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News

Mordini Lands First NA3HL Weekly Honor

One week into the year, the Bulls already have a Bauer NA3HL Divisional Star of the Week, and it’s one of the newest faces in a North Iowa uniform. Defenseman Steven Mordini (Baraboo, Wis./Team Wisconsin) is the Central Division’s first Star of the Week for this season, dropping a goal and an assist on the Peoria Mustangs in a weekend split in Illinois. Both points came in Saturday’s 7-3 loss, but Mordini was also +1 in Sunday’s overtime come-from-behind victory.

“Steven was a dominant player for us last weekend,” says head coach Todd Sanden. “He has the ability to use his speed and hands to elude opponents and is as dynamic offensively as any defenseman we have had here. He plays an up tempo game that creates opportunities for himself and teammates.”

Connor Clemons was named the division’s 2nd Star, earning the tying and winning goal in Sunday’s victory. North Iowa has this weekend off before heading on the road to face the St. Louis Jr. Blues next Friday and Saturday.

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Bulls rebound to bounce Peoria, 4-3

PEORIA, Ill. – With less than 13 minutes left in the third period, Sunday’s Bulls-Mustangs tilt at the Owens Center looked to be headed in the same direction as Saturday’s, with North Iowa heading off the ice towing a loss. A furious comeback, including both a game-tying and game-winning tally from Connor Clemons (Savage, Minn./Prior Lake H.S.), changed the whole storyline, though, and sent North Iowa home to the Hawkeye State with a 4-3 win and a weekend split in downstate Illinois.

After posting two assists in Saturday night’s win Austin Wisely went back to work for the home team at the 14:40 mark of the first period, taking a cross-ice feed from Thomas Kolaz and ripping home a sharp-angle wrist shot for his first goal of the season. Wisely assisted on a power play tally from Zach Cox with 3:51 left in the second period, and the Mustang lead went to three goals at the 18:26 mark on Jordan Hillman’s tap-in rebound tally.

That’s when the Bulls started their charge – Mitch Parsons (Grandville, Mich./North Iowa Bulls) snapped the shutout with 12:09 left on a snap shot from just inside the right faceoff circle and Logan Miller (Menomonie, Wis./Menomonie H.S.) drawing a pair of defenders in the low slot to set up the open look. In a 41-second span, the game went from a 3-1 contest to a tie – Zach Hayes (Bartlett, Ill./Team Illinois) made his North Iowa scoring debut, deflecting in a point shot just below the crossbar at 12:48 of the period. With 6:31 left on the regulation clock, Lucas McKinnon (Mason City, Iowa/Appleton United) skated the puck into the corner to Jaden Gardner’s left before hitting Clemons on the doorstep for the game-tying one-timer tap-in.

The overtime period was a brief one, and only included one shot – Clemons found himself on a breakaway before taking a two-handed slash and earning a penalty shot. With a one-on-the-goalie shot, Clemons didn’t miss, burying the winner from the middle of the slot.

Keying the victory for the visitors was a late push on the offensive end of the ice – the shot count was tied at 16 going to the third period, with Daniel Swail (Lakeville, Minn./Colorado Thunderbirds) making only 13 saves in his first 40 minutes in a Bulls uniform. After the second intermission, though, it was all North Iowa – 18 of the final 20 shots on goal came off of Bulls sticks, with four of those 18 striking twine. Gardner ended the day with 30 saves on 34 shots. Swail finished with 15 saves in 18 opportunities for his first North Iowa Bulls victory.

With the first weekend of the regular season in the books, it’s back to the practice rink for Todd Sanden’s group, with no games on the schedule for the upcoming weekend. Next up on the schedule is a visit to the St. Louis Jr. Blues on Friday, Sept. 23 and Saturday, Sept. 24. Both games at the Affton Ice Rink in Affton, Mo. are set for 7 p.m. starts.

News

Bulls drop opener to Peoria, 7-3

GAME BOXSCORE

PEORIA, Ill. – It’s not about how you start, but about how you finish. The North Iowa Bulls aren’t exactly discussing the end of the 2016-17 season yet, with the Silver Cup playoffs a full six months away, nor will they spend much time dwelling on their season opener Saturday night. The Bulls dropped a 7-3 decision to the Peoria Mustangs at the Owens Center, opening the year with a loss for the fourth time in their six-year history. The Mustangs made the most of 26 shots at the net, riding JT Kossakowski’s 35 saves to a home win.

