"17 different kinds of awesome!"

That above quote is how I responded to an e-mail that included a link to this story.

Negotiations for the naming rights dragged on for a couple of weeks. The owner of the facility had a certain figure in mind. The beer company had its own ideas.

"We asked for a 12-pack," said Dean Reder, owner of a backyard pond in Orono.

"We're going way better than that,'' said Paul Dockendorf of the Joseph Schlitz Brewery. "We're sending three cases!"

Thus, in December, Schlitz Arena was born. There was a ribbon cutting, a banner raised, doughnuts and a trumpeter playing the American and Canadian national anthems. Oh, and free beer.

Is this heaven?

No, it's Orono.

It's not really an arena, of course. It's just a pond behind Reder's house. The pond probably measures about 110 feet by 70 feet. On Saturday mornings, Reder and 20 or so of his pals, ages 27 to 50, play a little shinny. Between and after games, they partake of powdered doughnuts and beer. Which, by the way, is the official breakfast of Canada.

But now it's not just any beer. It's free beer.

How was this level of awesome attained?

One morning, Reder and a couple of his longtime hockey buddies decided to e-mail the brewery, just as a lark, to see if it would be interested in sponsoring their Saturday morning games. They asked for a 12-pack. Little did they realize that Schlitz would be more than a little interested.

"We're an old-time beer geared toward old-time hockey," Dockendorf said. "The people at the brewery just love this. These are exactly the kind of people we are trying to connect with."

At a pond hockey tournament a couple of weeks later, Schlitz sent over three more cases. The brewery planned to deliver an additional five cases to the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships over the weekend. That's not all: Reder and friends now have and shirts from Schlitz. Deliveries often are made via a mint condition 1965 El Camino that is decked out like a classic beer bottle.

The awesome -- for the awesomely challenged -- has been highlighted. The most awesome phrase in the history of writing is in bold italics.

Much more awesomeness, including a link to the Schlitz website and this:

Here's a quick beer lesson. Started in 1860, Schlitz became the most popular beer in the world by the mid-20th century. But it died in the early 1980s. First, they tampered with the recipe. Second, Stroh's bought the brewery and decided to emphasize Schlitz's sister beer, Old Milwaukee.

But in 1999, Pabst bought the company. It went back to the original recipe and is trying to capitalize on the retro craze. In Minnesota, it just recently started to try to connect with the beer-drinking masses. Reder and his buddies represent grassroots advertising. Their hockey group is the perfect target audience.

Tampering with a beer recipe? Not awesome. Emphasizing Old Mil? Even less awesome!

This may be...no. This is the most awesome story you read out of Minnesota all year. In fact, Tom Powers should win a Pulitzer for Awesome for this story and it has given me an idea for Thursday Motivation.