When former NHL player Craig Laughlin was at Clarkson University in the 1980s, he learned enough about statistical probability to know that his children’s best chances of life-long success would be in the classroom and not at the hockey rink.
“When I dealt with my kids it was always about education,” Laughlin says. “There’s about a .05 percent chance of having a career in the National Hockey League.”
Laughlin, an analyst on Washington Capitals’ television broadcasts, is one of the growing number of former NHL players whose children have decided that hockey mixed with education is an attractive game plan for their future. Laughlin’s son Kyle is a three-time All-Hockey East All-Academic team member and a co-captain at Providence, and his daughter Courtney is a forward at Potsdam.
“I think players that have been in the NHL know that it is a tough road ahead if you are trying to play there,” Laughlin said. “In the Washington area, I recommend the college route more than ever because after four years you come out with the piece of paper that allows you to get on with your life or you have the promising start to an NHL career.”
In the CCHA, eight of the 12 teams have at least one son of a former NHL player on their roster. Keith Acton’s son, Will, is at Lake Superior State. Justin Vaive, son of Rick Vaive, is at Miami. Perry Turnbull’s son, Travis, is at Michigan, while Michigan State boasts Trevor Nill, son of Detroit Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill, plus Brett Perlini, son of Fred Perlini. Jerome Dupont’s son, Jeremie, is playing for Nebraska-Omaha. Garth Butcher’s son, Matt, is playing at Northern Michigan. Christian Hanson, son of Dave Hanson, is playing at Notre Dame. Western Michigan has Kim Clarkson’s son, Chris, and Craig Ludwig’s son, Tyler.
The trend continues around the country.
Denver has Joe Mullen’s son Patrick and Pokey Reddick’s son, Bryce, plays at Michigan Tech. Ron Hextall’s son, Brett, skates at North Dakota and Wisconsin has Mark Johnson`s son Patrick, plus Blake Geoffrion, who is the son of Danny Geoffrion and grandson of Bernie “Boom Boom” Geoffrion. Mike Backman’s son, Sean, is at Yale, Carey Wilson’s son, Colin, is at Boston University and Shawn Saunders, son of Bernie Saunders, is at Massachusetts (UMass). Dmitri Mironov came up through the Russian system, but his son Egor is at Niagara. Jordy Murray, son of St. Louis blues Coach Andy Murray, is also at Wisconsin. Clark MacLean, son of former NHL general manager and coach Doug MacLean, is a freshman playing at Alabama-Huntsville.
Former NHL player Danton Cole coaches at Huntsville, and MacLean said he has been impressed with the commitment a player has to make to be a scholar-athlete.
“The work these kids put in from the fitness perspective, from the practice perspective, from a study perspective, like all the other Division 1 sports, is something to watch,” MacLean said. “Off-ice, on-ice, they work hard.”
MacLean, who played junior hockey in Canada when he was his son’s age, admires how the players have to balance their time, especially when they are dealing with a 13- hour bus trip to Robert Morris or a plane trip to Colorado.
“These kids have to learn to make adjustments,” MacLean said.
Former NHL player Nill, from Alberta, also played Canadian junior hockey, but he was happy that his son decided college was the correct path for him.
“He is a very good student,” Nill said. “And my wife and I value school. And anyone who has been in this business knows how hard it is to make it and it’s good to have that education.”
Nill still has great admiration for the Canadian major junior program, but he enjoys the atmosphere of college hockey.
“You go to a place like Yost or Munn Arena or go to Wisconsin or North Dakota and you walk in and the bands are playing and the campus is buzzing,” Nill said. “It’s like going to a Super Bowl.”
Like Nill, Laughlin also has tremendous respect for junior programs considered professional by the NCAA but says the college atmosphere is like no other with all the energy in the building and on the ice.
“College hockey has pizzazz,” Laughlin said. “It’s a fantastic game, so up-tempo. They have about the same rules as the NHL, and they have had no redline for years. I love college hockey.”
Sometimes, Laughlin says, NHL fans tell him that the college game seems “too scattered” for them.
“But there is a method to their madness,” Laughlin said. “My son said it best after he went to a Caps rookie camp. He said, `You know Dad, the pro game is about control, and the college game is go, go, go.'”
Laughlin says he believes that the college game is now attracting the “kids who want to skate, and that’s the way the game is going now.”
Ludwig played college hockey at North Dakota, and will have had three sons play college hockey once son C.J., now playing in the USHL, reports to Northern Michigan. His first son, Trevor, played at Providence before turning pro.
“I’m getting rid of them one at a time,” Ludwig said, laughing. “We were lucky enough that we had schools interested in all of them. They have been around hockey long enough to know the reality that having those (graduation) papers is helpful. We have tried to tell them it’s a tough route to the NHL and you have to be at the right place at the right time.”
Having grown up around the Dallas Stars, Ludwig’s sons probably had a better understanding of their options than he did because he was concentrating on his own hockey career. He chuckles in telling the story that Brent Sutter had called him when he was a Western Hockey League GM and asked him whether his sons would be interested in playing in Red Deer.
“I had no clue about the WHL and didn’t know the college ramifications,” Ludwig said. “And when I told my sons, they said, `Dad, if we did that, we couldn’t go to college.’ And I said, `What?’ That’s how in tune they were about college. It was all them.”
With his third son, Ludwig is more involved, “because I’ve learned a little bit more (now that I’m no longer playing).”
Laughlin said he’s noticed that most of players he played with are all viewing college hockey as a primary option for their children. His view is that if a player is a college prospect, he will end up there, regardless of what path he follows.
“It’s really changed,” Laughlin said. “When I got drafted the only person who knew I got drafted was my dad because he read in the paper when the Toronto Star came out. I had no inkling I would be drafted. Then I got a letter (from Montreal) and it said, `We hope you have a great college career. You will stay there the whole time and we hope to see you in three years.'”
Laughlin says the bottom line is that once someone has gone to college and understands the value of an education, they rarely view any other option as the best route.
Call it one of his statistical hunches.
This feature was first published in the December 1st issue of the Hockey News.
