Brainerd Blue Line Boosters Help Make Hockey a Score For The Whole Community

The Brainerd Blue Line Boosters held a sponsorship open house to showcase the various community sponsorship opportunities they have available. Residents from around the Brainerd Lakes Area gathered to learn what the hockey booster club is all about.

The Brainerd Blue Line Boosters just recently transitioned from a sub-committee of the hockey program to a 501 C3 non-profit organization. The group helps subsidize the costs for local Brainerd hockey teams, as hockey is one of the more expensive sports to keep intact. Even with the expenses that the sport brings, hockey tournaments that take place throughout the year generate quite a bit of revenue.

“We got 15 teams at Baja, I think, and they’ll have 15 home tournaments that will bring in eight teams, so seven teams besides the Brainerd teams, so each one of them plays four games,” said Blue Line Boosters Organization President Sam Blum. “They play here Friday and Saturday night, they spend money in our community: gas, groceries, food, alcohol, all the money that they spend, it’s a good economic stimulus for our area.”

“The community really helps us out and obviously, I try giving back as much as I can to the community because I know what they do for us, so I got to give it back to them, too,” said Brainerd Boys Hockey senior captain Christian Kadolph.

The Brainerd Blue Line Boosters also helps support the costs of the Brainerd hockey rink, which they say is one of the only hockey rinks in the state that is operated privately.