Shortly after promoting Ben Johnson to the role of head coach/GM, the Wilderness has completed its NA3HL coaching staff by adding Patricia (Paddie) Elsmore-Sautter as assistant coach.

Elsmore-Sautter is a native of Switzerland who first came to Minnesota when she was recruited to play for Minnesota-Duluth. Elsmore-Sautter had a highly decorated playing career which includes being a goaltender on UMD’s national championship teams in 2002 and 2003.

After completing her career with the Bulldogs, Elsmore-Sautter went on to represent her home country on the world’s biggest athletic stage – the Olympic games. She was between the pipes for three games for Team Switzerland at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

Elsmore-Sautter was also part of seven Switzerland squads that participated in World Championship tournaments.

With this hiring, the Wilderness breaks a NA3HL glass ceiling. Elsmore-Sautter becomes the first woman to be a part of a NA3HL coaching staff since it came under the umbrella of the North American Hockey League in 2010.

This will be Elsmore-Sautter’s first time coaching at the junior level. By being hired by the Wilderness, she has resigned her position as head coach of the Rock Ridge High School girls team, where she was about to begin her second season.

Time spent at Rock Ridge is one thing both Wilderness coaches have in common. Johnson last season concluded a three-year stint as head coach of the Wolverines boys team.

Prior to coaching at Rock Ridge, Elsmore-Sautter spent five years on the staff for St. Scholastica’s women’s program. She also served as either a goaltending or assistant coach at Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, Duluth Marshall and Roseau High School.

Elsmore-Sautter’s first time behind the Wilderness bench will be Friday night, when Minnesota hosts Alexandria at the Eveleth Hippodrome at 7:05 p.m.

After only eight games behind the bench as assistant coach with the Minnesota Wilderness, Ben Johnson today was promoted.

Johnson is now the new head coach and general manager of the NA3HL Wilderness. Johnson, a Duluth native, takes over for Zach Stepan who today was named the new head coach of the Wilderness’ NAHL franchise.

This season is Johnson’s first for coaching junior hockey. The 45-year-old Johnson previously spent six seasons leading teams at the high school level, three with Ely High School and three with Rock Ridge High School. Johnson was Rock Ridge’s head coach through the 2023-24 season where the team finished with a 20-6-1 record.

The Wilderness will announce Johnson’s assistant coach at a later date.

Johnson’s first game as Wilderness head coach will be Oct. 18 when the team hosts Alexandria. Puck drop at the Hippodrome is set for 7:05 p.m.

Wilderness head coach/general manager Zach Stepan has added two individuals with local ties to his staff.

Ben Johnson and Jonah Williams have been hired to help Stepan as the team prepares to embark on its first season in the NA3HL.

The Duluth native Johnson has been named an assistant coach. For the last three seasons, Johnson was varsity head hockey coach of Rock Ridge High School, and previously was the head coach at Ely High School.

In 2023-24, Johnson guided Rock Ridge to a 20-6-1 record.

During his playing career, Johnson won a state championship with Duluth East High School in 1995 and went on to play four seasons of junior hockey in the USHL and WHL.

Williams, from Hermantown, will fill the role of assistant GM. Williams has been on staff for a variety of junior and AAA programs over the past six seasons. Last season, he was director of player personnel with the Boston Jr. Terriers of the EHL. Williams has also served as a scout for the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL, and an assistant coach with the Wausau RiverWolves of the NA3HL. In his third season scouting for Youngstown, the Phantoms claimed a Clark Cup championship.

Williams’ first job in junior hockey was with the NAHL’s Chippewa Steel where he spent 2018-19 as assistant director of hockey operations and 2019-20 as a scout.

As a player, Williams skated single seasons for Hermantown and Denfeld High Schools, and one season of 18U hockey in Maine with Bridgton Academy.

Williams’ expertise will not be restricted to just the NA3HL Wilderness. Williams will also apply his scouting talents to the NAHL squad and will be leading the Wilderness 18U and 16U Fall and Spring teams.

