Austin Uecker is having a great early season in his first year of Junior Hockey with the Helena Bighorns of the NA3HL Frontier Division.

In 15 games, Uecker has scored 12 goals and added four assists after scoring two goals Friday night in a 7-1 win over Butte and two more goals in a 5-2 win over Bozeman Saturday night as the Frontier Division-leading Bighorns improved to an impressive 18-2 on the season.

“Our season is going really good,” Uecker said Sunday.

Uecker, who is from Sleepy Eye and played for New Ulm High School, said his biggest adjustment when he got to Helena — a 17-hour drive and 1,027 miles from Sleepy Eye — was being away from his home, family and friends.

“And I was with a new team and learning how to play with them and learning all of the new systems,” he said.

Uecker said that it was an adjustment to a billet (host) family that was made a little easier because Uecker had been texting to his billet mother, who he would be living with before he left for Helena.

“We talked about what we were interested in — we connected on a lot of the same interests like hunting and fishing — so it was pretty easy to adapt in getting comfortable with them,” he said.

Uecker said that Junior Hockey was fast-paced and more heavy-hitting.

“It was a big adjustment,” he said.

He said that his team has been playing in front of great crowds at for home games.

“We sell out close to all of our games,” Uecker said. “We have between 1,000 to 1,500 every game.”

He did say meeting 25 new teammates from different parts of the country was hard at first.

“But you learn how they play and you become pretty good friends with everyone,” he said.

Uecker had been playing on the first line early in the season but now is on the second line.

And Uecker has seen his role transform from high school where he dished out assists on goals to now a goal scorer.

“I am a goal scorer, but I still like to get my assists,” he said. “But my coach here told me I was here to score goals, so I had to change my mindset to a shoot-first mentality and I guess that it has worked out for me.”

For Uecker, who also played football and baseball at Sleepy Eye, playing only hockey now is strange.

“It is different because now every day and week is the same,” he said. “You practice throughout the week and then you have games on the weekend. It is different, but I really like it. We do get our Sundays off so we use that day to chill out, relax and let our bodies recover.”

Currently 18-2, Uecker hopes that in his first year he can help Helena repeat as Fraser Cup champions.

“That is what we are hoping for,” he said. “With them winning it last year, the expectations are high again here and we want get back to defend the Cup.”