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Nick: Hey guys! It’s Nick from the Junior Hockey Truth and on my screen I have a special
guest. It’s Steve Thompson. He is the director of hockey operations for the University of
Anchorage Alaska Seawolves. He’s actually an old teammate of mine. In fact, an old goalie
partner of mine back when we played Junior A together. And Tommy as we affectionately
called him, he went through a very interesting route to getting his scholarship, in that
he played as an American, American Junior A but also came and played in Canada a bit
as well. So you’re going to get a really unique perspective here. And now that he’s
on the hockey operations side with an NCAA school too, you’ll be able to hear firsthand
what goes into all of that. So Steve how you doing, man?
Steve: Pretty good, Nick. Good to see you.
Nick: Awesome. Awesome to have you here and to reconnect it’s probably been like…
It’s two-thousand fourteen. It’s probably been six or seven years since we played together.
Steve: Two-thousand seven. I think we were together two-thousand six, two-thousand seven.
Nick: Absolutely man. And now you’re on the hockey operations side it’s kind of
cool that we’ve both ended up in the hockey world. Why don’t we start off by just telling
people—you’re from Alaska—why don’t we start off by telling people how you came
through minor hockey. I know you were in Michigan for a bit ,and how you got into Junior A and
just tell people about how you got to where you are today.
Steve: So I started my career up in Anchorage. I’m from Anchorage originally. When I was
sixteen years old I went to a U.S.A. try out with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders and the
head scout of Cedar Rapids was the midget coach in Detroit. So after camp, I didn’t
make the Cedar Rapids team but they offered me to either play in the NAHL with Fargo,
who had a team back in the day, or go to Detroit and play midgets with this head scout on there’s.
So I was undecided whether I wanted to go to junior right away or go and stay in midget.
The way it was kind of pushed to me was that I’d get more games and more experience if
I stayed in midget as opposed to being probably a back up at sixteen in the NA behind a nineteen,
twenty year-old guy. And at that age it would be smarter for me to see more folks, get more
game time and develop more. So I ended up moving at sixteen to Michigan from Alaska,
played there for a season and talked with Troy Mick who was our GM in Vernon. And he
pushed for me to come to Vernon, to be play in B.C., and that’s where I went to next.
Nick: And that’s kind of a good segue into talking about playing in the NCAA. With you
now on the hockey operations side you see it from behind the bench or in the office,
so to speak. But you’ve also been through it as a player, having got your scholarship.
Maybe what we could just start with is what does a school look for in a player they’re
recruiting?
Steve: I think, kind of the process that I’ve seen working here, is, first, is on-ice. You
need to spark their attention on-ice and every team has a window of what they need at that
point in the next coming season. So once you kind of meet that criteria and you get selected
as a potential player that you want that’s when you start to look into the off-ice, their
academics. Do they have their SAT scores yet? Do they have their core class requirements
that the NC division one needs? That’s where you kind of start checking your boxes. Can
we actually recruit this player? Is this person going to get accepted to our school with the
scores that he has? But first and foremost they have to be able to play to enquire further
down the road.
So once you get in contact with them and realize they have their SAT or ACT scores and that
they meet our requirements and that they have their four classes, check, check, check. Then
we’ll start enquiring about official visits, unofficial visits, start to talk money, how
much we’re going to offer them, what they’re looking for. But that’s kind of the route
and how we check our boxes before we approach the kids.
Nick: Ok, there’s a lot of good insider info that you just spoke of right there. Maybe
to start with, just breaking that down because I think it’s great. Do you guys more often
than not reach out to the player first or do the players sometimes get your attention
as well?
Steve: You know, being perfectly honest, it’s about ninety-nine per cent we reach out to
them. We’re constantly being emailed by players who are looking for places to play.
And a lot of the times if we haven’t contacted a team or probably we are already looking
at a player who’s trying to fill that role for the email we get. There are a couple of
situations where we do look into a guy and we may not have seen him but a lot of the
times if you’re not playing in the BCHL, the USHL, or the NAHL, we probably not haven’t
seen you. We do go to Alberta quite a bit and Saskatchewan too. If you’re not one
of the top, leading scorers in those leagues then we’re probably looking at a guy in
a different league if we haven’t contacted you first.
