llamapalooza
Hockey State Expat
I'm thinking of visiting and/or even going to school far away from home (Finland) and was thinking Minnesota would be the place for me. I'm a hockey fanatic / home expert / player on a low level here in Finland, and a big, big fan of the Wild. I know there is alot of universities with great hockey programs, but I only can name one (Gophers, University of Minnesota), so what are the other great programs in Minnesota? And is there any low-level or high-level high-schools around that offers playing hockey? (In Finland schools have nothing to do with sport teams, so really dont know how to call that relationship there..) And playing hockey would be the thing if I get myself there while still being a highschooler, or am I going to study in some Uni and get some work with the universitys hockey team? Is it impossible to get something for me with the hockey team? I have studied coaching and other hockey "stuff" here in Finland, so getting would a scouts spot for example the U of Minnesota -team be much of a longshot? Or do you know any other jobs / free time activities an exchange student would be getting with a Uni or highschool team? With hockey experience of course?
The text is kind of a cluster*****, so ask me if I it was hard to understand.
First of all, just FYI because this tends to baffle everyone not from the US: what you're looking for will probably be easier to find if you search for "college hockey" than if you search for "university hockey." We use the terms "college" and "university" a bit differently than most countries. (Ignore the last section--because it's biased, and also because Carleton was my school's crosstown rival
)Also of note and somewhat confusing: a "school" in US English is literally any place you learn. The place where I learned to read is a school, but so is Harvard.
Now then:
- Up until 12th grade (18 years old) everyone plays through their high school. (With a few exceptions, high schools are generally free and public, and you are assigned one based on your address rather than selecting one.)
- All the D-1 (top-tier) colleges that gphr listed will have both an NCAA team and at least one respectable club (i.e., lower-level unofficial) team.
- Pretty much all the smaller colleges (private schools and whatnot) will have a D3 team (still official NCAA but a lower tier for smaller schools) and/or a club team.
- It also wouldn't surprise me if the biggest schools offered intramural hockey (recreationally competing against other students from the same school) but I'm not positive if that's the case.
- MN also has loads of adult (18 years and older) hockey that isn't tied to a school. It will be a wider range of ages--when I did a beginners' league in one of these programs we had a 67 year old on our team!--but you would definitely be welcome and there are no tryouts/eligibility requirements/etc. I personally had a great time in the AHA program when I lived there.
