I prefer college hockey to pro hockey. I’m a fan of the wider-open game, with the focus on speed, stick-handling, and quick shifts than the more plodding, physical, clutch-and-grab NHL. Maybe it’s because I fell in love with the game from the white-out student sections at Snively and the Whitt as an undergraduate at UNH, when the Wildcats were a national power in big-time college hockey, and Hockey East was a big-time conference. Maybe it’s just a better game.
My favorite player was one of the best to ever lace them up for the white and blue, British Columbia’s Jason Krog. A waterbug of a centerman at under six feet and less than 200 pounds, Krog made his mark with elusiveness, stick skills, and an affinity for the back of the net. He scored more than thirty goals in each of his junior and senior year with UNH, and as a senior he led the Wildcats all the way to the national title game in Anaheim. He was an all-American, all-tournament, and won the Hobey Baker as college hockey’s best player.
It never really translated to the NHL for Krog. Not quite big enough to endure the beating at that level, he bounced around the league, scoring 22 goals in 202 games for the Islanders, Mighty Ducks, Rangers, and Canucks. In between he did prove to be a fairly dominant AHL player, with 190 goals in 535 minor league games. He was the hockey equivalent of a AAAA player.
But he was magical in college, part of that awesome mid-to-late-90s UNH squad that filled the Whitt every winter night. And you don’t forget players like that.