What we saw, what we'll see

It’s unusual for Havre to be without a football game on Festival Days weekend. But no football didn’t mean no excitement in the world of local sports.

Festival Days is always a busy time for sports in Havre, and the surrounding areas and there was plenty to see this past weekend. Here’s a few items that didn’t necessarily make Monday’s Hi-Line Sports Roundup.

The crowds.

Friday night’s home debut for the Montana State University-Northern volleyball team was met with a large, and excited, crowd at the Armory Gymnasium. Despite all of the Festival Days activities going on Friday night, Northern fans showed up in droves to see the Skylights play their first home match of 2014.

Especially good were the Northern students, who took to the stands to support the Skylights against No. 1-ranked Rocky Mountain College and Northern’s heated rival, Carroll College Saturday. The students were loud, boisterous and supportive of their volleyball team, and it was an excellent first home weekend in the Armory.

The crowd also showed up for the Glacier Nationals first-ever game at the Havre Ice Dome Saturday night. Again, Festival Days gives fans a lot to do, but Havre’s hockey contingent wasn’t going to miss out on the Nationals’ home debut against the Great Falls Americans.

Junior hockey is something Havre can and will support, and all it took was actually getting a franchise. Havre now has that franchise, and if Saturday night was any indication, the rest of the fall, and the long winter to come will certainly be a lot of fun inside the Havre Ice Dome.

Another big point of interest this past weekend was the weather. And for Festival Days sports, the weather couldn’t have been any better.

The annual 48-hour softball tournament enjoyed some of its best weather its seen in a long time. The days and evenings were warm, sunny and windless, and that’s always a good thing. But it’s the nights and early mornings, as the softball goes nonstop, that can be a little rough on teams some years. But this past weekend, a 4 a.m. game was no problem as temperatures didn’t drop below 50 degrees and cloudless, calm nights made for some excellent conditions to play in.

The weather was also perfect for the annual E-1 Towing Demolition Derby Saturday afternoon. Sunny skies, warm temps and no wind create good conditions for the smash ’em, crash ’em fun, and that’s exactly what fans and drivers were treated to Saturday at the Great Northern Fairgrounds.

Yes, it was one exciting weekend in Havre, even if it was a Festival Days weekend without football at Blue Pony Stadium. Even without seeing the Havre Blue Ponies and MSU-Northern Lights football teams this past weekend, we still saw plenty of sports fun.

And we’re going to see plenty more, too, because the fall is really just getting started.