Peoria led virtually from the word “go,” scoring just 59 seconds into the contest. Thomas Kolaz’s low-angle wrister rebounded out in front of Zack St. John (Coon Rapids, Minn./North Iowa Bulls), where Tony Iacullo was able to swat the puck home for the opening goal of the new year. Iacullo added to his tally by elevating a fadeaway shot of his own into the back of the net just under halfway through the first period.

Braden Stewart’s goal just 1:39 into the second period set Peoria up with a 3-0 lead before Zach Cox went to work. Cox opened his scoring for the year at 7:53 of the second, and then took advantage of a rebound after an initial try by Andrej Buchko, tapping in his second goal with under three minutes left in the period. Enter Owen Larson (Edina, Minn./North Iowa Bulls) for North Iowa, who notched the season’s first goal for the defending 3HL champs – a blue-line pass from Mike Lyons (Wheaton, Ill./North Iowa Bulls) found Larson on his way into the slot, and Larson’s wrist shot beat Kossakowski to his right with just 8 seconds left in the period, cutting the Mustangs’ lead to 5-1 heading to the third.

A low wrist shot from Jack Healy to St. John’s right snuck in with under two minutes elapsed in the final period, building the lead back to five, but the Bulls pulled out a mini-rally with goals from Steven Mordini (Baraboo, Wisc./Team Wisconsin) and Marshall Barnes (Edina, Minn./North Iowa Bulls) at 4:13 and 6:08, respectively. With a 6-3 lead in hand, Austin Wisely found Buchko on the right side for a short-distance one-timer and the final goal with 4:00 left on the clock.

Barnes’s third-period tally represented the only special-teams goal of the night, as the Bulls were able to kill off all three Peoria chances in the game. North Iowa went 1-for-3 themselves on the power play, while Larson, Barnes and Mordini all added assists to go with their goals in the contest. North Iowa will go for the split Sunday afternoon back at the Owens Center, with the opening puck drop scheduled for 1:15 p.m.

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Weekend Preview: North Iowa Bulls at Peoria Mustangs

SATURDAY, SEP. 10 – 6:45 P.M., OWENS CENTER (PEORIA, ILL.)
SUNDAY, SEP. 11 – 1:15 P.M., OWENS CENTER (PEORIA, ILL.)

NORTH IOWA BULLS (0-0-0, 0 pts)
@ PEORIA MUSTANGS (0-0-0, 0 pts)

IN A NUTSHELL: The NA3HL season is off and running, and the Bulls open their 2016-17 season with a blast from their Silver Cup past.

ALL-TIME SERIES: North Iowa leads, 4-2-0 (last meeting: 2013 Silver Cup finals; Bulls won, 11-0).

 

LAST SEASON’S RECAP: Mason City, Iowa became NA3HL’s Titletown again last season as a storied group brought home the team’s third Silver Cup title and third national championship in a four-year stretch. 13 Bulls players “graduated,” or aged out of the program with almost all moving on to NCAA Division III and ACHA hockey programs for this season. Their new single-season scoring record-holder, Brett Gravelle, ended his junior career with a hat trick in a 4-1 win over the Metro Jets in last April’s Silver Cup title game.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE: The Bulls will square off against the St. Louis Jr. Blues in two weeks, renewing a rivalry that went dormant during the 2015-16 campaign. The first home weekend will pit North Iowa against the last team they faced in the regular season, the Chicago Bulldogs, on Friday, Sept. 30.

COVERAGE: All North Iowa Bulls games, home and away, are streamed live at FASTHockey.com.

 

GAME NOTES

YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND (LIKE A RECORD): The Bulls set 29 new team records last season as part of a 50-3-3 NA3HL season (plus a non-league victory against Shattuck-St. Mary’s). Among the many records set by the team last season was the single-season NA3HL goals record (Brett Gravelle, 57) and the league’s shutout, goals-against average and save-percentage record (all now held by Tommi Ahlgren).

WELCOME BACK: With 13 players leaving junior hockey after last year, the biggest question heading into this season was which players would be coming back. The answer to that question – almost everybody. The Bulls’ second-leading scorer from a year ago is back as Marshall Barnes returns – forwards Kohei Sato and Sean Mallonee are also back after tendering with NAHL teams during the previous off-season. In all, out of a possible 12 returners (including Mike Lyons, who missed the 2016 portion of the year with a knee injury), 11 are back with the team for the opening weekend.