Nick: Absolutely. I put together league guides for all the Junior A leagues out there and
the Major Junior ones too. What I noticed was breaking down the scholarships of each
league like BC, tons of scholarships, obviously USHL, NAHL has a lot of scholarships. But
like Saskatchewan maybe it’s only the top guys that are going out of there and it’s
just purely by the numbers.
So for players that want to get out there and put themselves out there, it’s definitely
going to be the thing where you want your play to do the talking, I think, first so
you have something to work with, so you can draw people towards you.
With that, I know you guys are in Alaska. Obviously, it seems like you’re sticking
to the western leagues. How does that change for the schools that are in different parts
of the States?
Steve: That’s a good question because a lot of the Ontario leagues get heavily recruited
by the eastern schools. We were in Lake Superior State last weekend, for instance, and they’re
right up there in the UP [Upper Peninsula of Michigan]. So it’s really easy for them
to recruit, those schools, and if you look at their rosters they’re heavily filled
with Ontario players. So a lot of it is relative to the part of the United States that that
school is located in.
So just because maybe our school—and that maybe a great opportunity for a player in
one of those conference that’s far away from us to send an email to get our interest
and have them let us know that they’re interested in coming to see us. Because odds are we haven’t
been out to see them if it’s far away because we have a recruiting budget, so we don’t
want to be throwing in two grand to fly all the way to Ontario if it’s not for a player
that we really want or know that they want to come and play for us.
Nick: How do those trips work? Is it coach going, taking people with him? How often do
they happen?
Steve: We have two assistants here, so one will always be with the team and one is always
recruiting. That’s kind of how it goes. Sometimes they’re both recruiting, sometimes
they’re both on the bench. More times than not we have one guy on the road recruiting.
We kind of identify some guys that we want to go see, that we’ve been in contact with
who’ve been putting up some good numbers. We’ll plan our weekends around going to
see them and maybe we’ll just fly into British Columbia and we’ll have four games on a
weekend, three games on a weekend. It’s usually pretty planned out as to who we’re
going to see, when we’re going to see them. They have an itinerary just as much as if
they were on the road trip with the team.
Nick: Ok, and you guys I would assume return to, obviously, the same leagues. Do you ever
look to the same teams where you’ve had success recruits before or coaches who you
have sent you reliable talent?
Steve: Absolutely, and there’s relationships that you build with different coaches in different
leagues, and you want to work with teams that have been winning. We’re always looking
for programs that have success because you want players to come in and know what takes
to win, know what it feels like to win and have expectations of winning as soon as they
get here. So that’s something that we’re always looking for. Then the relationships
with coaches, where you know that they’re giving us good recruits. They’re not just
trying to sell their players to make their program look better. They’re being honest
with their evaluation.
Nick: Absolutely. The biggest thing I noticed coming into junior from midget was this emphasis
on winning. I found it in midget, bantam, your parents are paying for it. It’s minor
hockey. Some guys are going to hit sixteen or seventeen, get a driver’s licence and
never put on skates again. But when you get up into those teenage years and you’re playing
junior, this is a business. Some junior teams have got million-dollar budgets. There’s
an expectation there and I think that’s one of the best things I learned from junior
hockey was what it was like to be a winner. And the book that I told you about that I’m
writing that’s going to come out next fall across North America in the bookstores, it’s
all about life lessons I learned from hockey about winning—how to be a winner. Because
it’s probably the biggest thing I took away from it.
One thing I tell the guys in my Junior Hockey Truth book is that, ‘Look, talent helps
and who you are helps. But, if you can get on a winning team in a winning league where
they’ve always recruited winners, you’re going to stand a much better chance of getting
scouted,” because you guys are looking for that kind of stuff.
Steve: Sure.
Nick: Going back to that original question, you talked about SAT scores and schooling
and how important that is. Maybe you could go into how much—I don't know if I want
to call it “leeway”—but do [entrance requirements] change by school? Obviously
Harvard's going to ask for different grades than, say, you guys. How does that work?
Steve: Yes. So every university has a different standard and it’s got nothing to do with
the athletics department. That’s all pre-set by the university. So like you say, if you’re
going to go for the Ivy League program you have to have much higher SAT scores, your
minimum GPA is a lot higher. And then our school, for instance, Lake Superior State,
Denver, all these different schools have criteria that you must meet.
