Ask a veteran hockey player about their parents, and they’ll often answer: Which ones?
For players that had enough talent to play for a junior hockey team, such as the Springfield Jr. Blues of the North American Hockey League, there were their regular parents and their billet parents.
New Jr. Blues defenseman Brady Anundsen, 17, is always in touch with his birth parents back in Green Bay, Wisconsin. But for the next seven months, at least, Anundsen now is under the legal guardianship of his billet family – the Pipers, led by Zach and Carli – of Rochester.
The French word “billet” historically dates to the “private quarters” soldiers in the field could hope to get during wartime from a generous host. In hockey, it is a longtime tradition, whereby players too young to live on their own but possessing enough talent to play on a team far from home, are hosted by a family in the area.
Families get a stipend for their service, $400 a month, for players in the Tier II NAHL. In their decision to open their home to Anundsen, the Pipers say, money was far down on the list.
“One of our friends, who had done it for four years, said how amazing it is and asked if we wanted to do it? We prayed over it and came to a quick decision to do it,” Carli Piper said.
Anundsen, a defenseman, moved in with the Pipers in late August and already has become something of a big brother to 7-year-old Caden Piper, one of two children of the Pipers (4-month-old Jett is the other). With a big yard and long driveway, Anundsen and Caden have plenty of room for games of mini-stick hockey or most anything else.
“It’s a change, but it’s been fun so far,” Anundsen said. “I’ve gotten to know the area a little bit. I have a car, so I can explore a little bit.”
There are rules of the house: Anundsen has a 10:30 p.m. curfew on non-game nights, and no girls allowed overnight. There are rules for the Pipers, too. They must be able to provide three meals a day; a furnished, private bedroom; laundry facilities and be able to help with transportation if needed. They must always be able to communicate freely with team coaches and other management and lend any emotional support a player might need.
A rigorous interview process between the team and a prospective billet family must happen before the family is granted the job. In addition to the monthly stipend, billet families get free season tickets to all Jr. Blues games and other team functions.
For Zach Piper, 34, who played goalie for Springfield club teams as a teen, the chance to gain a new experience outweighed all. He already knows how to be a parent, but taking in a complete stranger and sharing a new experience together piqued his curiosity.
“I’d had a few guys I played with live with billet families, so I knew what it was about. It just seemed like a good thing to try. We were big fans of the Jr. Blues already, and got to know a couple of the other families who did it, and so why not?” Piper said. “So far, it’s been great. Brady has blended right in.”
This isn’t the first time Anundsen has lived away from home, however. He spent most of last year living in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, playing for a team in the Atlantic Youth Hockey League 16U, the Knights. But that was in a team-supplied dormitory, where he lived with other teammates.
The goal of most junior hockey players is to make the jump to a Major Junior team, or get a scholarship to play college hockey, preferably in Division 1. Anundsen’s hopes are no different. At 5-foot-10, he hopes to grow taller and stronger and establish a niche as a puck-moving, offensive defenseman.
“I’ve been playing since I was 3. I just loved hockey very early, and it’s exciting to be in this new league,” Anundsen said.
His new coach is Todd Pococke, who also serves as the Jr. Blues’ general manager.
“Billet families really are the backbone of junior hockey,” Pococke said. “Junior hockey doesn’t exist without them. They also create lifelong memories and relationships. I’m still in touch with mine.”
So is Dave Reid, who played 18 seasons in the NHL and won Stanley Cups with Dallas and Colorado. Reid, 62, took the Stanley Cup to the home of Babe Gillen, a widow who was a billet parent to Reid when he played for the Peterborough (Ontario) Petes of Major Junior in the early 1980s.
“I played four years in Peterborough and had four different billet families, but Babe Gillen was the last one, and she was such a nice lady. She worked concessions at Petes games, so she was one of the first people I visited when I had my day with the Cup in 2001 after we won with Colorado,” Reid told Illinois Times.
Reid later became a GM of the Petes and was partially responsible for finding new billet families.
“They always say hockey players are the nicest of the pro athletes, and I think some of that – whether it’s true or not – has to do with many having come from billet families,” Reid said. “I was expected to do chores when I was under the roofs of those families. It teaches respect for others. It’s a great tradition of our sport.”
Adrian Dater, a longtime former sportswriter in Denver and author of seven books, moved to Springfield in 2023 to get his first taste of life in the Midwest. He spent two decades as the beat writer for the Colorado Avalanche and National Hockey League.
This article appears in September 10-16, 2026.
