MINNEAPOLIS — “I’m not really sure how it happened,” joked Minnesota native Aksel Reid on his recent Division I commitment to Union College, a program that he has been a fan of for almost 10 years. “Honestly, it kind of came out of nowhere.”

Reid grew up in a family with strong ties to the sport of hockey. His dad and uncle both played hockey at Division III Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, and their father (Aksel’s grandfather) was a goaltender.

Aksel’s dad currently works as the director of college counseling at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, a school that is heavily involved in hockey, while his mother is an the English teacher at The Blake School. Aksel and his older brother, Lachen, both started skating at an early age with the Minneapolis Storm.

As he got older and it came time for high school, Aksel was thrown into varsity hockey as just an eighth grader for the Blake Bears.

“It was kind of unique situation where the classes above me didn’t really have many goalies, so I was one of three or four goalies my eighth grade year and it just worked out that I made the varsity team and for the second half of the season I ended up being the starter,” Reid told The Rink Live.

Reid remembers becoming a fan of Union College ever since watching its 2014 national title victory over the University of Minnesota. He’ll suit up for the Dutchmen this fall.