NHL, but he was probably best known for his four shootout goals in six attempts to beat host Russia in the 2014 Winter Games. The U.S. team took fourth place that year, making him the only Warroad native who didn't leave the Olympics with a medal. Gord Christian (1956) and Henry Boucha (1972) brought silvers back to town.

There's a reason Warroad has branded itself as Hockeytown USA, even though the title originated in Detroit.

Including the current squads, Minnesota has supplied the Olympic men's teams with 130 different players to factor in multiple selections since the first U.S. entry in the Winter Games in 1920, according to an Associated Press review of the all-time Team USA rosters. The women's competition began in 1998, and Minnesota has produced 15 players for that program.

For a place with such a miniscule slice of the population, Warroad has sure provided an outsized boost. The next town over, Roseau, can't be forgotten, either. Including Neal Broten from the 1980 squad, Roseau has supplied the men's teams with seven Olympians. That means 15 players coming from within a 25-mile radius of a region about a six-hour drive from the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area.

Being so close to Canada, the people of Warroad have plenty of friends across the border. When the Olympics or any international competition is ongoing, the banter and needling will kick in amongst the fans of the two rival squads. Regardless of rooting interest, an area with so many rink rats makes Olympic hockey appointment viewing.

One of David Marvin's assistant coaches is Blayke Nelson, the younger brother of Brock Nelson. He has been closely examining schedules for months, with the Warroad girls aiming for the state tournament on the same weekend as the men's medal games in Milan.

“Wouldn't it be cool if Brock won a gold medal in the morning and we won a state championship in the afternoon? You dream about that scenario,” David Marvin said. “What a wonderful story it is for Brock. This has been a goal of his for a long time, to represent the U.S. in the Olympics. It's going to be really special for their family. I just marvel at genetics sometimes."

AP Sports Writer Pat Graham contributed from Denver.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

FILE - This Sept. 16, 2009 photo shows the outside of Marvin Windows and Doors manufacturing in Warroad, Minn. (Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP, File)

FILE - Gigi Marvin, a senior center at Warroad High School, poses for a photo Dec. 27, 2004, at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis, where she plans to play hockey next year with the University of Minnesota. (Chris Polydoroff/Pioneer Press via AP, File)

FILE - Warroad's Brock Nelson celebrated his first-period goal against Breck during the semifinals of the Class A State boys hockey tournament on Friday, March 12, 2010, in St. Paul, Minn. (Bruce Bisping/Star Tribune via AP, File)

FILE - U .S. Olympic ice hockey forwards Roger Christian, left, and Bill Christian pose Jan. 6, 1960, at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. (AP Photo/John Rooney, File)

FILE - Gigi Marvin, of Warroad, Minn., waves as she is introduced as a member of the 2010 U.S. Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team in Bloomington, Minn., Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009. (Bruce Bisping/Star Tribune via AP)

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — A former guitarist for Grammy-winning Baltimore hardcore band Turnstile has been charged with attempted murder after authorities say he chased down and struck a former bandmate's father with his car, badly injuring him.

Montgomery County police officers responding to a Sunday report about a pedestrian being struck in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Silver Spring found William Yates, the 79-year-old father of lead singer Brendan Yates, injured in a front yard, according to charging documents.

Yates' family said guitarist Brady Ebert, a neighbor who parted ways with the band several years ago, had struck him with a car, police wrote. Yates’ daughter, Erin Gerber, told authorities that she and her husband were getting their kids out of their car when Ebert drove up honking at them and yelling obscenities, then drove into her father.

In video footage obtained from a neighbor, Ebert could be seen driving a gold Buick LeSabre and swerving toward William Yates but missing him, according to the charging documents. Yates then threw a rock at Ebert’s vehicle and Gerber dragged her 3-year-old son onto the lawn to avoid being hit. Ebert then turned sharply into Yates' driveway and struck him as he was trying to run away, investigators wrote. Ebert finally drove across the lawn and left.

Yates told a detective that as he was injured on the ground, Ebert returned and yelled that he “deserved it” before driving off again, according to charging documents.

Yates said Ebert used to be in a band with his son and had been causing problems for his family since being kicked out. He said Ebert had been taunting them for long time, but that his behavior had been escalating.

Ebert, 33, was arrested Tuesday and charged with attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault, court records show.

During a bond hearing Thursday in which he appeared via video, Ebert called William Yates a “maniac” who threw a rock at him asked the judge to watch the surveillance footage, saying it would “contradict” the authorities' narrative of what happened, The Baltimore Banner reported.

But prosecutor Dominic Plantamura said the footage shows it was a “clearly targeted attack” and that Yates is lucky he wasn't injured more seriously.

Ebert's lawyer, John Costello, acknowledged Ebert’s contentious history with his former bandmate, but said, “That does not, in this instance, warrant extra detention.” Costello’s office declined to comment to The Associated Press.

The judge ordered Ebert held without bond.

According to Plantamura, William Yates was injured so badly that a bone stuck out of one leg.

In a statement, Turnstile said it cut ties with Ebert in 2022, “in response to a consistent pattern of harmful behavior." It said a boundary had to be set after he began threatening violence. While Ebert’s “baseless tirades” continued in public since then, the band said it didn’t address them to protect his privacy. Threats escalated in recent months and then there was a physical attack on Brendan Yates’ father this week, the band wrote.

“We are grateful that Mr. Yates survived, has successfully undergone surgery, and we’re hoping for the best possible outcome in his recovery,” the band said. “We have no language left for Brady.”

Turnstile were underground stalwarts until their 2021 album “Glow On” launched them into mainstream consciousness. They cemented their status this year by winning Grammys for Best Rock Album and Best Metal Performance.

FILE - Turnstile's guitarist Brady Ebert performs at the Coachella Music & Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club, Friday, April 19, 2019, in Indio, Calif. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)