For Blake Young, the start of 2018 marks the final stages of his college hockey career, as he鈥檚 officially in the final stretch of his four-year stint with the NCAA鈥檚 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs.
鈥淚t still feels like I鈥檓 just walking through the doors as a freshman,鈥� Young said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 crazy how fast time goes by. If you blink, you鈥檒l end up missing something, so I鈥檓 really just enjoying everything that鈥檚 left for me down there.鈥�
The 23 year old from Battleford is enjoying his best season to date with the Bulldogs, as he鈥檚 scored five goals and picked up three assists in 21 games.
鈥淚鈥檝e gained a lot of confidence out on the ice this year and I鈥檝e grown more into my role of being a power forward and an energy guy,鈥� Young said.
鈥淲hat I do on a nightly basis might not show up in the score sheet, but it resonates with the rest of the team as what I do allows our skilled guys to have more scoring opportunities.鈥�
Young, who headed down south after two seasons in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League with the Battlefords North Stars, has also moved into more of leadership role on the team as one of six senior players on the Bulldogs roster.
鈥淲e really try to show the younger guys what it means to Bulldog and how to play the style of hockey that we are known for,鈥� Young said.
鈥淲hen I came down to Duluth in 2014, I think I was the second youngest guy on the roster. We had some great older leaders on those teams like Adam Krause, Derik Johnson and Justin Crann, plus some younger guys like Dominic Toninato and Andy Welinski that really helped me out along the way.鈥�
After losing to the Denver Pioneers in the national championship game last April, this year鈥檚 Bulldogs lineup has a dramatically different look to it with a number of players moving on from the collegiate ranks.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always tough when you lose as many core guys that we did,鈥� Young said. 鈥淲e lost our starting goalie [Hunter Miska], five of our starting defencemen [Brenden Kotyk, Dan Molenaar, Neal Pionk, Willie Raskob and Carson Soucy] and three of our top scoring forwards [Alex Iafallo, Adam Johnson and Dominic Toninato] to either graduation or the pros.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a new group of guys that are maturing and doing well in adapting to their new roles, but there鈥檚 still going to be that learning curve over the first part of the season.鈥�
While the Bulldogs currently have a 9-9-3 record and find themselves in seventh place in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, the team has had to deal with numerous injuries over the first half.
鈥淚 think we have had five guys out with separated shoulders and couple of concussions, so we鈥檝e had our lines jumbled up a bit and everyone鈥檚 been playing with a lot of different guys as a result of that,鈥� Young said.
鈥淗aving more guys healthy in the second half will help, but we still need to focus on having a full 60-minute effort in each game. We鈥檝e had a few lapses so far this year and it鈥檚 allowed the other teams to come back and win. We need to fix that in order to climb up the standings.鈥�
Thanks to a pair of wins last weekend over the Yale Bulldogs and the Dartmouth Big Green to win the Ledyard Classic in Hanover, New Hampshire, the Bulldogs have worked their way up to 16th in the latest USCHO national rankings.
They are one of six NCHC teams ranked in the top 20 nationally, with the St. Cloud Huskies sitting in first place, the Denver Pioneers in fourth, the North Dakota Fighting Hawks in sixth spot, the Western Michigan Broncos ranked 12th and the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks residing in the 18th spot.
鈥淚 feel like our conference is the hardest to win in on a nightly basis,鈥� Young said. 鈥淵ou look at a team like Colorado College, who were near the bottom of the standings in my first two years there, and now they are beating Denver who are the defending national champions.
鈥淭hat just shows the skill level that鈥檚 there among all eight teams. If you take a night or two off, you鈥檒l find yourself at the bottom of the standings.鈥�
The next game for the Bulldogs will be on the road as they鈥檒l take on the Colorado College Tigers on Friday, Jan. 12.
They return to Duluth on Friday, Jan. 19 to face the North Dakota Fighting Hawks.
