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Submitted (Valley City) Local kids participate in AAA hockey tourneys.
Owen Struble, Gavin Gerhardt and Andrew Tangen were selected to be part of the inaugural season of 2005 Dakota Thunder based out of Grand Forks, ND. Dakota Thunder is made up of 14 kids from surround areas of Valley City, Mayville, Devils Lake, West Fargo, Fargo, and Grafton. They participated in 8 practices together and two tournaments. Their first tournament was April 3-5 in Grand Forks , ND in the Jr. Sioux Openers. This was a 2004 tournament, which provided a challenge for the Dakota Thunder, because it was a year up age level participation. The Team took 2nd place after being defeated twice by the tourney champions, The Jr. Sioux based out of Grand Forks.
In their second tournament, the Dakota Thunder played the Mt. Dew Blast in St. Cloud, MN, a 2005 division with only 11 players they won to become 05 Champions.
Pictured are Valley City players left to right: Andrew Tangen, Gavin Gerhardt and Owen Struble.
Dakota Thunder team from Mt. Dew Blast Tournament in St. Cloud, MN after winning championship game.