So one of the biggest things, the biggest advice that I wished I would have had, and
I’d like to get out, is just to know about [the requirements] as soon as possible. You’re
fresh in high school; make sure you’re buying into your schooling right off the bat. Because
one thing I didn’t do, when I was a freshman, sophomore starting high school I took it for
granted. I was really invested in hockey and that’s all I really cared about. I skipped
classes and I was doing the bare minimum and once I got to my junior and senior year that’s
when I recognized how important it was. But it would have made it a lot easier on myself
if I would have, from day one, bought into the fact that I needed a scholarship and that
I needed to have good grades to earn that. So in core classes this is an issue that we
see a ton. You’ve got the minimum of how many core classes you have to complete in
order to get a scholarship.
And you’ll see these kids, they didn’t even know it. They didn’t take their math
freshman-through-senior year. They didn’t take enough core science classes. They have
a great GPA, they did well on their SATs, but they only have, you know, fifteen core
credits instead of the eighteen or whatever it is now, and there’s nothing we can do
about it. There’s a couple of rules that you can have where they can take them in the
summer time and they will be ineligible to play for a year. Then in their sophomore year
they can start playing, so there are some loopholes through it but it’s really a pain.
If you’re a player who really wants to compete as a college athlete, I think it’s really
important that they take their core credits every year and they don’t drop any classes,
they don’t build their classes up with electives, and that they make sure they stay on pace
from day one.
Nick: I tell guys too, ‘You’ve got to get ahead in those classes. Don’t just sit
back and take what you’re supposed to. Because by the time your reach senior year, grade
twelve, you’re going to be, especially if you’re playing junior—you can’t take
the five or six classes a day. You’ve got practice, you’ve got travelling. So you’ve
better get ahead’. I didn’t get to take any of the fun classes in high school because
I didn’t have any free electives to do it. I was filling everything with core.
Steve: Exactly.
Nick: Then aligning your stuff to transfer school between home and wherever you’re
playing. You went through the same thing in midget. Going to a different state—
Steve: That’s a big factor as well. You’ll take potentially the right class in the state
you’re in, but then you go to a different school and it’s not recognized. I think
you want a very strong relationship with your advisor in both your schools. And before you
make any decisions you need to speak to an NCAA representative to make sure this is actually
going to work. Because the last thing you want to do after pouring your life into your
sport is find out that there was some little detail that was missed and you can’t get
a scholarship regardless. And that’s not fair to anyone.
Nick: Absolutely, absolutely. When you guys are recruiting a player and you’ve started
talking to him already, you’ve watched him. How does the process go from there? Do you
offer scholarships right off the bat? Do you talk to the guy throughout the season? Do
you say you’re interested? Do you lock this talent up quickly or do you want to see the
guy a couple of times first?
Steve: It’s all relative to the player depending on what age he is. If he’s a younger kid,
we might want to look at him longer to make sure he’s actually developing and improving
in the manner which we expect him to. If he’s a high-end top, elite player, we might want
to grab him right away and just take a risk because we know that every other school is
going to be all over him, so it’s almost first come, first served. You want to make
sure that you want to throw the biggest number at him soonest, so that he takes it and we
may have an opportunity to take him from another school.
If he’s a twenty year-old and you know that he’s probably looking for anything at that
point, you have maybe a little more flexibility. Wait and see where this kid goes. Let’s
see how many points he ends up putting up. It all depends, but you definitely build a
relationship personally before you throw any money. You want to know that he’s a good
kid, and he works hard, and he’s got strong character before you commit this player to
being with you for four years. Because I know our biggest mentality is that you want to
have the right culture in the locker room, and the personalities within that is what
really creates that.
Nick: Makes sense. How much does a player’s parents play into that decision as far as
you sizing them up? And how much are they involved?
Steve: That’s relative to the players as well. Some recruits, the parents want to be
really involved and they’re calling you and the other players are speaking with their
parents on every decision they make and then you get some kids who you’re almost exclusively
working through them, and their parents trust that the student’s making the right decision,
the player’s making the right decision.
But you see it both ways where you have a parent who’s asking educated questions and
is really invested, and you’re really impressed by the parenting style they have. You make
an assumption that the player is going to be a good player and a good person based upon
the parents. You have it the other way where you meet the parent and you’re like, ’Oh
my gosh. I don’t want to take this kid specifically because I don’t want to have this parent
involved’. And you see that a lot in minor hockey when you see the parents that are constantly
bickering at the coaches and constantly creating problems in the stands with other parents.
