Earlier this week, news broke that Brookings will be the new location for the Alexandria (Minn.) Blizzard of the North American Hockey League, which is a junior league that is called Tier II in U.S. junior hockey. Tier I is the United States Hockey League (which has teams like the Sioux Falls Stampede, Fargo Force and commonly draws some of the best high school players in the country that are willing to forgo their last years of high school before college and the NHL. Tier II is sort of the next level, where it appears that there is a handful (1-3) guys that will be playing D-I hockey. Alexandria had a player committed to Bemidji State for 2012-13). Tier III is what sort of team will replace the Blizzard in Alexandria when the announcement becomes official next week.
The new team in town will likely be assuming the Blizzard moniker and will play at the Larson Ice Arena. (Apparently that's what a Blizzard would look like in a personified form. I'm not going to be able to even break that down any further.) According to this story from the Alexandria newspaper, the ownership group wasn't sure that they could afford to keep the team around in the city of roughly 12,000. That number is about half of Brookings' population and less than Aberdeen (S.D), Austin (Minn.), Bismarck and Minot (N.D.) -- the other four teams in the division -- by a lot. For comparison, Aberdeen has had an NAHL team for the last two seasons, is now at the top of the league in attendance and is in the process of trying to add onto their arena at the Brown County Fairgrounds. Teams in Owatonna (Pop. 25,599) and Albert Lea, Minn. (18,016), have failed in both of those towns and were bought out by Texas ownership groups, although the teams had different reasons, like running a "pay-for-play" scheme in Albert Lea. The point here is that teams come and go ALL THE TIME. This really could be a short-term deal if it doesn't work out, although if the Blizzard made it seven years in Alexandria, it can probably do the same in eastern South Dakota.
There are a ton of questions to be answered with how this team would work in Brookings. First of all, it will be important to find out why the ownership wanted to come to Brookings and what they see as a goal. Who is the target? They will need to draw college kids to come watch this but still make it attractive for families. It's a balance that I think can be accomplished but must be done delicately. If that's the case, they are going directly after the type of people that SDSU is trying to sell on men's and women's basketball and I already know that the Blizzard can beat the Jackrabbits on price. Junior hockey might not blow your socks off but it is another way to fight for the entertainment dollar and it is something cheaper to consider if both are competing on the same night.
Alcohol is served in other NAHL arenas and that will be a key selling point in getting college students to come watch. Larson is a city building and there will probably be a ton of rigamarole to get that approved but cheap beer won't hurt the rapport with students. Larson Ice Arena is a solid little rink and there's going to need to be some upgrades. Check out this link and see what Alexandria had in a nondescript building. Just like a Sioux Falls Stadium or any minor league ballpark, you need party areas and fun locations for groups and Larson doesn't have that, yet. You can pretty much count on the ownership group demanding those upgrades. The league also requires that the team has its own permanent locker room in its building, something that is small but needed.
And it doesn't end there. There's going to need to be host families and arrangements with the Brookings School District to tutor the kids. You need a radio broadcaster who knows hockey. You have to build a fan base, create excitement and sell season tickets to the 27 home games. On that note, it helps that Brookings is a rare hockey town in South Dakota.
Lots of unknowns but I'm anxious to see what this becomes.