The NA3HL Wilderness begins its season on Sept. 13. Its home-opener at the Eveleth Hippodrome is set for Oct. 12.

The new Minnesota Wilderness NA3HL squad will open its historic first regular season on Sept. 13.

The league announced its 2024-25 schedule this week and has the Wilderness playing its first game in Mason City, IA. The Wilderness will take on the Mason City Toros in what will be the first of seven straight road games to start the season.

Fans will have to wait until Oct. 12 before being able to see the squad in its home arena. Mason City will again be the opponent when the NA3 Wilderness plays its inaugural game at the Eveleth Hippodrome.

The schedule includes all games minus those that will be played at the annual NA3HL Showcase tournament in Blaine, MN. The Wilderness will be playing three additional games at the Showcase, which will be held in December. Overall, the Wilderness will play 47 regular season contests with 22 at the Hippodrome.

Other highlights in this season’s schedule include a Thanksgiving Eve home game. The Wilderness are scheduled to host Mason City on Wednesday, Nov. 27.

The Wilderness will also play in Eveleth on New Year’s Eve. Minnesota will complete the 2024 portion of its schedule against the Willmar Warhawks.

The final regular season home game is set for March 1 vs. the Minnesota Moose, and the Wilderness will again be in Mason City for the campaign’s final game on March 7.

The NA3 Wilderness will compete in the league’s West division, which along with Mason City, Willmar and the Minnesota Moose, also includes the Granite City Lumberjacks and Alexandria Blizzard. The Wilderness schedule also includes two teams from the Central Division – the Peoria Mustangs and Wausau Cyclones.

The entire league schedule can be accessed at https://na3hl.com/nahl/downloads/2425/na3hl/na3hl-2024-2025-schedule.pdf

One of the NA3HL’s newest teams will call the oldest rink in Minnesota its home.

The Eveleth City Council today approved an agreement with the Minnesota Wilderness to house the organization’s new NA3HL squad at the historic Hippodrome.

The Hippodrome (also known as “the Hipp”) first opened in 1922. Since then, it has hosted some of Minnesota’s top hockey players, with 12 having been inducted into the nearby United States Hockey Hall of Fame—including legendary names such as Frank Brimsek, John Mayasich, John Mariucci and Sam LoPresti.

Wilderness NA3HL hockey will officially open at the Hipp beginning in September. Until that time, renovations are expected to be made to locker rooms and other parts of the arena to accommodate the team. 22 of the team’s 47 regular season games will be played at the Hippodrome.

The Minnesota Wilderness NA3HL (North American Tier 3 Hockey League) team has added 11 players over the last few weeks to its roster for its first ever season. The Wilderness made two selections in the NA3HL Draft held April 24 and followed that with nine player tenders.

The first player added to the franchise was Cloquet-Esko-Carlton forward Ryan Jones. The 18-year-old Jones was the 49th overall selection (2nd round) of the NA3HL draft. Jones played 23 games for the CEC Lumberjacks in his senior season of 2023-24, recording six goals and six assists.

Forward Mark Denoyer of Hastings, MN, was the Wilderness’ second draft pick. Coming to the team as tenders are four Duluthians: Christian Houser, Wyatt Peterson, John Scott and Noah Teng. Cooper Ellena of Cloquet, Brady Johnson of St. Michael, MN (who played high school hockey in Brainerd), Nicholas Maffeo of Austin, TX, Lance Murray of Eagan, MN, and Jay Svaren of Rosemount, were also tendered.

Draft picks:

Tenders:

The nine tenders and two draft picks will be invited to the Wilderness main tryout camp, which will also include players seeking a spot on the NAHL team. That camp will be held July 14-18 in Cloquet.

The NA3HL Wilderness roster is also expected to include players who spent the 2023-24 season with the Minnesota Loons. The Loon franchise was rebranded as the Wilderness after being purchased by Wilderness owner Barry Bohman after its 23-24 season had concluded.

