Gopher hockey players fish and skate in Otter Tail County promotion

Austin Burnevik and Mason Moe traded the Gopher hockey routine for bluegills, bass, a shore lunch and a skate in Fergus Falls, and Otter Tail County used the stop to put its lakes-country pitch front and center.

Otter Tail County has 1,048 lakes, more than any other county in the United States, and it has built its tourism and economic-development identity around that water. Otter Tail County also has nearly 60,000 residents and markets itself as Minnesota’s favorite vacation destination, with Community Development and Housing working to recruit both visitors and residents.

The campaign began Jan. 6, 2023, in Fergus Falls, the county seat, when the Otter Tail Lakes Country Association teamed with the University of Minnesota Athletic Department on a multi-year marketing effort aimed at Gopher fans, U of M alumni and students. Burnevik, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound junior forward from Ham Lake, and Moe, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound sophomore forward from Eden Prairie, were part of the ongoing #lakelife push.

His grandfather, Tom Moe, served as Minnesota’s athletic director from 1999 to 2002, and the university renamed its athletics director position the Thomas O. Moe Director of Athletics in February 2026. The county’s outdoor pitch includes county parks, a 31-mile multi-use trail, state parks and other recreation amenities, plus the detailed lake mapping and use classifications that underpin fishing, skating and other water-based recreation across Otter Tail County.