YOU’RE HIRED: North Iowa’s opponent in this season opener made a splash late in the offseason with the hiring of NHL veteran David Karpa as its new head coach. Karpa’s NHL career spanned 12 seasons, including more than 550 games. He was part of one of the sport’s most bizarre stories of the 2015-16 season as an assistant coach for the Ontario Hockey League’s Flint Firebirds, being let go twice in the same season. After being fired a month into the season along with head coach John Gruden, a brief player walkout resulted in his and Gruden’s reinstatement. Karpa and Gruden were let go for good in mid-February, leading to a five-year OHL suspension for owner Rolf Nilssen. He replaces Tyler Rennette, who moved up to the NAHL as an assistant coach for the Springfield Jr. Blues.

MY OPPONENT’S YOUTH AND INEXPERIENCE: One of the Mustangs’ biggest storylines of the early season will be their youth – only three players on Peoria’s roster are 1996 birth-year players, who will finish their junior careers this year. Forward Alec Mickel is the only 2000 birth-year player on David Karpa’s roster, but seven players on Peoria’s opening-night roster are ‘99s, including two of the three goaltenders. On the plus side, four of the team’s top six players are back from a team that finished 32-12-3, with the second-best record in the 3HL’s Midwest Division.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Follow the North Iowa Bulls all season long through the team’s official Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram pages.

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North Iowa Bulls Schedule Released

MASON CITY, Iowa – Some new teams and the earliest home start in North Iowa Bulls history are on tap for the 2016-17 season, with the release of the NA3HL schedule this past week. 44 of the Bulls' 47 games have been announced, with the other three to be played at the NA3HL Showcase at the Schwan Super Rink in Blaine, Minn. from Dec. 16 to 18. Those games will be announced at a later date.

Among the headlines on North Iowa's schedule for this season:

– A team from North Iowa's championship past will host the Bulls for their first games of 2016-17 – the Peoria Mustangs will face the Bulls in central Illinois in a Saturday-Sunday doubleheader on Sept. 10 and 11. The teams have not met since North Iowa routed the Mustangs 11-0 to win their first Silver Cup title in 2013. Peoria will visit "The Barn" on Friday and Saturday, Mar. 10 and 11 for the final weekend of the season. The St. Louis Jr. Blues also return to North Iowa's schedule, hosting the Bulls in Affton, Mo. on Sept. 23 and 24.

– After two weeks of out-of-division play, the Bulls welcome the Chicago Bulldogs to "The Barn" for three nights, starting on Friday, Sept. 30 in the team's first-ever September home game. Last year, the Bulls went on the road for the first 10 games of their season before opening the home season on Oct. 30, their latest home opener to date.

– Two former West Division rivals return to the schedule in new forms – the Minnesota Flying Aces have moved to Willmar, Minn. and been renamed the WarHawks. The Twin City Steel are still the Steel, but are now in New Ulm, Minn., having moved in the offseason as well. The Bulls played the Steel once in New Ulm last season, and once at their regular home in White Bear Lake.

– This season's schedule features seven weekend home-and-home affairs, with one team hosting on the first night of play, and the two teams switching sites to play each other the following night. One of those will take place against New Ulm on Dec. 2 and 3, with the first of those two games marking the end of North Iowa's home schedule for the calendar year.

– The final five games of the regular season will be played at home, with the last scheduled home game set for Sunday, Mar. 12 against the La Crosse Freeze. That also ends a 24-game divisional schedule for the Bulls, with six games against each of North Iowa's four Central Division foes.

Here is the full schedule for the 2016-17 season:

