Chance Creger: Northland College Commitment

In the recent weeks there has been some major changes in my plans for college this semester. Unfortunately my hopes to attend MSOE were smothered after receiving a sub-par amount of financial aid. The plan had been to do participate in ROTC under a scholarship, in order to make up for the extra tuition that I needed for MSOE. Although the engineering program is one of the best in the country, the amount of debt that I would have accumulated over the four years would not have weighed even with the degree I received. My attention quickly shifted to find another path with either another D3 school or with professional hockey. I contacted Derek Armstrong, President of the Denver Cutthroats, in order to make plans to attend the Cutthroats Open Camp. Unfortunately with the folding of the Cutthroats I was unable to attend the open tryout.

During this time, one of my good friends and former teammates Dax Deadrick had come down to Colorado to train for the week. Fresh off a commitment to Northland College, he had sparked my interest in the hockey program and I sent in my application. Shortly after, Dax passed on my contact information and I was contacted by the Head Coach of Northland College, Seamus Gregory. Coach Gregory expressed heavy interest in having me join the program over at Northland which was beginning the first year of a rebuilding process. I went through the admissions and was awarded a substantial Academic Scholarship which cut the tuition to a more reasonable amount. I committed to Northland College shortly after and continued to train for the remainder of the summer to prepare for the upcoming season. I am extremely excited to be apart of the team here at Northland College and will continue to train heavily until tryouts in mid-October. I have just arrived for orientation today and will begin classes September 3rd.

Kenny McCudden Camp

It has been a very busy off-season this summer! This past week I had another great opportunity to coach at the Kenny McCudden camp at boulder for the second year in a row. My family hosted two Chicago players once again which is always a pleasure. One of the two Jacob McGlynn (White Center in Picture), stayed with us last year. He has improved tremendously and will be playing for Chicago Fury AAA next season. My youngest brother, Cole(22 white in picture) was also able to participate in the camp this year and will be playing U14 AAA for the RM Roughriders this upcoming season. Both Jacob and Cole won the "Kenny Cup" awarded to four players who showed the most tenacity, best work ethic, and overall skill in the week long camp. They will have their names engraved on the cup and I could not be more proud of both of them. 

Although this week was much more focused on my coaching, it was a fantastic learning experience to increase my overall knowledge of the game. I spent the week assisting at Stations with Kenny McCudden, Chris Lockrem and Paul Gylnn. All three are tremendous coaches and listening to how they presented skill work to players will absolutely aid in both my playing and coaching. It was an awesome experience and I hope to be able to participate in the camp again next year in Chicago! During Friday's game I was asked to referee the game for the kids, needless to say that will be one side of Hockey that I never wish to pursue. 

This off-season I have been very focused on both off and on ice training. I will be going into next season much stronger and weighing between 210 and 215. Also I am participating in the Denver Cutthroats Open Tryout August 22nd-24th! It should be a perfect opportunity to showcase my skill in a professional atmosphere and gear up for next season.