Alexandria Blizzard Hockey

Head Coach & General Manager

Brad Willner is on his fourth year with the Blizzard hockey program. Prior to Willner coming to the Blizzard, he was at St. Cloud State University for five years, where he served as an assistant coach in charge of academics, NCAA team compliance, team travel, video breakdown, while helping in recruiting and on and off ice instruction. During his time at SCSU, the Huskies won the 2001 WCHA Final Five and had 36 players earning WCHA All-Academic honors.

Before SCSU, Willner served as an assistant coach with Providence College from 1996-2000 helping them recruit two NCAA All-Americans and placing 26 players on the Hockey East Academic Honor Roll.

Willner has also coached in seven USA Hockey Select Festivals and assisted with the US Under 17 Team in Huttwil, Switzerland, which won the Gold at the Five Nations Tournament this past August.

Prior to coaching Willner, a fourth round draft choice by the New Jersey Devils in 1991 (77th pick), played professional hockey for the Albany River Rats (AHL) and Raleigh Ice Caps (ECHL) in 1995-96 before suffering a career ending injury. Willner played collegiate hockey for Lake Superior State University winning two NCAA Championships (1992, 1994) and three Central Collegiate Hockey League (CCHA) championships (1992, 1993 and 1995). He also earned Academic All-American Honors in 1995. Willner played junior hockey for the St. Paul Vulcans, which won the Gold Cup in 1991.

Brad and his wife, Alyssa were married in 2006.

Assistant Coach / Recruiter

This is Howie's third year with the Blizzard. Prior to working for the Blizzard, he spent four seasons with the MN Ice Hawks as an assistant coach and chief recruiter. While with the Ice Hawks, they won two league championships, two playoff championships and the Ice Hawks went to Nationals three seasons in a row (two of the seasons they were National Semi Finalists). While in the off-season, Howie spent two seasons coaching the Minnesota Elite 2 High School Hockey League as the head coach for Section 8 and one season as a co-head coach for the Section 8 Advanced 17's Festival.

Before coaching, Howie played college for SUNY Brockport in the SUNYAC (State University of New York Athletic Conference). At Brockport, he graduated with honors with 2 degrees, criminal justice (pre-law) and sociology. He also earned the following academic awards: SUNY Brockport All-Academic Team, SUNYAC All Academic Team, SUNYAC Commissioner’s List and SUNY Brockport Dean’s List. Howie also played Junior A hockey for the Butte Irish in the AWHL.

Sales Manager

Brad is in his second year with the Alexandria Blizzard.  Brad graduated from Bemidji State in 2007 with a bachelors degree in sports management and a minor in business administration. While in Bemidji, he was involved with the college hockey team, working with sales, marketing and merchandising.  He grew up in the Parkers Prairie area.

Contact Brad to become a sponsor of the Blizzard.  He can help you find the right packages and fit for your business. If you're interested in birthday party packages, office parties/outings, business perks...hockey is a wonderful way to have fun while the winter is...well, being "winter" outside! 

Sales and Marketing Intern

Megan is in her second year with the Blizzard. She graduated last May from the Alexandria Technical College with a major in Sales and Marketing.

Megan was married this past summer. She assists Brad Ost in Sales, Marketing,and Game Day Operations. She is also in charge of merchandise this year!

Sales &  Game Day "In crowd" Announcer

Pete is in his second year with the Alexandria Blizzard . Pete is our "In crowd" announcer.  He is very supportive of the boys on the ice and gets the fans rowdy and crazy. He's looking forward to doing the same this year. 

This is Pete's first year as a member of the sales and marketing team for the Blizzard. Pete graduated from Jefferson High School in 1998.  He's had previous experience in sales, and has also worked in broadcasting for a local radio station. He spends alot of time with his son, and also has great family support . He loves the Alexandria area and all it has to offer.

Contact Pete for sponsorship information, he'll be happy to help in any way possible.

GAME DAY OPERATIONS

This is Bruce’s first year with the Alexandria Blizzard. Bruce has over 30 years of hockey experience as a player, coach, program coordinator, and general manager and on ice official.

He graduated from the University of Minnesota Crookston with a Sales and Marketing degree and played football and hockey. He works full time for Plunkett’s Pest Control in sales and service and has a real passion for the sport of hockey.

He has lived in Alexandria for 19 years with his wife Linda. They have 2 children Brittany at Truman State University and Bryce at Colorado State University. Bruce has been active in the Alexandria Hockey Association for many years and has coached from the Mite to High School levels. Away from the rink he enjoys golf, traveling to see his kids and riding motorcycle. He has been a big fan of the Alexandria Blizzard organization since they started as a team. Go Blizzard!

Host Family Coordinator

Going into her third season as Host Family Coordinator for the Alexandria Blizzard, Dianne, along with her husband Ron and daughter Gretchen, first became involved with the Blizzard organization during the 2004 – 2005 season.

As the volunteer Host Family Coordinator, Dianne serves as a liaison between the host families and players. Some of her other duties include contacting current and potential host families for each season, working with the coaches on placement of players into homes and communicating information to host families.

For more information on hosting an Alexandria Blizzard player, please visit our Host Family Info page.

Webmaster

This is my third year volunteering for the Blizzard and my fourth year hosting a player...I can't believe it was only 4 years ago that I "discovered" hockey for the first time. After a few Blizzard games, I was hooked...whatever took me so long to fall in love with hockey?

I own a business with my husband Brad, in Alexandria. When I am not at Broadway Floral, you can find me at the hockey rink, watching the development of my 9 year old son's hockey career...or snapping photos of the Blizzard for the website. I also love to cook, so my nose is often in a cookbook or online, looking for the next "culinary creation" to try out on my players (they don't mind either!).

Voice of the Alexandria Blizzard

"Johnny Rocket" has been the PA announcer for the Alexandria Blizzard since 2005 – 2006 season. A 1988 graduate of Owatonna, where he played high school hockey. After high school, Johnny attended NDSU in Fargo, ND. While there, he began to work as a youth hockey referee. He is currently a Level 3 Referee with USA Hockey and a High School Hockey Referee with the NFHS. High School

Johnny has been in broadcasting since 1991. He worked radio in following cities: Oakes, ND, Valley City, ND, Marshalltown, IA, Washington, IA, Cedar Rapids, IA and Aberdeen, SD. He came to the Alexandria area in 2003 and is currently, he is the Program Director and mid-day personality on Good Times Oldies – Cool 94.3.

Game Day Assistant

Ryan has been a fan of the Alexandria Blizzard since they came to town. Ryan keeps himself busy greeting fans, taking tickets, assisting in set up and helping things run smoothly on game nights. In addition, he sometimes travels with the team.

Besides being probably the BIGGEST Blizzard fan, Ryan likes to "surf" the net, but most importantly, his family is number one...spending a lot of his time with his nephews & niece.