Sat. 10 Sep. – 6:45 PM, North Iowa at Peoria
Sun. 11 Sep. – 1:15 PM, North Iowa at Peoria
Fri. 23 Sep. – 7:00 PM, North Iowa at St. Louis
Sat. 24 Sep. – 7:00 PM, North Iowa at St. Louis
Fri. 30 Sep. –  7:30 PM, Chicago at North Iowa
Sat. 1 Oct. – 7:30 PM Chicago at North Iowa
Sun. 2 Oct. – 3:00 PM, Chicago at North Iowa
Fri. 7 Oct. – 7:30 PM, Wisconsin at North Iowa
Sat. 8 Oct. – 7:30 PM, Wisconsin at North Iowa
Fri. 14 Oct. – 7:00 PM, North Iowa at La Crosse
Sat. 15 Oct. – 7:30 PM, La Crosse at North Iowa
Fri. 21 Oct. – 8:00 PM, North Iowa at Chicago
Sat. 22 Oct. – 5:30 PM, North Iowa at Chicago
Sun. 23 Oct. – 12:00 PM, North Iowa at Chicago
Fri. 28 Oct. – 7:30 PM, Rochester at North Iowa
Sat. 29 Oct. – 7:05 PM, North Iowa at Rochester
Fri. 4 Nov. – 7:30 PM, Willmar at North Iowa
Sat. 5 Nov. – 7:30 PM, Willmar at North Iowa
Fri. 18 Nov. – 7:30 PM, North Iowa at Granite City
Sat. 19 Nov. – 7:30 PM, North Iowa at Granite City
Sat. 26 Nov. – 7:30 PM, La Crosse at North Iowa
Sun. 27 Nov. – 3:00 PM, North Iowa at La Crosse
Fri. 2 Dec. – 7:30 PM, New Ulm at North Iowa
Sat. 3 Dec. – 7:10 PM, North Iowa at New Ulm
Sat. 10 Dec. – 7:00 PM, North Iowa at Wisconsin

Fri. 16 Dec. TO Sun. 18 Dec. – NA3HL Showcase (Games TBA)

Fri. 30 Dec. – 7:30 PM, Rochester at North Iowa
Sat. 31 Dec. – 7:05 PM, North Iowa at Rochester
Sat. 7 Jan. – 7:00 PM, North Iowa at La Crosse
Sat. 14 Jan. – 7:30 PM, Wisconsin at North Iowa
Fri. 27 Jan. – 7:30 PM, New Ulm at North Iowa
Sat. 28 Jan. – 7:10 PM, North Iowa at New Ulm
Fri. 3 Feb. – 7:30 PM, Granite City at North Iowa
Sat. 4 Feb. – 7:30 PM, Granite City at North Iowa
Fri. 10 Feb. – 7:30 PM, Rochester at North Iowa
Sat. 11 Feb. – 7:05 PM, North Iowa at Rochester
Fri. 17 Feb. – 7:10 PM, North Iowa at Willmar
Sat. 18 Feb. – 7:10 PM, North Iowa at Willmar
Thu. 23 Feb. – 7:00 PM, North Iowa at Wisconsin
Fri. 24 Feb. – 7:00 PM, North Iowa at Wisconsin
Fri. 3 Mar. – 7:30 PM, St. Louis at North Iowa
Sat. 4 Mar. – 7:30 PM, St. Louis at North Iowa
Fri. 10 Mar. – 7:30 PM, Peoria at North Iowa
Sat. 11 Mar. – 7:30 PM, Peoria at North Iowa
Sun. 12 Mar. – 5:00 PM, La Crosse at North Iowa

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Bulls select seven in NA3HL Entry Draft

FULL DRAFT RESULTS

 

MASON CITY, Iowa – The North Iowa Bulls offseason has officially hit its “next stage” following Tuesday evening’s NA3HL Draft. Seven players were chosen by the Bulls coaching staff, all of whom have impressive credentials heading into the 2016-17 season.

 

“The draft went well for us,” says Bulls head coach Todd Sanden. “Look at the kids we got – our first pick played for Omaha [in the NAPHL] and our second pick played in Kenai River [in the NAHL]. He’s the kind of forward that our fans are accustomed to. We’re excited about it.”

 

Here are the Bulls’ selections from the 2016 NA3HL Draft:

 

– ROUND 1, PICK 48: Jarett Mari (F, Omaha AAA 18U, NAPHL)

Mari scored four goals with 16 assists with Omaha AAA last year, helping them to a 23-2 record and the top spot in the NAPHL 18U standings. The Fargo native was drafted by Bloomington in the 2014 USHL Draft, and signed an NAHL tender with Amarillo before the 2015-16 season. He was also chosen as a member of last season’s NAPHL 18U All-Academic team.

 

– ROUND 2, PICK 96: Gunnar Goodmanson (F, Kenai RIver, NAHL)

Goodmanson was a key forward for the Brown Bears last season, notching seven goals and 13 points in his first full NAHL season. As a senior at Buffalo (Minn.) High School he tallied 50 points in 23 games. Goodmanson was pegged for Alaska right from the start of the 2015-16 season, landing with the Brown Bears in the sixth round of last year’s NAHL Entry Draft.

