Editor's note: This is the third in a series of articles highlighting the state's top seniors, players who declined opportunities to play elsewhere in favor of staying home and playing with their childhood buddies as they try to reach the state tournament.

The Red River Valley is home to some of the world’s most fertile farmland. 

In the heart of it, in Moorhead, they grow hockey players.

Mr. Hockey finalist and leading scorer Mason Kraft is the latest product, as much a wizard as he is a Spud. A player who creates scoring chances out of thin air and a forward who possesses a high-revving motor that propels Section 8AA top’s top-seeded and No. 2-ranked Moorhead (24-2-1) toward the state tournament.

“Extremely dynamic with the puck,” Moorhead coach Jon Ammerman said of Kraft. “He sees it so well, and thinks it so well, that he makes whoever he’s playing with better.”

If the last name sounds familiar, it should. Mason’s dad Ryan Kraft was a 1994 Mr. Hockey finalist for Moorhead and then starred at the University of Minnesota before a 12-season pro career.  

With 36 goals and 80 points through 27 games, the younger Kraft’s future seems just as bright. A Minnesota State University commit, he spent part of the fall in the USHL with Sioux Falls, but Kraft said he was always meant to be a Spud for his senior season.

“There is so much tradition here, and so much history,” he said. “Every time you get to pull that jersey over your head, you feel thankful. You want to perform so that all the people who came before you can share in that success.” 

A lot of the people who came before him are standing right there, on the other side of the glass. 

Following Ryan Kraft’s retirement from pro hockey in 2010, the family lived in the Twin Cities before returning home to Moorhead when Mason was about 13 years old. 

Matt Cullen, one of the team’s assistant coaches, has a similar story. Cullen spent 22 seasons in the NHL with over 1,500 career games, then returned to Moorhead and was generous with his time, money and energy. He helped fund the Cullen Hockey Center, completed in 2019, and dove into the association as a coach.

Ammerman is also an alum who played at St. Cloud State before returning home, and Ryan Kraft is the head coach of the girl’s hockey team.

 Along with many other families, they consider Moorhead home.

“It’s about everyone who comes back,” Kraft said of Moorhead. “Matt Cullen is back, we’ve got Arnolds, Gregoires, Cullens, Krafts … we got the whole crew working together. Everyone comes back and donates their time, money and energy. They don’t expect a pat on the back, they just put their head down and go to work to see the next group succeed.”

Aside from the elusive state championship (the Spuds are 0-for-8 in title games) Moorhead has had a Midas touch when it comes hockey. The youth association has five Bantam teams, five Peewee and three Squirt travel teams. They register about half of what many other top metro programs have in terms of players, yet Moorhead has won AA championships at both the Bantam and Pee Wee levels two out of the last three years

The number of college and NHL players Moorhead has produced is astounding. There were 26 former Spuds currently on a junior, USA hockey National Team Development Program, college or professional rosters at the end of February. It’s a number sure to increase after the state tournament.

So when given a choice between a development path through juniors, and through the Minnesota State High School League, Kraft said he has always known where he would spend his senior season.

“Moorhead is special,” Kraft said. “There isn’t a better place in the state to play. It’s so community-driven, and everyone gives their time and efforts for it to succeed.

“I came back because I wanted to be a Spud, and I’m glad I came back.”

The jersey, the heritage, the family, the friends and classmates. Once a Spud, always a Spud.

“That’s what makes Minnesota special,” Kraft said. “There isn’t another place in the country where you can play with your buddies in front of your classmates and communities.”