The Wilderness NA3HL squad is expected to begin play in September at a location in northeastern Minnesota that has yet to be announced.

The new Minnesota Wilderness North American Tier 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) franchise has found who will lead the team in its premier season.

Zach Stepan has been hired as the team’s first head coach and general manager. A 30-year-old from Hastings, MN, Stepan has spent six seasons as either a head coach or assistant in the NAHL, NA3HL and United States Hockey League (USHL). He spent this past season as an assistant with the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL. Prior to that, Stepan spent two seasons as an assistant with two NAHL franchises—the Aberdeen Wings in 2021-22 and Chippewa Steel for a portion of the 2018-19 season. Stepan also served as head coach of the NA3HL’s New Ulm Steel for two seasons from 2019-2021.

David Boitz, who is overseeing operations to launch the new Wilderness squad (while also serving as President of Operations of the NAHL’s Wilderness franchise) said the organization is excited about bringing on Stepan for the inaugural season.

“With all of Zach’s experience over the past years, first in the NA3, NA and the USHL, we feel awfully fortunate to land on a coach with his experience. Combined with his playing career and his passion and energy for the game, there is no doubt that our players are going to really benefit from his mentoring.”

Stepan played high school hockey at Shattuck St. Mary’s, where he scored 129 points in 104 games and won back-to-back National Championships his junior and senior years. He played one season in the USHL for Waterloo, posting 78 points in 56 games during the 2012-13 season. For his college hockey, Stepan skated four seasons at Minnesota State-Mankato before playing one season of pro hockey, with the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears.

In international play, Stepan was the leading scorer for the gold-medal winning USA U17 team at the 2010 Five Nations Tournament in Switzerland. Stepan was also a member of the USA U19 team that won gold in the World Junior A Championship in 2012, and a member of the U20 USA World Junior team in 2013. He was drafted by the Nashville Predators in the 4th round, 112th overall, in the 2012 draft.

Stepan is expected to help in the hiring of an assistant coach for the upcoming season.

The NA3HL Wilderness was established after the NAHL Wilderness’ owner, Barry Bohman, acquired the Minnesota Loons, a NA3HL franchise that spent the last three seasons based in Breezy Point, MN. Bohman is moving the team to northeastern Minnesota and will be announcing where it will play its home games sometime within the upcoming weeks.

Since it originated in 2012, the Minnesota Wilderness has built a tradition of high performance junior hockey in the greater Twin Ports area. Later this year, a new era in the history of the Wilderness organization will begin as it was officially granted the rights to bring a new junior hockey team to northeast Minnesota.

The board of governors for the North American Hockey League (NAHL) today approved Wilderness owner Barry Bohman’s request to purchase the Minnesota Loons – a franchise in the North American Tier III Hockey League (NA3HL). Bohman plans to move the Loons from its current home in Breezy Point, MN, to northeast Minnesota and rebrand the team as the Minnesota Wilderness of the NA3HL.

The Wilderness NA3HL franchise will bear the same colors, logo and uniform as the Wilderness team that currently competes in the NAHL. The Wilderness NAHL squad will keep its home in Cloquet, MN.

The specific location of the NA3HL squad has not yet been determined, although talks are underway with a potential suitor.

The Wilderness NA3HL team will be part of the West Division, which includes four other teams based in Minnesota, plus one in Mason City, IA.

The NA3HL is in its 13 th season of operation. It is the only USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III junior league. It comprises 34 teams across 16 states in the United States.

The new Wilderness franchise will begin building its roster immediately, with the help of the NA3HL draft scheduled for April 24.

The NA3HL Wilderness embarks on its first season in September and will play a 47-game regular season schedule. If the squad finishes the season among the top 4 teams in its division, it will qualify for the NA3HL’s Fraser Cup playoffs which begin in March.

The Wilderness Tier 2 team has been part of the NAHL since 2013 after spending its first season in Cloquet in the Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL). The organization also sponsors 16U and 18U AAA teams that compete in the North American Prospects Hockey League (NAPHL).