 

– ROUND 3, PICK 144: Josh Arnold (F, Casper Coyotes, WSHL)

Arnold came to the Coyotes after a two-year run at Roseville (Minn.) High School, where he scored 31 points in 49 games and was an honorable mention all-conference selection in 2014-15 as a senior. During the 2015-16 season in Casper, he notched 28 goals and 37 points in 51 games and led the Coyotes to the WSHL Mountain Division semifinals.

 

– ROUND 4, PICK 192: Davis Bunz (D, Middleton HS (Wis.))

Middleton has a family pedigree in the sport of hockey, as the son of former Wisconsin Badger Garry Bunz. The younger Bunz played four years for Middleton High School, scoring 41 goals and adding 56 assists over his prep career. He served as a team captain his senior season and enjoyed a breakout year, with 23 goals and 18 assists during the regular season. That was enough to earn him a finalist spot for the American Family Insurance/Wisconsin Hockey Coaches Association boys player of the year award. He also earned a “cup of coffee” in the USHL, playing two games during the 2014-15 season for the Sioux Falls Stampede.

 

– ROUND 5, PICK 240: Brendan Gysbers (D, Omaha AAA 18U, NAPHL)

Gysbers was the second Omaha AAA player to earn a nod from the Bulls in this year’s NA3HL Draft, joining 18U teammate Jarett Mari on the North Iowa draft board. Gysbers has spent two years in the NAPHL, skating in 2014-15 with the Madison Capitols 18U team and 2015-16 in Omaha. The Fond du Lac, Wis. native played two years at his home high school and posted 14 goals and 23 assists with the Cardinals. His 16U play with the Milwaukee Jr. Admirals in 2013-14 was enough to earn a late-round selection in the Madison Capitols’ first USHL Draft.

 

– ROUND 6, PICK 288: Zach Benson (D, Spring Lake Park HS (Minn.))

Benson was picked up by the Bulls after a successful four-year career at Spring Lake Park that included 53 points in 92 games. Under his father, Tom, Spring Lake Park reached the Minnesota Class A state tournament for the first time in 2015 and the elder Benson picked up the state’s Class A Coach of the Year award. Like Bunz, Benson also has a lineage in the sport – Tom Benson played college hockey at North Dakota in the 1980s and previously served as an assistant coach at Minnesota State-Mankato.

 

– ROUND 8, PICK 384: Chase Mickelson (D, Madison Capitols 18U AAA, NAPHL)

The final pick of the NA3HL Draft went right back to the NAPHL, as the Bulls selected their second player with 18U experience in Madison. Mickelson has played for the Capitols’ 18U AAA team for two years, totaling 13 goals and 24 assists and earning a First-Team All-NAPHL 18U slot this past year. His 21 points this past season were third among all NAPHL 18U defensemen and his 16 assists tied for the NAPHL 18U lead among all defensemen. Mickelson signed an NAHL tender with the Fairbanks Ice Dogs in January.

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Barnes Tenders With NAHL's Ice Rays

The North Iowa Bulls, proud members of the NA3HL, are excited to announce that Marshall Barnes has accepted a tender from the Corpus Christi Ice Rays of the North American Hockey League. Barnes, a '97 forward from Edina, Minn., was a prolific setup man for the Bulls. As a rookie, Barnes led all NA3HL players in assists during the 2016 regular season with 56. Three of his 13 goals during the 2015-16 season were game-winners. His 69 regular-season points were second on the Bulls roster, and he was consistent during the playoffs with six points in seven games during the 2016 Silver Cup National Championship playoff run. Barnes also played for Team Black at the 2016 NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament. 

"Marshall was one of our strongest players when he had the puck," says Bulls head coach Todd Sanden. "His ability to hold off defenders and find teammates for scoring opportunities was uncanny.  His vision and ability to wire passes kept him a staple on one our power play units all year." 

Barnes becomes the 21st North Iowa Bulls player to sign an NAHL tender, and the second to do so this week (Kohei Sato, Janesville Jets). The North Iowa Bulls thank Marshall Barnes for his dedication to our team and wish him the best in Corpus Christi as an Ice Ray.

