One of the big storylines for this year's Rookie Camp is the fact that 5 players; Sean Collins, Marty Guerin, Andrew Joudrey, Dan Kronick, and Travis Morin, have just finished up 4 years in college, and all come into camp with college degrees under their belts. Being a college student myself, I was impressed with their decisions to stay at the collegiate level for 4 years, when many players are choosing to go to juniors or turn pro early. With this in mind, I was able to talk to forward Dan Kronick, recent graduate of St. Cloud State.
First off, I wanted to know exactly why Dan chose to stay in college and complete his degree. And he made it immediately clear that his degree, which happens to be in criminal justice, was exactly the reason he stayed there. I continued by asking him how he felt college hockey prepared him differently than junior hockey would have. His response; "Some people say that the drawback is you only get 30 games instead of 80. But they're at a really good level and they mean a whole lot." He also expressed his opinion that the WCHA has become a much tougher NCAA Division I league, and the play is in no way inferior to the play in the junior hockey leagues.
Then I caught him off guard with this light but telling question; "What do you think was harder, the hockey or the classes?"
Wow....classes, definitely.....Hockey is the fun part. I'd rather be playing hockey than talking in front of people.
I asked about the camp itself, and how it differed from the college level, and as I expected, Kronick noted that the intensity level is up, and there's a noticeable increase in crisp, tape-to-tape passes. He told me that he's been trying to do whatever it takes to just make a team somewhere, and you have to work hard to get the attention of the coaches.
I finished off our conversation by asking him what he thought of the switch to the new Reebok jersey systems, and what it was like meeting new players this week. "Well the jerseys are great....I'm a big guy, so I need every advantage I can get." And in terms of the guys hes skating with, Dan said that he already knew a couple of the guys coming in, but there are several guys he figures he'll keep in touch with regardless of where they all end up.
It was a light and easy conversation, with the focus more on his college days and the changes from then to now as opposed to his playing during the camp. It seemed that Dan was still a little unused to the interview side of being a hockey player; as he walked down the hallway for our interview, he seemed almost surprised that he was one of the first few guys wanted for an interview. It was also clear that he enjoyed his college years, as he told me about his criminal justice thesis presentation, and how after a tough day of classes he'd only get a little bit of a break before having to go to hockey practice. Dan is the biggest forward and second biggest guy in rookie camp, and his presence will be a good addition to whatever team he ends up on.
