Hockey: Alaskan team to call Breezy Point home

By Jeremy Millsop

October 16, 2020 at 1:13 PM

The Kenai River Brown Bears, members of the North American Hockey League, confirmed that they will be playing home games at the Breezy Point Sports Center for the first half of this season.

“With travel restrictions, travel protocols, COVID testing, etc, we are faced with looking at everything through a wide lens,” said Chris Hedlund, General Manager of the Brown Bears. “This has led us to an agreement to play home games in the Brainerd Lakes for the first part of our schedule. The Breezy Point Sports Center provides us an opportunity to continue our season plans. The area and facilities will work well for our players and staff.”

The Kenai team features some future Division I players.

“We are excited to bring the North American Hockey League to the area,” Hedlund said. “We are following up on a great season, where we were 27-19-6 (third place in the Midwest division). This will be a great opportunity to see players that are future Division I talent.”

Last season, the Brown Bears had five Division I commitments and 13 total NCAA commitments. The NAHL is Tier II hockey and continues to have over 350 NCAA college commitments each season.

Pre-sales on tickets will be available on the www.krbbears.com. The team is looking for volunteers to help with game-day staffing (clock, penalty box, goal judge, etc.). Contact Hedlund at chedlund@krbbears.com. If the team remains in Minnesota after Christmas break, they will be looking for billet families in the area.

The Breezy Point North Stars, a Tier III team that had played in recent years, will not be back this season.

Home games for the Brown Bears at Breezy Point include: