By LINDA BOUVET, LSSU Marketing and Sports Information
The Big Ten Conference's proposal to disallow 21-year-old freshmen to play NCAA hockey is a hot topic at this week's NCAA Convention in San Antonio, Texas. Two teams clashing this weekend, Lake Superior State and Alaska Anchorage, have benefitted from hockey's unique recruiting landscape.
LSSU defenseman Ryan Renz is a 22-year-old sophomore who left home to focus on his hockey career when he was 14 years old. He clearly visualizes his goals. He learned independence at a young age. With maturity comes the ability to take responsibility for his successes and failures. He's one of LSSU's stop students – a biochemistry major with a 3.9 grade point average.
“When I was 17, I looked at the WHL, where I had an opportunity to play,” said Renz, a 6-foot-2, 205-pounder from Castlegar, British Columbia. “I sat down with my Dad (Randy)…He wanted me to play college hockey. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to play four years at a university. For me, it was the experience of going somewhere else in North America, really learning about a different place. It makes me so much more independent. If I went to Major Junior, I don't know where I would have gone to school, probably closer to home. I would not have had near the experience I am having now.”
Renz was spotted by LSSU's former coaching staff at the BCHL Showcase Tournament. He spent five years in juniors, including four with the Vernon Vipers. Prior to juniors, he lived in Kelowna for two years, playing for and attending school at Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy. In U.S. terms, it's a charter school for hockey players.
It wasn't easy for Kelly Renz to let her 14-year-old son move away from home, but there was comfort in knowing he was living with close family friends.
“No one supported me more than my mom, dad and family,” Renz said. “They've always put me in positions to succeed in hockey. And if it wasn't hockey, it would have been whatever I chose.”
A bantam coach, Pat Price, recognized Renz's hunger to learn. The Pursuit of Excellence Academy provided a 24/7 hockey environment.
“We had our own teacher in each of those grades (9, 10 and 11), and they'd teach us the core subjects,” Renz recalled. “The rest of the time focused on hockey, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m….That's really where it turned me around and focused me on hockey. It was the best time of my life up to that time for sure. There was no other place where I could go hang out with people and share the same interest."
That experience gave Renz the tools to learn and adapt to the rigors of elite-level hockey. After a successful junior career that included a 2011 BCHL championship and 2014 Royal Bank Cup semifinal appearance, Renz played in 37 of 38 games during his rookie season at LSSU.
“It wasn't a typical situation where you come to college, miss some games and are put in spots to get time,” Renz said of his 2014-15 rookie season with the Lakers. “As a whole our freshmen were definitely thrown into it. We were expected to play, saw some power play, some penalty kill and a whole bunch of minutes 5-on-5. Now this year it's starting to reap rewards. We took some tough games. We learned so much as we struggled a bit last year. We're right on the cusp of being so good this year. That experience will help us get to the next level this year.”
Renz had a productive 2015 off-season, but found himself out of the lineup after LSSU's mid-November losses to Arizona State. He regained a spot at the late December Catamount Cup and made a solid showing during the Lakers' 1-0 loss to Vermont and 3-0 victory over Brown. He scored his first goal of the season during last Friday's 3-1 loss and was on the ice when LSSU scored the overtime game-winner last Saturday against No. 16 Bowling Green State.
“He ran into some bad luck,” sophomore defenseman Kyle Chatham said of Renz's stint on the scratch list. “We had all been rotated out. He had a good stretch, then some bad luck that forced him out. Renzie is a mature guy and handled it the right way. He went about his business, played great, scored on the weekend. It says a lot about who he is.”
“I was really happy to be part of the lineup every night,” Renz said in regard to the Lakers' first 11 games. “I progressed through the course of the year. I tried to take my game to the next level. There were a few games where I did do that and a few where I didn't. I missed a few straight games where I didn't get the chance to get back in. I started playing again in the Christmas tournament. If you have your spot, there's always someone trying to get it from you. It takes good games every weekend to hold your spot.”
Renz understands the “don't-fix-it-if-it-isn't-broke” mentality as the Lakers amassed an impressive 4-2-2 record and 1.88 goals-against average while he was out of the lineup.
“How can you take someone out who's been a part of that,” Renz persisted with impressive maturity and grace. “If I was in that position, I wouldn't want to be taken out of those games.”
But he fought his way back, going +1 in Vermont and +1 during last week's series against Bowling Green State.
“There's no better time than tournaments to show the NCAA how much better you've gotten,” Renz said of the Lakers' team performance. “In conference there's not much to talk about, but to go prove it against teams that they expect will beat us. Brown was expected to beat us, and they went on to beat Providence, which was then the No. 1 team in the country.”
Chatham describes Renz as a confident player and natural leader.
“He brings a lot,” Chatham said. “He can do it from both sides. Physically he can play the body really well. He's been getting some power-play touches. When he gets his offensive side going, he is confident with the puck…A lot of guys look up to him. By the way he carries himself, you can tell he's been in leadership positions before.”
Renz's plus-minus rating has improved from -18 as a rookie to +2 this season.
“A few of us were minus-10, minus-15,” Renz said of the sophomore defensive core. “Now we're all right around even. The biggest difference as a team is that we're scoring some 5-on-5 goals.”
Renz focused on improving his first-step quickness during the off-season, and his efforts have paid off.
“Over the summer our coaching staff is focused so much on having guys in shape, being one of the best conditioned teams in the league,” he said. “A lot of the players had a big summer conditioning-wise. Every summer I try to skate better. I went to a few camps and tried to get some help. I wanted to be a step faster, either to get away from guys or to catch up to guys. I wanted to get a little extra burst. I thought there were times during my freshman year that if I had been a little bit quicker, had an extra step, I could have created a little more offense, or close some space to force the opponent to make a bad play. I wanted to have more of a jump to get in the rush or hold pucks in along the blue line, keep pucks in the offensive zone.”
Last Saturday's goal against BGSU was the by-product of that work.
“You could tell he was playing with confidence,” Chatham said. “We were 4-on-4. He was low in the offensive zone, and he made a nice skill move in front of the net.”
