Giving it the old college try
Blue-liners Hutton, Stecher quick NHL studies after taking the NCAA route
Ben Hutton was quick to dispel the myth. He knows NCAA hockey is far from easy street. And the notion that a schedule predicated on weekend games doesn’t properly prepare players for the rigours of the NHL makes the former University of Maine standout and Vancouver Canucks defenceman chuckle.
After all, the quick maturation of the 23-year-old sophomore blue-liner and the instant impact of 22-year-old rookie Troy Stecher — the Richmond native who excelled with national champion University of North Dakota before signing as a free agent — have ramped up expectations on a back end that desperately needs the duo and improving Russian rookie Nikita Tryamkin, 22, to add depth and potential.
Hutton had to choose between Maine and the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League and wanted to do what many prospects strive for — further his education (in his case, business management) and playing career at the same time. He couldn’t have asked for a better environment with the Black Bears. Or tougher practices.
“Sometimes we’d go on the ice for a regular practice for up to an hour, then we would flood the ice and go right back on and do the power play and penalty kill and all the systems stuff,” he recalled Wednesday. “We’d be on the ice for two hours a day. I don’t know how it is at other schools, but the practices at Maine were no joke.
“Guys would be running guys over just to try and get into the lineup. And to get in, you had to suck it up and prove that you deserve to be there.
“With only two games a week, you have to show it in practice.”
Hutton spent three seasons at Maine, where the 2012 fifth-round entry draft pick had 15 goals in 35 games in 2013-14 to tease of pro potential. After four games with the American Hockey League’s Utica Comets at the end of the following season, his startling arrival as a confident and instinctive blue-liner at his first Canucks camp in Prince George in the fall of 2015 was a testament to his skill, his dedication and to the college environment.
“Guys would be running guys over just to try and get into the lineup (at Maine.)” — Ben Hutton
He would finish tied for second among NHL rookie defenceman in assists with 24 and third in points with 25 in 2015-16 and this season has four goals and seven assists heading into play Wednesday.
“A lot of people say you could be playing 80 games a year in the NHL, how are you going to keep up with that after playing 39 in college?” added Hutton. “But we practised four more times a week than any other league and they weren’t easy. It was a dogfight. I would leave practice needing an ice bag because I would have to block a shot and sometimes I thought they were harder than games almost.
“You’re on the ice the whole time and you’re not taking breaks. And there are guys who don’t have full rides (scholarships) and walk-ons who are trying to make the team. One of my best buddies actually took a guy’s scholarship and the school honoured it because he earned it.”
There’s always going to be a legitimate argument that major junior hockey is the best preparatory step for NHL prospects because the schedule and travel demands can mirror the pro experience. But even at that level, there often isn’t sufficient practice time because of long road trips and multiple games bunched together in a short span of time.
Take that to the next level and it’s more magnified. Rest and recovery are often more important than NHL practices, even though systems often need adjusting depending on a team’s play or who the opposition may be on a given night. And the four-year window for NHL teams to sign college players, as opposed to two years for junior drafts, didn’t hurt Hutton.
“It helps the late-bloomers and a couple of more years to really showcase yourself,” he said. “And guys can wait it out and become free agents and get the right fit.
“For me, it really came down to getting an education and furthering your career because not everybody can play pro hockey or get to the NHL. I figured if you’re good enough, they’ll find you anyways.”
Hutton had an obvious curiosity level about Stecher when they first crossed paths at a Canucks development camp in 2014. But for Stecher to make the club as a rookie, man the point on the first power-play unit and be fifth in first-year average ice time for defenders at 20:50 per outing is something special.
“We worked out together in the summer and he said he wanted to do the same thing I did (make the club in the first camp) and I knew he had the skill and could play,” said Hutton. “Am I surprised? Yes and no. I knew with the way he worked the power play in the pre-season that this kid is a player.
“He’s just getting better and better.”
There are other intangibles at the collegiate level that differ from the junior grind. Maine, led by head coach Dennis “Red” Gendron, was big on mindset and reading motivational books was part of the program.
“My coach said you go in as a boy and leave as a man,” said Hutton. “He had a book for us every summer and every year and there was definitely a lot more interaction with your coaches. You spend three hours a day at the rink and you’re like a family.”