DULUTH, Minn. — Hockey players — and parents — can rest a little easier after the Duluth Police Department found and returned more than 30 hockey sticks stolen from the Mankato West boys team competing in the Heritage Holiday Classic last week.

Police arrested a 23-year-old man Monday on pending charges of felony theft after the Scarlets’ stick bag disappeared from the team bus sometime late Friday or early Saturday. The Duluth News Tribune generally does not identify suspects until they have been formally charged with a crime.

Public information officer Mattie Hjelseth confirmed in a news release that police met with representatives of the Mankato West team and returned the recovered items — which also included the missing duffel bag.

Scarlets coach Nate Olsen estimated the bag contained $10,000 to $12,000 worth of hockey sticks.

Late Saturday evening, police saw a man walking in the 100 block of East Third Street with a few of the items, Hjelseth said in a statement Sunday morning. The man told officers he found the items behind the Chum homeless shelter. He didn’t match the suspect’s description but was arrested on an unrelated warrant, Hjelseth said.