You see kids that don’t make teams when they deserve to one hundred per cent because
of their parents, which is a shame.
Nick: Right. Before I get a flood of emails coming in from parents that are concerned
about how much they should be involved. What do you think is the right amount? Because
I imagine you want a parent who is there and obviously involved with their kid. But you
don’t want a parent that’s overbearing. What’s kind of a balance?
Steve: I think it’s very important for the parents to be involved and for the kid to
talk to their parents. It’s a family decision; it’s a very big decision. It’s the next
four years of your life and of your education, and a lot of your future is tied into this.
So I think it’s important for the parents to be involved. But I think the parents need
to be aware that if they start being really aggressive and really pressing that it can
come across negatively as well. Ask educated questions but to not be threatening in any
way, I guess, if that makes sense. I think at that age they’re still kids, but they’re
almost adults to give them a little bit of independence. I think it’s good for the
players, and it’s also good for us to see that the player has that ability because you
want a mature kid coming in as well.
Nick: I think for me when I first left home for Junior, or actually I guess AAA, at sixteen,
my parents were really involved. They were concerned to get me through high school. In
junior, by that point, my parents kind of came in last minute, and like so many parents
that talk to me, they just didn’t know. They came in and it was just like ‘whoa,
my kid’s going to make this decision. What’s going to happen’? I did an interview with
my dad that’s a bonus that I include with the book. And he just talks about the importance
of getting educated about that beforehand. By the time a parent reaches that scholarship
level—eighteen, nineteen, twenty—I think they know their kid is going somewhere.
And for me, when I went off to university and did a scholarship, I did a fly down and
all that kind of stuff and it was just me. But by that point I was twenty years old and
I felt confident. I felt I was making the right decision. I didn’t feel my parents
were adding much at that point because I knew a lot more than them. At the same time, if
they were involved, it’s also nice to have that reassurance when you’re at that age.
It’s like you’re trying to be a man but you don’t necessarily trust yourself one
hundred per cent always. (That kind of advice is beyond me, I guess, about how to be that
kind of parent.) But it’s good for parents to know that kind of thing.
When it comes to advisory, outside of parents, could you talk about family advisors, the
role they play? How common are they? Do players need one? Just kind of general advice.
Steve: I never had one. I played with players with did. I’m kind of on the fence. I don’t
think you need one by any means. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories where they kind of
get in the way and they become more of a negative than a positive. That’s not always the case.
But, I don’t know, it’s a tough question because they’re definitely helpful in some
respects if you get a good one. If you’re investing in someone to make a decision for
you or be very involved with your future, you want to make sure they have good intentions
and that they have a good track record in what they’ve done.
So the biggest thing is if you are going to go that route, do you research. Speak with
players who have worked with them in the past. Look at the resume of the players that they’ve
brought up and where they’ve gone to because much like the last question about the parents,
you can have some advisors that really get in the way and can be a turn-off to coaches
as well. So make sure they have a good relationship with the coaches that they work with, and
that they’re going to be a benefit to your child and not a hindrance.
Nick: Just on that note, for parents that don’t know what a family advisor does. Maybe
just explain that a little bit and how you come into contact with them at the university
now.
Steve: It’s more or less an agent, but you can’t pay them obviously because that’s
a NCAA violation there. They more or less look into, they contact teams, look to find
an avenue for a player to go to. They’ll get in touch with schools. They’ll get in
touch with recruits and they’ll make sure that they get your name out. They kind of
just market you as a person. It’s basically a free agent. I think that they work out deals
where if you ever do sign a contract then they ask for percentages. But I don’t have
too much experience because I never had one.
Nick: Fair enough.
Steve: But my goalie partner in Fairbanks had one. And you know depending on how well
you’re playing that’s how much in contact they are. If you’re playing really well
they’re in contact all the time. Then you slump junior year, and all of a sudden the
family advisor what nowhere to be found. Like anything, if you look like you’re going
to make some money, he’s going to be around. But if it starts to look like you may not,
he probably isn’t going to care as much as the other guy that’s putting up the points.
It’s like anything, right?
Nick: Makes sense. Well on the topic of money, maybe you could describe a bit, NCAA, it’s
eighteen full scholarships spread out across the team. Could you describe, in your experience,
how does that break down amongst the players. How often are you giving out full rides compared
to partial rides and that kind of stuff?
