Influx of Illinois hockey players gives USHL a Windy City feel
When Luke Weilandt moved to Sioux Falls, S.D., to play junior hockey this season, the Northbrook native had to make a number of adjustments.
Weilandt, 17, stays with a host family. After attending New Trier for three years, he is now a senior at Roosevelt, one of the public high schools in town.
Weilandt, a forward, has new teammates on the Stampede, who play in the USHL, the top junior league in the United States.
One thing, however, was not new.
When Weilandt goes to practice, some of the drills are familiar. He did some of the same drills while practicing with his Chicago Mission youth hockey teams during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.