The USA Hockey Tier III National Championships are going on in Rochester, Minnesota, and there is a local connection to one of the teams that will play for a national championship Tuesday afternoon.
2010 Escanaba High School graduate Brent Kallio is a member of the Atlanta Knights, which beat Billings (Mont.), 4-2, in the national semifinals Monday afternoon. Kallio had two assists in Monday's game, and now has five points in four games in the tourney.
The Knights beat the Chicago Bulldogs, 6-1, on Friday, as Kallio had a goal and two assists. Atlanta then beat the Helena (Mont.) Bighorns, 1-0, on Saturday...and took out the Long Island Royals, 4-3, on Sunday. The Knights will face that Long Island team again, this time in Tuesday's national championship game.
In two seasons with the Eskymos between 2008 and 2010, Kallio had 18 goals and 24 assists for 42 points. He then played with the Alpena (Jr. A) Thunder before moving to Atlanta the following year.
