Thom Brigl, 14 year owner of the defending North American Hockey League Bismarck Bobcats hockey team, stood in front a group parents at Dakotah Ice Center last Saturday and opened his speech to the parents with a simple statement; it is true that the open tryouts the parent’s son had just skated was a money maker for the Bobcats.

But he went on to say that the tryouts are real.  The Bobcats need to find 12-15 players by next September to fill their roster and they find at least 2-4 players every year through these tryouts that they knew absolutely “nothing” about.  Sometimes, they couldn’t even spell the player’s name.

Thom went on.  Players continue to improve after midgets and high school and playing junior hockey gives players, especially late developers, a shot at college hockey. He went on to emphasize the absolutely “nothing” by stating the Bobcats were aware of the players but had no preconceived notion of their on ice play.  The players were starting with a clean sheet.  Former Bobcat players like Charlie Mosey/Burnsville MN and Eric Kattelus/Traverse City MI went on to play Division I hockey.  The Bobcats had no notion of their play, they tried out, and they made the Bobcats.

Mosey is currently playing college hockey at Dartmouth after playing the 2010-2011 season for the Bobcats.  After playing a year for the Bobcats, Kattelus played four years at Michigan Tech in the WCHA and has played two years of professional hockey since graduating (his 2012-2013 season was split between Kalamazoo Wings and the Chicago Wolves).

This year, the Bobcats have 12-15 potential roster spots to fill.  Their season usually opens with a three game set played at the North American Hockey Showcase held every September at the Super Rink in Blaine.  All 24 or so NAHL teams play their first three regular season games at 8 sheet Super Rink arena.  They are joined by teams from Minnesota’s Elite League, the North American Prospects League and top AAA clubs from the Tier I High Performance League (Honeybaked, Little Caesars, etc).

The real audience at the Super Rink showcase is the 200 or more scouts that come from all over and from all levels to watch the teams play.
Minnesota has two new NAHL entries this year.  The Minnesota Magicians and the Minnesota Wilderness will play in the NAHL this year and will open their NAHL seasons at the Super Rink.

The Bobcats’ key rivals are Minot Minotauros and Aberdeen Wings.  All three Dakota teams play to capacity, loud, and raucous crowds.  The Bobcats have averaged around 1200 per game for the last six years in an arena that holds around 1200 people.  The Aberdeen Wings led the NAHL Central Division in attendance with slightly over 1200 per game.

Fairbanks AL Ice Dogs and Corpus Christi TX Ice Rays lead in attendance; each drawing over 3000 people per game.  This season’s Minnesota Magicians entry hopes to fill Richfield’s 1800 seat arena.

The Bobcat’s tryout turnout was good enough to field six teams (totaling around 100 potential Bobcat to be players).  Each team skated three games with top players playing in a Sunday morning All-Star game.

Thom went on to say that NAHL is Tier II Junior Hockey and the United States Hockey League is Tier I Junior Hockey.  The difference is Tier II players have to pay for their skates and housing.  Thom pointed out that while most of the USHL players have committed to play for some college team, NAHL players are usually not committed.  As a result, the NAHL games draw more scouting attention.

Players are not paid in the NAHL and players are often billeted with families in North Dakota.  The Bobcats have done so for years.  The Bobcasts had brought a set of Bismarck parents that do billeting of players to the Dakotah Ice Center for parents to meet.  Those Bismarck parents had been billeting Bobcats for 13 years.

Bobcats play to win.  That was said more than once Saturday.  They hate to have players on their roster who end up in the stands watching games.  It can happen, but the team works to avoid that.  Because they play to win, they have been a winning team in the NAHL.  The Bobcats won the NAHL championship three years ago.  Last season, they came within one goal of making the championship game.  The one goal was the pool tie breaker in the championship tourney.

Thom emphasized that if one of the parents’ son makes the team, he will be a changed player when they see him at Christmas time.  They run a tough physical regimen putting new players through drills that harden him physically.  And school still matters; players who fail to go to school will be dropped by the team.  It is a league rule.  One Bobcat player had a great season, got a scholarship offer to a WCHA college and didn’t have the grades.  It happens.

Players at the tryout can be tendered or drafted.  The NAHL draft this year is being held June 4.  The number of players each team is able to draft varies based on that team’s current roster (protected list).  Each team can have up to 30 players on their protected list as of midnight of June 3.  If a team’s roster has 15 veterans and 8 tenders signed as of midnight of June 3 (23 total), that team is allowed seven (7) draft picks.

Tryouts for NAHL teams will continue to happen throughout the summer in Minnesota (check the NAHL web site for schedules).  After the June 4 NAHL draft the teams continue to search.  Rosters are capped at 30 players, but that includes tenders and draftees that do not always join the team.  By early September, the Bobcats’ roster and all NAHL teams’ rosters have to be set; first to 25 players and then 23 players shortly after.

Thom concluded his remarks Saturday by describing the Bobcats as a “salt of the earth” organization.  His Saturday discussion to the parents was straight forward and frank.  From the way he spoke to the parents and the way he spoke about his team, YHH does not doubt him for one moment.

It is a “salt of the earth” organization and it is clear Thom tells it that way and wants it that way.

related stories on this site:

http://www.youthhockeyhub.com/texas-beats-fresno-ca-6-3-in-nahl-hockey-at-the-schwans-super-rink/

http://www.youthhockeyhub.com/topeka-beats-coulee-4-1-in-nahl-action-at-the-schwan-super-rink/

http://www.youthhockeyhub.com/janesville-beats-austin-saturday-in-nahl-action/

http://www.youthhockeyhub.com/what-the-scouts-say/