Of the tens of thousands of fans funneling into Grand Casino Arena from across Minnesota for the boys hockey championship games on Saturday, Tim Kalinowski stood out.

The 28-year-old content creator who has over 30,000 followers on Instagram might have looked like any other hockey fan, with blonde hair flowing out of a cap and a popped collar, but others took notice.

“Can I get a photo?” a teen boy asked Kalinowski.

The interruptions persisted as Kalinowski explained exactly what brought him the 1,000 miles from Marblehead, Mass., to St. Paul for the state tournament.

“In Massachusetts, the idea of playing for your town, and also being able to be drafted, or have all those possibilities, you have to pick one or the other,” Kalinowski said. “You want to play in front of the fans and you want to play in front of the scouts? Yeah, you can’t do both there.

“I risked probably not having the furthest career I could have, because I wanted to stay at home and play with my buddies and play in front of the girls in the student section.”

Around the time he chose to stay home to play hockey his senior year of high school instead of bigger opportunities, he stumbled upon the Minnesota tournament through a photo of the massive crowd.

“I was like, ‘I need to see that in person to just take that photo.’ ”

He’s wanted to sit in the stands and experience the event ever since. But what really drew him to the tournament was the talent on display from small towns just like the one he grew up in.

“I was like, ‘Wait, wait, wait, those are public schools and that guy is going to the USHL?’ ” Kalinowski recalled. “I was so envious of the way it can be here.”

Kalinowski traveled to Minnesota for the first time for pleasure but also for business. The Massachusetts native works for media company Snapback Sports and visits college towns across the country, documenting the sports culture there: “Like the Anthony Bourdain of sports,” as Kalinowski put it.

But selling his boss on a high school game was tough. All it took was a little help from the state’s resident cake-eaters.

When Kalinowski posted a video about Edina, the comment section filled up with Minnesotans bashing the west metro team. He wanted to tell the story of the tournament through the Hornets.

“Looking back, trying to tell the story of the tournament, I would not have been able to do that, as well as I am, or feel like I am, without Edina,” Kalinowski said.

The school invited him in with open arms and he stood at the front of the student section leading chants during the quarter and semifinals.

“Now everyone knows me as the Edina guy,” Kalinowski said with a laugh.

The Minnesota-first timer might have just come off a globetrotting trip, flying from the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif., to Milan, Italy, the next morning for the Olympics, but there’s something special about a high school state hockey tournament in the Midwest.

“I’ve done every sport, I’ve seen everything,” Kalinowski said. “Hockey is where I’m so much more comfortable.”