The Albert Lea Thunder will begin play in September

The forecast called for thunder Wednesday at the City Arena.

Officials from the North American Hockey League announced the arrival of the Albert Lea Thunder, a Tier II NAHL Junior A hockey league team.

In a span of eight days team owner Barry Soskin laid the plans for adding a NAHL franchise to Albert Lea.

After speaking with Bob Furland, facility manager of the Albert Lea Parks and Recreation Department, Jay Hutchison, director of the Parks and Recreation Department and meeting with the Albert Lea City Council, city officials approved a lease agreement.

The City Council approved a lease agreement March 24, but details of the lease have not been disclosed. The league reached agreement Friday with Soskin.

“From something that started as an idle thought we wound up working on a fast pace from my meetings with Bob to Jay to taking it to the city council and having them vote on it a week later,” Soskin said. “This project started out taking about eight days and we’ve waited the last three weeks for the league and all the paperwork to get it back together and through there.”

Albert Lea became a possible franchise site after hosting a number of tryouts over the last eight years for the North Iowa Outlaws club based in Mason City, Iowa.

“We’ve always been working on getting a team,” Furland said. “We finally got it going.”

Soskin has owned several hockey franchises in various leagues since 1990 and owns two at lower levels now.

“This is a level of play that everybody here is going to be very excited, very happy and very proud to have,” Soskin said. “We will have a team that is not only exciting on the ice from a style of play, but that has creativity as well as some finesse and physicalness.”

The league caters to high school players looking to make the jump to college hockey.

“Our mission statement is simple,” Soskin said. “We want to move kids up to Division I hockey.”

Soskin will serve as president and general manager of the organization and Jim Perkins will focus on the players and scouting as the director of hockey operations.

The Thunder will hold five tryouts beginning with its first June 14 through June 16 at the City Arena.

The league draft is scheduled for May 20 and the 58-game regular season begins in September.

The Thunder will begin play in September in the Central Division against the North Iowa Outlaws, based out of Mason City, Bismarck Bobcats, Alexandria Blizzard, Southern Minnesota Express, of Owatonna, and Springfield Blues.