Race to the Finnish

Correction: In "Race to the Finnish" on May 28, it was stated that Topias Tervasmäki is the head coach of Virkia. Janne Ikola is the head coach. Ryan Minkoff was enjoying spring break in Mexico when a random man from Finland sent him a friend request on Facebook. The senior captain and president of the UW Ice Hockey Club ignored the request and thought nothing of it, then received another notification from Tuomo Kamppinen the next week. Minkoff accepted to see what would happen. It turns out Kamppinen helps with management and recruitment for Virkia, a hockey team in the small town of Lapua, Finland. Less than two months after reaching out to Minkoff, Kamppinen helped make the senior the first player in the UW Ice Hockey Club’s history to sign a professional hockey contract to play in Europe. “I didn’t know how, but I knew that somehow I needed to get a chance to go to Europe,” Minkoff said. “That was my dream before I even got to UW. … I always knew I was good enough to play in Europe.” In high school Minkoff attended hockey power Benilde-St. Margaret’s of St. Louis Park, Minn., but split time between junior varsity (JV) and varsity during his junior year. He felt the coaches overlooked him because of his defensive background, and it seemed they focused on developing younger offensive players. Even after adjusting his style to get on the ice more consistently, Minkoff was told to expect two periods skating for JV and two periods for varsity then spent most of his promised varsity minutes on the bench. “I was an emotional wreck sometimes after games,” Minkoff said, “or even before them. … It was very frustrating. That was when I found out that unless you’re a top-five player you have no control in terms of your playing time. I thought going into my senior year I was finally there, but obviously they didn’t think that.” Minkoff attended the University of Minnesota hockey camp before his senior year and drew interest from a coach at Union College, the Division I hockey national champion in 2014. But when he talked to his high school coaches about his recruitment after the summer, he realized that playing time would still be rare. A Division I program wouldn’t recruit him if he was sitting on the bench all season, so he gave up his senior season of high school hockey and joined a junior hockey league. The league was primarily made up of young players hoping to attend Division III schools, but he matured as a player while getting ample playing time. “I always thought I could get to this spot,” Minkoff said. “Pretty much the only people that believed in me were my parents and my sister. My parents were huge just continuing to make sure I had a good attitude.” Even while playing for a team with one of the worst records in its junior hockey league, according to Minkoff, he built a positive relationship with the coaches and credits the extra time on the ice with getting him ready for college and beyond. Prior to coming to the UW, Minkoff thought going to Seattle might be settling and playing at the club level may close the door on his professional hockey dream. The league the Huskies play in, the American Collegiate Hockey Association, produces far less professionals than Division I teams. Minkoff decided to come to the UW after evaluating his own talent and knowing he could motivate himself by setting goals before each season. He wanted to lead the team in points his freshman year and succeeded. He broke the club’s single-season points record for his sophomore goal. Minkoff now holds every scoring record (career and season) for the UW Ice Hockey Club. He was a top-five player in the nation in scoring each of the past three seasons, leading the nation in his junior campaign. “I want to never be satisfied,” Minkoff said. “I learned so much [playing at the UW] just in terms of my own maturity and playing the game. I was always the main guy when I was here. I was never really that my whole career before here.” The first year Minkoff played for the UW, he led the team to their second Pac-8 championship and a 19-9-0 record. The team fared well in his sophomore and junior seasons, finishing with winning records in both seasons before being eliminated from the postseason in Pac-8 tournament play. This season was a rebuilding year with the team made up primarily of younger, less-experienced players. The Huskies finished 12-13-1-1, the only losing record of Minkoff’s college career, and were eliminated by conference champion Utah in the semifinal of the Pac-8 tournament. “I really wanted to grow this UW hockey team,” Minkoff said. “It’s definitely gotten way bigger over my four years.” Corey James was Minkoff’s linemate for three years before graduating in 2014. James and many of the players relished the opportunity to play with Minkoff. Some teammates coined the nickname Ryan Hockey for him, a nod to former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel. “He’s a really skilled player,” James said. “… When he showed up he was definitely a contributor right away. I think he was one that would really push me, and I would push him as well to be better.” Despite limited opportunities to prove his worth, Minkoff has an unwavering confidence when talking about his hockey ability. His game revolves around offense and finesse and he lets his play do the talking. “He really brings that energy that every team is looking for,” said Matt Cleeton, first-year head coach of UW ice hockey. “The guys feed off of it, from the guys on his line to the third- and fourth-liners … I’m very excited for him to have this opportunity to keep his hockey career alive.” Before signing with Virkia, Minkoff had countless questions for Kamppinen about life on and off the ice in Lapua. He regularly corresponds with Kamppinen and coach Janne Ikola via email and Skype. He also got in touch with former Virkia players from the United States to get their perspectives and advice on what to expect. Until he leaves for Finland in September, Minkoff is preparing in a variety of ways. As a member of the UW’s yoga club, he uses the exercises for physical and mental relaxation and building strength and flexibility. He lifts weights, practices individual skills on the ice, and plays in men’s league games to stay in shape and earn himself playing time with Virkia. “It’s all performance-based now,” Minkoff said. “It shouldn’t be a problem for me because I’m always trying to do well. … I’m getting paid to do this, which is unbelievable.” Reach contributing writer Evan Franklin at development@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @franklination13

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