On February 28th, senior Bauer Neudecker traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska beginning his post-high school hockey career by playing for the Fairbanks Ice Dogs.

Neudecker said after communicating with the team since junior year, he decided at the beginning of this year to play for the Alaskan team.

“In the fall I was able to sign a paper that said that if I was going to play in this certain league that I would be playing for this Alaska team. The team started talking to me when I was a junior in high school, and then throughout the summer and fall we kept talking,” Neudecker said.

Boys’ hockey head coach Colin Hohman said Neudecker success is a result of his commitment to improving.

“He has worked extremely hard, going back a number of years now, to consistently try to improve and really if you work hard at stuff you get additional opportunities,” Hohman said.

Neudecker said playing in Fairbanks is a completely different experience than high school hockey and he enjoys the crowd and competition.

“The crowd (in Fairbanks) is amazing and they get over 2,000 fans a game so it’s a super cool experience to be playing with such a big crowd, and with and against such great players. It’s really fun,” Neudecker said.

Hohman said Neudecker’s success in Minnesota high school hockey at the varsity level opened doors for his future athletic career.

“High school hockey in Minnesota, it’s at a really competitive level and he had the opportunity to play on the varsity team for four years and by also working hard away from the rink and getting better that allowed him to excel. When you excel at the varsity level in Minnesota a lot of kids then will find themselves with opportunities to play at the next level,” Hohman said.

According to Neudecker, the Ice Dogs’ last regular season game is April 1st but when he returns to Minnesota depends on their success in the playoffs.

“Our last regular season game is April 1st, and if we make the playoffs we’ll keep going from there. Until we lose in playoffs, or if we make the playoffs, and then I’ll be home right after that,” Neudecker said. “As a team we’re doing pretty good right now, right now we’re in the playoffs and we’re doing pretty well.”

Neudecker said he hopes more opportunities will present themselves in the future after his time in Alaska.

“I’m hoping through this month or month and a half of being here that I’d hope to get some calls, looking into it and making some decisions from there, kind of have to see how this month goes but that’s my goal,” Neudecker said.