North Dakota Spotlight : Brock Nelson
UND alum Brock Nelson made it all the way to the Big Apple:
It's great when you hear about athletes from this area making it to the highest level, so here's another one.
Brock is a native of Warroad, Minnesota, where he graduated in 2010. He scored over 80 goals during his final two years of high school.
Brock then went on to the University of North Dakota, where he played two seasons, scoring 28 goals in his second season with the Fighting Hawks (Fighting Sioux at the time). Brock was a first-round pick, 30th overall, by the Islanders, in 2010, the year he graduated from High School.
Brock has scored at least 20 goals four times for the Islanders, including 25 goals, along with 28 assists last season. He became a free agent this past summer, and resigned with the Islanders for six additional seasons, and will earn $36 million total.
He has helped the Islanders reach the playoffs four times, including a sweep of Pittsburgh in last year's first round of the playoffs. Brock is married, has two children, and lives full time on Long Island. He comes from a hockey family. His uncle Dave Christian was a member of the "Miracle on Ice", the 1980 Gold Medal-winning US Olympic hockey team. His great uncle, Roger Christian, was a member of the other US Olympic gold medal-winning hockey team in 1960. Another great uncle, Gordon Christian, was a member of the 1956 US Olympic hockey team that won a silver medal.
Our Townsquare media sports Director Rob Meltzer caught up with him and here's their conversation below: