Formerly, the team was a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III ice hockey team that played in the Northern Pacific Hockey League (NorPac/NPHL) and the United States Premier Hockey League-USP3 (USPHL-USP3). [15] [16] The Skipjacks Hockey Club also added a Premier team to augment their teams in the youth divisions. [9] Before the start of the season, the loss of the Illiana Blackbirds (Elite), Michigan Wild (USP3), and Marquette Royales (USP3) was offset by the additions of Team Beijing (Elite), another team from the New York Aviators organization (Elite), and the return of the Ironwood Fighting Yoopers (USP3). Charter members of the High Performance Youth Division were to include the New Jersey Rockets, Hartford Junior Wolfpack, Jersey Hitmen, and P.A.L. [23]. In 2017, the franchise was sold to Delaware Hockey, LLC and it became the Lightning Hockey Club with plans to play in the USPHL's 2017–18 season out of Newark, Delaware. Prior to its 51st season, the league's operations were taken over by the North American Hockey League and it was renamed to North American 3 Atlantic Hockey League (NA3AHL) for the 2016–17 season. During the 2014 off-season the USPHL lost the New York Applecore (Empire), but added the Providence Capitals (Elite & 16U), Jersey Shore Whalers (Empire), and the Richmond Generals (Elite, Empire) organizations to increase the total number of organizations to 35 headed into the 2014–15 season. Formerly called Empire Division from 2013 to 2015, 2016 Championship series was held between the new Midwest Division and the USP3 Division for a single champion won by the Midwest's Dells Ducks. The original Tier III junior teams were categorized in the Premier Division when the USPHL absorbed the Empire Junior Hockey League (becoming the Empire Division) and the newly formed Eastern Elite Hockey League (becoming the Elite Division). As part of the many changes, three of the four isolated former USP3 Pacific Division teams left the league with only the Eugene Generals remaining. While the Bandits, Rockets and Cyclones have free-to-play teams in the new NCDC, all six organizations were announced to have Tier III teams in the Premier Division and five teams in the Elite Division. The Minnesota Mullets are a Tier III junior ice hockey team located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2017, the USPHL added a higher level junior league named the National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC) for the 2017–18 season. The Wisconsin Muskies also announced they would field an expansion team in the Premier Division. Formerly, the team was a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III ice hockey team that played in the Northern Pacific Hockey League (NorPac/NPHL) and the United States Premier Hockey League-USP3 (USPHL-USP3). The Mullets play in the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) Premier Division.