Steve: That’s a great question because I know when I was coming up I was convinced
that every scholarship was a full ride. I just assumed when I was younger that if you
had a scholarship it meant your schooling is paid for. People just said they had a scholarship
and I assumed always one hundred per cent, and that’s definitely not the case. Full
rides are pretty rare to come by. There aren’t too many guys on a team that have a full scholarship.
A lot of guys are on partials. A lot of guys are on, you’ll hear the terms ‘three-for-four’,
‘two-for-four’, which means two out of the four years you’ll get a full, three
out of the four years you’ll get a full, something likes that. There’s a lot of walk-ons,
which guys probably don’t recognize either. We have a handful of guys that I played with
that are on full walk-ons. So they’re one hundred per cent playing, and a lot of guys
are in the line up every night. They’re just not getting any aid.
I think that when I was getting recruited I always felt that that I wasn’t getting
a full ride then it wasn’t worth it to me. Whereas looking back now, just the opportunity
to get a scholarship was a huge benefit. Depending on the school, if you get in-state tuition,
if you’re from that state if you have a partial scholarship, it can almost equal a
full scholarship, and there’s a lot of other scholarship opportunities academically. I
know in Alaska, for instance, there’s different scholarships for if there’s a lake that
somebody really likes and has grown up on. If you send in a two-page essay about what
experiences you’ve had on that lake and why you love it and why it was such a big
part of your life, you’ll get two-thousand dollars.
So there are all these opportunities out there, so I think just doing your homework on scholarships
available. If you don’t get a full ride athletically that you can increase your amount
through different avenues and end up walking away without any student debt.
Nick: Absolutely. There’s many different ways to do it. You’ve also got to look at
that scholarship too. There’s something special about being a hockey player. Where
when you finish school and you have that degree in your pocket but you’re playing on the
team. Between just alumni, but also people recognizing your name. I’ve got buddies,
they come from rural Alberta and they work on Wall Street. I know guys they’ve travelled
the States, even myself, what am I doing. I’ve lived in the States before and parts
that I never thought possible. I mean, I’ve lived in New York City myself. And I would
never have left home had it not been for the hockey. And I think if hockey can take you
from whatever world you grew up in and show you something much bigger. That itself, as
cliché as it sounds, is pretty priceless.
Looking back, we’re kind of at that age now where we’re starting to see all those
experiences and the benefits that come from it, of having been different places and done
different things. It’s interesting to hear just how it goes really beyond the money.
But it’s also interesting to hear the truth about that—what gets offered.
From your knowledge and your experience Steve, what is your opinion on division three scholarships?
I know I got mine. I want to hear yours.
Steve: My little brother plays division three out in New York. I was a part of that decision
for him. So you can’t get athletic scholarships in division three in the States. So you can
go for student aid based upon your parents’ income, and you can get different packages
for academics, but you can’t earn an athletic scholarship being in division three.
But like I said you can nearly get a full scholarship based upon your academics or your
student aid depending upon the income. And then my brother for instance, my dad’s in
the military. There’s a bill that Obama had passed a few years back that if my dad
didn’t go to college, all the money that he would have used for a degree can be used
to go towards any of his kids. So my brother is going to school for free based on this
GI bill, which is great.
But I think that a lot of times, players, they’re so negative about going to division
three. They always think they need to be division one player, they need to go to division one
no matter what. And we have some issues where a player, I truly think that if they went
to division three they would play more often. They would enjoy it and get a great education,
and it’s probably a better route instead of walking on a division one school where
they’re going to be in the stands for all four years.
I think that one thing that is so true, and it’s kind of hard to say, is money does
talk. If a school is putting a lot of money into you and your scholarship is big, they’re
going to take a lot more opportunities, they’re going to be a lot more patient with you. The
more scholarship you earn, the more ice time you’re going to get. As much as no one wants
to hear that, it is true. A guy can have a month of bad on-ice performance, but we’re
putting a lot of money into this kid, so we need to develop him. So instead of putting
him in the stands right away, we’re going to keep putting him in the line up. We’re
going to keep watching him grow because we’ve invested a lot in him. Whereas if the guys
a walk-on or is on low money as soon as he has a bad night he may be in the stands because
we haven’t put much into this guy yet.
