By Nathan Kanter

Battlefords’ Young reflects on Frozen Four experience

Apr 11, 2017 | 5:00 PM

Battleford product Blake Young is one of seven Canadians on the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs men’s ice hockey team and one of three Saskatchewan-born players.

He’s also one of the few players from Battleford to play National Collegiate Athletics Association division-1 hockey.

This past weekend, the 6’3″ winger nearly won a national championship.

Young was part of the squad that defeated North Dakota, Ohio State, Boston University and Harvard on its path to the Frozen Four finals. 

There, the Bulldogs fell just short, 3-2 to Denver, which left Young with mixed emotions.

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“Just making the Frozen Four, [which is] your goal at the start of every season, and being able to realize that goal and all the hard work you have to put in to get there, that’s probably our best moment so far,” Young said in a phone interview on Monday afternoon. “[It’s] disappointing, obviously. You work all year for that and to come up one goal short is tough. But you think a little more and you think of everything you did accomplish throughout the year and you can keep your head high and be proud of what you did accomplish even though that end goal isn’t quite how you expected it to end.”

While growing up, NCAA hockey was not on Young’s radar at all.

As a youngster, he grew up skating on his backyard rink that he and his dad would flood every year, and he also went and cheered on the Battlefords North Stars.

“I think my first game I was two years old and I went every year, my family always had season’s tickets,” Young recalled. “So I grew up watching them and grew up dreaming to play for them.”

Young did exactly that.

He played for the AAA Stars first, and then suited up for 107 games in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, all with the North Stars.

His first career SJHL game was on Jan. 24, 2012, when he was called up as a 17-year-old. 

“It was a surreal moment, really,” Young said. “I honestly think I tripped over the blueline my first shift, which is kind of funny. There were definitely a lot of nerves going in but I think as the game went on, it got a little bit easier every time.

“Just playing with all of these older guys that I had watched throughout the year and I’m in my cage and they’ve got their visors and you look up to them.”

It was in his 19-year-old season when Young would really stand out.

He put up 43 points in 54 games by season’s end.

But before all of those numbers were tallied, Young was approached at the beginning of the season by the assistant coach of the Bulldogs, Jason Herter, who was at the SJHL showcase along with scouts and coaches from plenty of other schools.

“[Herter] actually spoke in front of the whole showcase to start off and I didn’t realize at the time he was the assistant coach for Duluth,” Young said. “After the games he spoke to me again and from there on it was just every week we’d touch base until I committed here.

“There were a few [other schools] that approached me and just introduced themselves but Minnesota-Duluth was really one of the few that showed a lot of interest and actually kept tabs and would call me every now and then.”

Young actually left the North Stars when he still had a year of junior eligibility remaining.

He said he made the decision because there was no guarantee that college spot would be offered again the next year.

“They gave me an ‘Either you can come now or we’ll have to have to look for a different option,’ becasue they needed a player [then],” Young said. 

This past weekend marked the end of his third season as a Bulldog, meaning Young only has one more year left.

He hasn’t thought too far beyond university, but has been enjoying his major in French and communications.

“I actually started off in exercise science but it didn’t really work out and I grew up going to the French elementary school in Battleford and I thought ‘why not?’” Young said. “The transition has actually been a lot easier than I thought it would be and classes are going well.

“I took 13 years of it so I can speak it fluently enough. It was a pretty easy transition.” 

Now that his NCAA career is more than half over, Young did have a small bit of advice for junior players.

“If you’re considering the NCAA, look into it because it’s a great option,” he said. “If you’re not too sure about the WHL – it’s a great league as well, but the option to get a degree with playing hockey is always great.” 

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

@NathanKanter11