|
What is the best route
to the top level of collegiate hockey?
A simple question posed by youth hockey players and their parents across
America, yet the answers are anything but easy.
Yes, the road to success in NCAA Division I hockey can vary greatly, even
the playing backgrounds and histories of players on the same collegiate
team can vary greatly. Case in point are three members of the the St.
Cloud State University men’s hockey team.
Their paths to the top rung of the college hockey ladder all started out
like so many Minnesota kids: in their local youth hockey programs. Up
through Peewees and Bantams, the stories are the same but the move to
high school hockey adds a few twists to the tale. Here are those three
stories, plus a coach’s insight.
From Baudette to Ann Arbor
Sophomore defenseman Matt Gens hails from the border
town of Baudette, situated on the banks of the Rainy River just across
the border from Canada. After moving through the ranks of Baudette’s
youth programs, Gens played one season of high school hockey before packing
his bags and making the move to Michigan and the National Team Development
Program in Ann Arbor. Gens gained notice thanks to his work at various
Select 15 and Select 16 tournaments, which provided him with a tryout
for the NTDP program. So instead of completing his high school days at
home, Gens skated for two seasons with the the NTDP squads.
“I definitely developed a lot faster at that [with the NTDP] level,”
Gens said. “Our high school program at home was not that bad, but
I felt that I was ready to go to the next step, and I just figured it
was the time to make the move.”
Gens could certainly be the poster boy for the benefits of the NTDP program.
In Ann Arbor, Gens was able to compete against many of the nation’s
top Junior teams and also played against several Division I college programs
in exhibition games. He also played overseas in the World U-17 Challenge
and completed his final season with 14 goals and 13 assists.
“The competition overseas and the opportunity to play against college
teams really advanced my hockey career,” said Gens.
Gens entered his first year at St. Cloud State as an 18-year-old freshman
and made an immediate impact on the program and the always rugged WCHA.
In 2001-02, Gens posted six goals and 17 assists with 14-48 PIM and was
also one of three Huskies named to the WCHA All-Rookie team. Gens was
later selected as a member of the National Junior Team evaluation camp
during the summer of 2002, and ended things by being drafted in the ninth
round of the NHL entry draft by Vancouver this year.
It may have only been fitting that Gens ended his first year in St. Cloud
with a trip back to Ann Arbor where SCSU lost to Michigan in the first
round of the 2002 NCAA playoffs.
“It was really a tough decision to leave home,” Gens said of
his time spent with the NTDP program. “But, I think it was a good
decision on my part.”
The Three-Sport Athlete
In the northern Twin City suburb of Blaine, Matt Hendricks
was one of those kids who needed the XXL-sized lettermen’s jacket
just to fit all the varsity awards he collected as a prep athlete.
A junior forward at SCSU this winter, Hendricks was an All-Conference
quarterback for the Blaine football team and also gained All-Conference
and All-Section honors in baseball. Hendricks’s real love however,
was hockey.
Hendricks is one of the increasingly rare breed of collegiate players
making the move directly from high school hockey to the WCHA, and his
choice to stay at home instead of moving towards a Junior team certainly
paid dividends.
“After my junior year at Blaine, I was drafted by the Twin Cities
Vulcans. I went through their camp, but there really wasn’t a choice
as far as I was concerned. I wanted to still play football and baseball
and be with my friends in Blaine,” said Hendricks.
“It was a tough decision in some ways, since I knew my love was hockey
and wasn’t sure if going to Juniors would have helped me more at
the college level.”
A big influence in Hendricks’s decision to stay home was the quality
of the program and coaches at Blaine. He also knew that his prep team
would be fully stocked with talent during his senior campaign. Blaine
went on to win the state title that year, with Hendricks collecting a
bucket full of accolades. He scored 25 goals and 35 assists as a senior,
which provided his ticket to SCSU and a selection by Nashville in the
NHL entry draft in 2000.