So it’s a lot easier decision for us to know we’re not losing too much by putting
him in the stands whereas this guy, we have twenty thousand invested in him. We really
need him to, one: I think it makes coaches feel better to know that the true people that
they gave money to are in the line up, and end up playing well, so you’re driving to
make it look like you’ve done a good job with your recruiting. But two: it’s hard
to see all that money put into a guy who might not potentially be in the lineup.
That’s something you’ve got to think about. How much are they willing to give you? Ask
a lot of questions because there are a lot of schools out there that’ll say that ‘this
is all we have’ when they probably have more money, and you just need to negotiate
with them. Have some confidence. It’s like with anything, when making a deal for anything
in life; don’t just accept the offer you get, ask some questions. Get a feel for the
university and how much they feel you’re worth.
Nick: Absolutely. For me when I took my scholarship, I had about five different options. Of course,
I wasn’t NCAA eligible, but when I went to the CIS, which is like our division one,
I had like three or four schools that were legitimately interested. I also had our version
of the division three, the colleges interested. And ultimately, what it came down to was exactly
what you were saying, what school seemed the most invested in me. The school that offered
to fly me out, and did fly me out to check the school, meet some of the guys, check out
the facilities, that’s where I ended up going.
So on that note, why don’t you tell people a little bit about what happens with the fly
down. How does the process start? What goes on during one, maybe about some that you’ve
done?
Steve: I think the biggest thing is you need to have all of your academic side done before
you can even be offered a fly up. So you have to have your SAT scores in, you have to have
all your core classes, you have to have all these things checked off first. You might
not necessarily have to have them finished if you’re only a junior in high school,
for instance, or whatever age you may be. But you have to have all of that completed
before you can even get on the fly out. For a lot of guys we’re talking to in the BCHL,
for instance, if they haven’t taken their SATs yet. we can’t even offer them a fly
up. So, we’ll have guys that are taking them in January, and then in February we’ll
plan a time for them to come and check it out.
So once you’re eligible for a fly up, we’ll bring you in and you’ll meet the guys on
the team, you’ll see the facilities, you’ll watch a practice, you’ll get to know the
staff, get to see the bells and whistles. And I think it’s really important if you’re
given an opportunity to get a fly up or a fly down I recommend taking it. Because like
I said, it’s four years of your life. It’s a huge decision and your entire career as
a hockey player, but also your entire career as a professional based upon, ‘Does that
school have the right program that you’re interested in? Do you even know what you’re
interested in’? I think those are questions that players should probably start asking
themselves in junior or senior year in high school. What do I want to do after school?
What do I want to go to school for? Is it going to be a four year degree where I can
do what I want to or is it going to have to be a post grad after?
So there’s a lot of decisions that have to be made, but I think those are all good
questions that have to be asked, and ask the university once you get there. If you want
to medical school—does this have pre-med? If you want to be, like I did psychology,
for instance. So for me to get a four year in psychology is basically like saying I went
to college. In order to be in a field I would have to go to school for longer. To know:
is there a post graduate program there? Can I continue to go there afterwards? If you
build these relationships with your professors, it’s a lot easier to get into graduate school,
so it’s a lot. But I think being prepared is the best option. So instead of just thinking,
Ah, it’s too much; I’ll just go home and check it out and just go with the flow.
I think that’s where the parenting can come into play. They can do a lot of work for you;
they can look into things while you’re focusing on your junior games. All you’re thinking
about is hockey at that point at that age. So have your parents kind of behind the scenes
looking at the academic side while you’re going into your weekends, and making sure
that your scoring as many goals or stopping as many pucks so you have the opportunity
to play.
Nick: Yeah, absolutely. You’re parents get to come on a fly down as well too, one parent
anyway. They can check it out, and what I always found in those situations it wasn’t
so much that, you know, it was always my decision, but because you’re so involved and taking
everything in, it’s good to have a parent there who can help just put things in perspective.
They just want to see you be somewhere where you’re happy, be somewhere that’s going
to benefit you. I always found, at least with my parents, they laid those things out from
a logical perspective. It wasn’t such an emotional decision. I entirely recommend that
players who get a chance go check out the school go do it.
I was born in Saskatchewan and haven’t got a chance to check out Alaska yet, but I have
been through UND in North Dakota, and that rink is probably—there’s probably no other
rink like it in the world.
Steve: Sure.
