By the time Shawn Chambers retired from the National Hockey League in fall 2000, he and his wife, Lisa, had moved 10 times in 11 years. In his 13-year career, he played for the Minnesota North Stars, the Dallas Stars, the New Jersey Devils and other teams. Two of those Dallas and New Jersey teams won the Stanley Cup.

"We've never lived in one place longer than three years," Lisa said. "It's been exciting and an adventure, but once we had kids, we knew we wanted to put down roots." Even the family's beloved chow chow, Misha, has moved with the family to every hockey hometown.

Shawn, a Detroit-area native, and Lisa, who grew up in the Twin Cities, met through a mutual friend when she was a student at the University of Minnesota and he played for the North Stars. 

When Shawn retired, the couple could finally decide where they wanted to make their home. Shawn and Lisa spread out a map of the United States and pondered their options. Shawn initially liked the idea of living in Arizona or Florida and being close to many year-round golf courses. Lisa thought about the Colorado mountains. But after careful consideration, the couple decided to build a home on the Whitefish chain of lakes in northern Minnesota.

"We literally looked at the entire map and considered where we wanted to raise our kids and where we could be close to other family members," Lisa said. "That's our number one priority - even though Shawn really would golf 12 months a year, every day, if he could," she said with a laugh.

The couple always knew their destination would be a lake home. "This just felt right. We love the area," Lisa said of their new lake home five miles from Crosslake.

The Chambers liked that the Crosslake area provides a great place for raising their three children, Cody, 11,Connor, 8,and Cortney, 5. Their new home is near Lisa's family and Shawn still has a choice of about a half-dozen local golf courses. By the time snow covers the links, Shawn makes a lighted, near- regulation-size hockey rink on the frozen lake. He also coaches his sons' hockey teams and the family has started snowmobiling, too.

"Having your own ice rink on the lake - that in itself is a neat lifestyle for kids," Lisa said. "You can't do that in a suburb, or be able to fish off your dock. It adds another dimension to childhood."

During Shawn's hockey career, knowing that every move to a new city likely could be repeated, Lisa became skilled at streamlining their belongings. Some items just remained in boxes. Finally being able to take things out of boxes and display or use them was long overdue and appreciated.

"We set up the kids' beds and were relieved that we'd never have to do this again," Lisa said. "It was an odd feeling, but it felt so good. We knew that 'this was it.'"

Lisa has many happy memories of spending time on the Whitefish chain throughout her childhood. Her parents and aunts and uncles still own properties on the chain. In fact, family members have owned property there for 60 years. Her grandfather bought the lakeside acreage "for a song" in the 1940s. "He bought it with the intent of keeping the family together," Lisa said. Lisa's father and his three siblings eventually divided the property,and each of the four families has its own cabin today.

"I remember swimming in the lake with my cousins, jumping off a raft, playing kick the can, walking to the candy store. Those are great memories. We do the same things now that were so important to me,like biking to the park." The children also love bonfires, fishing, and camping on a nearby island.

The family cabin of her youth is nothing like the custom-designed, year-round home in which Lisa now lives. In contrast, Lisa fondly remembers the small cabin with the curtained door, coolers serving as a refrigerator and kids zipped up in sleeping bags on the floor at night. "If it was windy off the lake, it was breezy inside, too," she recalled. "It even moved the curtains. It was definitely a seasonal cabin."

Shawn didn't grow up with a family lake cabin but this is not his first Minnesota lakeside experience. He and Lisa built a smaller lake home on the chain - on Daggett Lake - 10 years ago to be near family. It served as a home base during his constant hockey travels. "That home was so cozy," Lisa said. "We loved it there. We wanted to be there every spring."

The Chambers' new home technically is not a full log home but its construction is superior to many full log homes. Instead of one and one-half inch exterior logs, it uses D-style pine siding, featuring logs six to eight inches thick for that "heavy log look," as described by Paul Maki of NOR-SON, Inc.,the home's designer and builder. "You pay a premium for that but you get a good- performing house that is very stable and has full insulation," Maki said. "It certainly has the look of a log home."

Railings and corner boards are white cedar,as are the logs used on 60 to 70 percent of the home's interior walls. One huge log was split and made into a bar top in a pub area in the home's lower level.

The home was hand framed with 2-by-6 construction. The main floor is just over 2,800 square feet, including a 912-square-foot garage. The upper level has 837 square feet and the lower level, which includes a media room, is 2,001 square feet.

Wood flooring used in the dining room, kitchen, hallways, great room and breakfast room is Brazilian walnut. The kitchen cabinets are made from knotty alderwood which provides a rustic look. "It has a nice grain pattern," Maki said, "similar to cherry." The custom front door is also made from alderwood. 

Lisa's favorite part of their home is the great room - large and open but warm, centrally located with a beautiful view of the lake. "The log work is amazing," she said, as is the beautiful stone fireplace. "We always end up gathering here," she said. During the first Thanksgiving in their new home, the room easily accommodated about 26 family members.

Maki also enjoyed designing the octagonal-shaped screen porch. "A screen porch is essential for lake homes," he said. "Many people end up enclosing them but this house has a full, real screen porch."

The home is set back 75 feet from a bay and 100 to 125 feet from the main lake, with part of the lot wooded. The location provides the family with both privacy and fantastic lake views. Every room except for the laundry room and mudroom has a view of the lake. Another important consideration was designing the home to be functional today and when their children are teenagers.

"After moving so many times ,it did take a while for this to feel like home," Lisa said. "The winters are long, but the location is beautiful, the nearby towns are quaint and charming, we're happy with the schools and we're close to my family. We're just two and one-half hours from the Twin Cities. We've made friends here; the kids have made friends."

"We need to be selfless and consider whether our kids are poised to have a good life. It just feels right."

By Barb Umberger