“I didn’t want to miss out on the fun of being in high school,”
Hendricks said. “The state championship experience is something I
will always carry with me. Blaine always has a top team and the coaches
were excellent, and I knew coming into my senior season that we would
have a really good team. So those things made the decision to stay much
easier.”
Hendricks believes his lack of Junior hockey experience did not set him
back as he made the move to the college level. At 6-0, 205 pounds, Hendricks
already packed a little meat on his bones, but he did notice a few differences
going to the next level.
“The biggest difference I noticed is goaltending and the speed at
which things happen,” Hendricks said. “The overall speed of
the game is so much faster at the college level.”
Hendricks seems to have made the adjustment to the college game. As a
freshman, he was limited to just three goals and nine assists, but last
year he avoided a sophomore slump with an impressive 19 goals and 20 assists,
along with six power play goals and three
game winners.
As a multi-sport prep athlete, Hendricks believes that staying home was
the best course of action for him. However, he did indicated those feelings
may have been swayed toward a stint in the Juniors if he had focused completely
on hockey.
“For someone in my situation, I would really push for them to stick
around through high school. The guys on my high school teams were my best
friends growing up, and they will always hold a special place in my heart.”
A Combined Effort
St. Cloud State senior team captain Jon Cullen used
a combined method to reach his final destination with the Huskies. Like
Hendricks, Cullen played out his complete high school career in Alexandria.
“We had a nice team in high school, and I knew that we would have
a good chance of doing well my senior season,” Cullen said. “I
had a good group of friends on the team, and we had some success growing
up in hockey, so I wanted to stay there through high school. I had a great
experience during my senior year.”
Unlike Hendricks, however, Cullen opted to play Junior hockey after his
high school years were completed. Before moving down I-94 to the SCSU
campus, Cullen honed his skills in the USHL.
“Playing at North Iowa was a great experience,” Cullen said.
“It really helped my development as a player. [In the USHL] you play
more games than high school, and you are going against bigger, stronger
and faster players. It was a stepping stone to the next level.”
Cullen, the cousin of former SCSU standout and current Anaheim Mighty
Duck Matt Cullen, acknowledged his Junior hockey experience provided him
with a chance to grow and mature not only as a hockey player but also
as a person. He also pointed out another benefit that Junior hockey adds
to a player’s resume.
“In Juniors, you typically have college scouts at every game you
play,” said Cullen. “The exposure you receive as a hockey player
in Juniors is excellent. It certainly creates a lot of opportunities.”
A View from the Bench
St. Cloud State assistant coach Brad Willner is the type of recruiter
who can offer a “been there, done that” perspective when it
comes to working with potential college players.
As a senior at Richfield High School, Willner played a split season with
the St. Paul Vulcans and helped that team win a national title in 1991.
That decision paid off as he joined the squad at Lake Superior State the
following year.
Willner acknowledged that the trend toward players leaving high school
for the Junior leagues wasn’t very common during his high school
days. Since that time, Willner has seen the huge growth of Junior hockey,
but since there isn’t any magic formula for getting to the top level
of college hockey, he still believes each athlete has to make the choice
in which they feel most comfortable.
“When it comes to recruiting, we start with the high schools,”
Willner said. “If a player is ready when they come out of high school,
we will take them. But for some it is beneficial to play Junior hockey.
“Most of the players coming into college hockey now play a year of
Juniors just to keep up with the experience level. [Those who have played
Juniors] come into college one year older and with another 60 games, which
means they are more physically developed and matured.”
Willner believes in the positive impact that the Junior leagues have had
on player development in hockey. Still, he believes that prep players
thinking about leaving early to play juniors need to do what is best for
them and their situation.
“Junior hockey is not for everyone,” Willner said. “I believe
that if a player is in a good high school program and still developing
they should stick with it and finish out their high school career. You
can always take a year to play Juniors after high school. Some might think
it is bad to put off school for a year, but if you are serious about being
a hockey player, that year in Juniors will help you develop and be more
of an impact as a college freshman.”
Tom Nelson is the Athletic Media Relations Assistant Director at St. Cloud
State University.
|