Alex Gerke not only landed a spot in Junior A hockey, he landed a spot with a hockey juggernaut.

Gerke, son of Jim and Sharon Gerke of Tomah, hooked up with the Dubuque Thunderbirds, which owns a staggering 41-3-2 record in the Central States Hockey League with two regular-season games left.

Dubuque clinched the league’s regular-season championship and will advance to the national tournament regardless of how the Thunderbirds fare the league’s playoffs (the Hurster Cup), which begins this weekend.

Gerke said the Thunderbirds’ organization has made a big commitment to Junior A hockey.

“Dubuque has a good organization with a big rink and a lot of fans,” Gerke said Friday. “They have a lot of money, so they can go out and recruit the players.”

The Thunderbirds found a good one in Gerke, who lettered four years on the Tomah High School squad, was honored as an all-state defenseman and led the Timberwolves to their first-ever WIAA state tournament appearance last spring.

His production continued at Dubuque, where he’s the team’s third-leading scorer (17 goals, 28 assists for 45 points) and leading scorer among the team’s defensemen. He’s the only Dubuque player to have appeared in every game.

Gerke said it hasn’t been a big transition from a 20-game high school season to a 48-game junior league season that has 20-minute periods. The season began Aug. 31, and the team plays two to four games per week.

“You just get used to it after awhile,” Gerke said. “We’re on the rink every day, and that gets us in pretty good shape.”

Gerke is eligible to play one more season of Junior A hockey. After that, he hopes to play for an NCAA Division III team. Junior A hockey players retain their amateur status and remain eligible to compete at the collegiate level.

“I’ve had a couple college coaches talk to me, but there hasn’t been anything concrete yet,” he said.

The national Junior A hockey tournament is March 25-29 in Marlboro, Mass.