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Sato signs NAHL tender with Janesville Jets

The North Iowa Bulls, proud members of the NA3HL, are pleased to announce that Kohei Sato has signed a tender with the Janesville Jets of the North American Hockey League. Sato, a forward from Nishitokio, Japan, was the most dominant goal scorer of the 2016 NA3HL Silver Cup National Championship Tournament in which he tallied seven goals in five games to lead the Bulls to their third Silver Cup and third national title in four years. In 64 NA3HL regular season games, Sato amassed 58 points on 29 goals and 29 assists. Seven of Sato's 22 goals in 2015-16 were game winners.

This is the second NAHL tender for Sato – he inked his first tender with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights in early June of last year, but played just three NAHL games before returning to lead the Bulls to another national title. Just last month, he used his talents in a brand-new championship venue, competing in both the 100-meter and 200-meter sprint races at the Iowa high school state track and field championships. His signing brings the number of NAHL commitments in the Bulls' five-year history to 20, and he becomes the first Bull to sign more than one NAHL tender in his career.

"The speed that Kohei brings to the game is difficult for teams to contain," says Bulls head coach Todd Sanden. "If you give him space to wind it up he will be by you in a flash. I have not coached a faster player in my career. He has worked on his ability to finish, which was evident by his leap in production in his second year with us."

Kohei Sato is the second Bulls player to sign a tender in the NAHL this year, following Sean Mallonee's signing with the Amarillo Bulls. The Jets have built quite a resume themselves in their seven-year run, reaching the Robertson Cup playoffs six times. In the 2014-15 season, they finished with 100 points in the NAHL standings and won 49 regular-season games, briefly setting a record for the best season in league history. The North Iowa Bulls wish Kohei much success with the Janesville Jets.

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Sato Lands in Iowa State Championship Track Meet

Kohei Sato has won quite a few footraces in his two-year career with the North Iowa Bulls, and his speed from one end of the rink to the other is renowned from one end of the NA3HL map to the other. It only made sense, then, that after attending Mason City’s Newman Catholic High School this past year as a senior, he’d take up sprinting…but on dry land this time.

 

Sato qualified for this week's Iowa co-ed high school state track and field meet, a meet billed as the largest and most well-attended of its kind in the nation. In front of more than 13,000 fans on Thursday, the Bulls forward finished 16th out of a preliminary field of 24 in the 100-meter dash, and ran 20th out of 24 in the 200-meter preliminaries. Unfortunately, neither finish was enough to qualify him for the Iowa state finals on Saturday.

 

“I’m coming down here as an underdog,” says Sato. “On the ice, I’m a two-time national champion, but you can’t win them all. It’s fun to be here. It’s a great atmosphere.”

 

The Nishitokio, Japan native says he didn’t run track back home, and nearly didn’t come out for the team at Newman. Sato ended up answering the call from his future Knights teammates to help them fill out a relay event and even won a conference title in the 100 two weeks ago.

 

“Newman has done so much for me,” says Sato. “All of the guys and Coach [Mike] Schutt, they’ve done so much for me. This was something I could do for them, to represent the Knights and represent Newman at state. It’s been a great ride.”

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Former Bulls Standout Florian Headed to AIC

The North Iowa Bulls, proud members of the NA3HL, are pleased to announce that former North Iowa Bulls forward Dominik Florian has made his NCAA Division I commitment to American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts. Florian, from Vlasim, Czech Republic, was part of the North Iowa Bulls' 2014 NA3HL Silver Cup championship and USA Hockey junior national runner-up team.  In 30 games during the 2013-14 campaign, including the USA Hockey junior national championship tournament, Florian recorded 14 goals and 29 assists in a Bulls uniform.  Florian turned his success with the Bulls into a tender with the Coulee Region Chill and played two years in La Crosse, scoring 90 points in 114 regular-season and playoff games. He also spent 25 games with the Austin Bruins during the 2013-14 season, scoring three points and adding seven assists.

"Dominik was a dynamic player in our group who had a shoot first mentality that lead to scoring opportunities for him and his linemates," says North Iowa head coach Todd Sanden. "He added upper end depth to an already solid group of forwards." 

AIC's program will be "under new management" next season under Eric Lang, following the retirement of 32-year coaching veteran Gary Wright. The North Iowa Bulls wish Dominik Florian the best of luck in his hockey and academic opportunities at American International College.