Nick: When I went through there, I just looked around, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I would go
NCAA next time around’. Between the marble floors and everything else, and what I’m
getting at is that just by being able to see that, if I would have been able to commit
there, knowing that I was coming into that facility everyday, and seeing how the team
interacts, seeing the players, could I see myself in that environment? If the answer
is yes, that starts making the decision a no-brainer. You don’t question it. The difference
between the NCAA and junior is when you commit to a team you’re pretty much there. It’s
the rare one per cent guy that goes back and tries again or whatever, but it’s not the
plan. It’s definitely not.
We’re hitting the home stretch here. Let’s talk a little bit about how does NCAA hockey
differ from Junior A, and just the lifestyle of playing NCAA versus junior.
Steve: I think the biggest difference is the maturity and the age. You go from playing
with guys—you know most times it’s eighteen to twenty year olds when you’re playing
junior, your have your rare sixteen to seventeen year old guys that are in there. Once you
get to college, you can have a range from eighteen years old to twenty-four, twenty-five.
It kind of goes that you’re playing against men all of a sudden. A lot of the guys are
bigger, faster, stronger. It’s a much faster paced game. I think off-ice becomes hugely
important.
You need to get as big and as strong as you can to go into the corners, to be able to
hold your own. That’s the biggest difference you see when a freshman comes in. He’s so
skilled in junior, he has all the skill set, but he’s not going into the corners and
coming out with the puck as often as he was. I think the off-ice, hitting the weights,
getting big, getting strong, that’s the biggest difference you’ll see. If you have
a player coming in, I think that summer before coming into university is the biggest summer
of his four years probably. The more you can build and be prepared for that as soon as
you step into the rink, those are the guys who are successful right off the bat.
Nick: Awesome, awesome. Just to wrap it up here maybe you could tell us what’s coming
up new for you guys this coming year in two thousand fourteen. What’s some cool stuff
that is coming up at the university?
Steve: It’s been a huge—brand new head coach here, and a new coaching staff and it’s
been a great year for us, turning it around. UA hasn’t been as successful the past few
years, and this year we had the opportunity to earn home-ice advantage and we’re fourteen,
eleven and three right not. Potentially, we could make an NCAA bid if we finish strong
here. We have a new athletic director here in Anchorage, and we just got a one hundred
twenty-one million dollar facility put in on campus, just state of the art. It’s the
Alaska Airlines Center. It’s finished in August, so we got a lot of bright things coming
ahead for us. We’re getting a six million dollar renovation put into our practice facility.
The community has been real great. They’ve put a lot of money into the program and our
fans are growing every night this year.
We’re ten and three at home, and that’s helped. We have one of the best home records
in the NCAA. That’s helped a ton, so it’s been a great chance for me to get involved
at the right time. Things are turning around. Our head coach spent the last fifteen years
in the ECHL. One of the biggest benefits for us and for the players here is he knows exactly
what it takes to be a professional, and he has a great relationship with all of the NHL
with how long he was in pro hockey. On the road trips, we have tons of NHL scouts coming
in who want to meet our players.
More importantly, they’re really close with our head coach. They want to come in and see
him. That relationships the head coaches have goes a long way because like I was saying
earlier it’s no different that us trying to talk to junior teams we have a relationship
with; those NHL teams, they want to talk to college coaches they have good relationships
with. Him having already built those bridges has been great for our guys. We have some
seniors right now who have the Anaheim Ducks, and Winnipeg was with us this last weekend
up in Lake State and they were all over a few of our guys, so we’re looking to see
where they go next, and hopefully getting a couple contracts up there.
Nick: Awesome man. It is a game of relationship as you can see.
Steve: Sure. Sure.
Nick: Where can people check out more about your team and the school.
Steve: GoSeawolves.com is our main athletic website for all of our athletes. We have basketball,
mens and womens; we have gymnastics; we have cross country skiing, downhill skiing; and
then hockey here, so we have a little Alaskan feel with the skiing programs, which is pretty
cool. You can check that out, and then [AmericanOneSports.com] is where all of our games are. I think it’s
about five bucks a game or seven dollars a game, or something that, so anyone can get
online and watch the games. We have three weekends left this season and then the playoffs
start. It’s going to be quite the ride here.
Nick: Sounds good, man. Steve thank you very much for sitting down for this info. Some
of that knowledge is priceless. It’s insider stuff. It’s great to catch up with you once
again, man.
Steve: Alright, see you.
Nick: Thanks a lot.
Steve: Thanks for having me.