Labor Day is behind us and school is in session. That could only mean one thing: It’s almost hockey season. Why are Minnesotans so crazy about our beloved sport?

Here are 25 reasons why we lace ‘em up every year:

1. We play inside and outside.
2. The sounds of the game – skates cutting the ice, pucks booming off the goalie’s pads, a ringing crossbar, the buzzer, tape-to-tape passes.
3. Community-based programs. We can play in our cities, for our schools, with our friends.
4. To dream about one day playing in the high school state tournament at Xcel Energy Center.
5. The locker room.
6. To represent our country. When the U.S. men won Olympic gold in 1960 and 1980, both teams were made up mostly of Minnesotans.
7. The Minnesota Wild.
8. We take our state tournaments seriously – at all levels.
9. We love college hockey. Last year, 828 men and women from the State of Minnesota played NCAA hockey, the most from any state in the nation once again.
10. Teammates become lifelong friends.
11. Hockey lingo. What other sport uses words like “Genos,” “Apples,” “Sauce,” and “Beauty”?
12. Pre-game routines and all of the superstitions that go with them.
13. There’s a place for everyone to play, no matter how old or how skilled.
14. The Miracle on Ice.
15. The Gopher women’s hockey team has won 49-consecutive games, including back-to-back NCAA championships – and they spend countless hours in the community teaching young girls how to play.
16. One-timers and saucer passes.
17. Killing off a 5-on-3 power-play late in the game to preserve a one-goal lead.
18. Skating over to congratulate your goalie on a great game or to console them after a loss.
19. Taking pride in an assist just as much as a goal.
20. Backhand, top shelf, where grandma keeps the peanut butter.
21. To Minnesotans, travel hockey doesn’t mean getting on an airplane. It means going down the street for practice or across town for a game.
22. Neal Broten, John Mayasich, David Backes, Kyle Rau, Larry Olimb, Mark Parrish, Lou Nanne, Phil Housley, Shjon Podein, Dave Christian, Reed Larson, Mike Ramsey, Matt Cullen, Blake Wheeler, Zach Parise and the laundry list of current and former household names that hail from Minnesota. Heritage and tradition that are passed down to generation to generation.
23. The postgame handshake.
24. Stepping onto a clean sheet of ice.
25. We play for the name on the front of the jersey, not the back.

Why do you play hockey? Tell us on Facebook or Tweet us at @MinnHockey.