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in Alexandria, Minn., creating additional in-state and cross-border rivalries with the Aberdeen Wings, the Bismarck (N.D.) Bobcats and the Minot (N.D.) Minotauros, said Blizzard business manager Bryant Black.
• The Dakotas also have two teams in the Tier 1 USHL, the Sioux Falls Stampede and the Fargo Force.
• "North Dakota and South Dakota hockey is continuously expanding," Black said. "Right up I-29, that's kind of where the shift has been going."
• The Austin (Minn.) Bruins and the Coulee Region Chill (Onalaska, Wis.) round out the central division of the NAHL, a Tier II junior hockey league about to kick off its 37th season.
• Although the NCAA classifies the major junior Canadian circuits as professional, the 16- to 20-year-olds who compete in U.S. junior hockey leagues can maintain

their college eligibility as they work to earn scholarships.
• NAHL players earned more than 190 college commitments last season.
• "Hockey's unique because it's really the only sport where there's kind of this in-between step," said Blizzard assistant coach Chris Olson. "Baseball, football, basketball, all these kids are going straight to college. Even the D-III schools now pretty much want a player that has a year, if not two years of junior hockey under their belt."
• More than two dozen players will be arriving in Brookings for training camp around Labor Day, and the Blizzard are still searching for about 10 more families to house or "billet" players for this season.
• Billeting is a time-honored tradition in junior hockey but one that is probably more recognized north of the border. Each year, families in cities across the U.S. and Canada open their homes to players, receiving no more than a monthly food and housing stipend and game tickets in return.
• Black said the Blizzard players are a great group of guys who are fun to be around, and they sit down with their billet families for dinner, play Xbox with their kids and attend school events.
• "Another great thing is two, three years down the road, that family can be watching TV and they can see their billet son playing in a Gophers-vs.-North Dakota game," he said.
• The Blizzard began looking at Brookings as a potential home last June, announcing the move to the city of just over 22,000 in April. The team saw success 150 miles to the northwest with the Aberdeen Wings, a club that in 2010 quickly settled into the city of about 26,000, built a fan base and competed in the division.

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