Troy comes to the Buccaneers from Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he played for Benilde-St. Margaret’s High School. At Benilde, Troy was team
MVP and a member of the Class A State Championship team. He was also Minnesota’s leading high school scorer and made the All State Tournament Team. Troy’s pet peeves are dishonest people and cigarettes. He says the best advice he ever received was, “If you’re not the lead dog, the view never changes”.
Also see interview below.
Interview
Sarah: Why don’t you talk about some of your past teams, where you played last year, and where you came from.
Troy: From Minneapolis, Minnesota and last year I played for Benilde-St. Margaret’s High School in St. Louis Park and we were state champions last year. We won the whole thing and it was pretty exciting.
Sarah: You guys had a pretty good year last year?
Troy: Yeah, we had a really good year. We only lost two games. It was a great team and a good time.
Sarah: Do you miss it?
Troy: Not really. I know now, you know, if I went back for my senior year to play high school or whatever, I don’t know, I definitely am learning so much here and the pace is so much better and school is going great right now. My grades are going good and everything is just falling into place just like I hoped it would.
Sarah: Good. Is it difficult going to school and playing hockey at the same time? How do you balance that out?
Troy: It’s not that bad. Actually, you know, we go to class for the first two periods. It starts at 7:45 every morning, which is crazy. Then we go to the first two periods, and then we go to practice. Then right after practice we’ve got to hustle to try to find something to eat. Then we go to school. Then right after school we have a study table every day for two hours. We do that and then we’ve got to try to get a dinner and, you know, we’ve got to make it to the gym. So it’s a pretty hectic schedule, especially the weekdays are pretty full. There’s not too much time for anything else.
Sarah: Why don’t you talk about some of the differences of playing in Minnesota and here. Is it a huge difference having come here and experiencing this?
Troy: You mean the level of play?
Sarah: The level of play, everything in general.
Troy: Yeah, coming from a high school level to a junior hockey level is obviously a lot different. You know, there’s hard hitting, smaller rinks, definitely play more defensively. Everything is more defensive. I think it’s fun when the games are really close, except for maybe last night. Other than that, I mean, 2-1, 3-2. Every game is a battle. Just strap your helmet on and go at it. High school was a little more laid back. Our team was really good last year, so we blew a lot of teams out except for the state tournament. Other than that, there’s definitely a little bit of a change there.
Sarah: You had a really good game last night.
Troy: Yeah, thank you.
Sarah: You are welcome. What do you enjoy most about Des Moines?
Troy: I don’t know. I really don’t get a chance to do too much. The Buccaneer program here is just unbelievable. You know, it is obviously one of the best. I was really excited last year when Des Moines protected our high school team. They protected four of us. I know of other programs where they don’t support them as much as they do here. We get a ton of support. It makes it so much better and easier on us too. Like last night, I heard a Thunder Bay kid who said, "This is unreal. This is your home and it’s not fair." It makes it that much more fun to play hockey too.
Sarah: How old were you when you first started playing hockey?
Troy: I was really young. As soon as I could start walking, I started skating.
Sarah: Is there a story behind it at all?
Troy: No, not really. I have a younger brother who is a year younger than me who plays for the National 17 team. My dad picked hockey from the start and that is what we have always played and that is what we always loved to do.
Sarah: Do you have any other hobbies?
Troy: Not really. I play golf and I do the normal things like you do in the summertime – hang out, play golf. There’s a lot of boating and stuff back home. There are a lot of lakes and we are always on the lake. Fishing, skiing, and what not, hanging out and getting a tan.
Sarah: Do you have a most embarrassing moment you can tell me about?
Troy: Yeah, I do. I remember it was a few years ago and I was in the summer league. I don’t know how it happened. We got into a tangle in front of the net and somehow my helmet was screwed onto his helmet and we were facing each other. It was like his mouth guard and then my screw was like attached. And so we sat there like this, like we were kissing or something. We both had full masks on. Finally we had to take our helmets off and try to undo them. Everybody laughed at us for awhile and it was really embarrassing.
Sarah: Why don’t you talk about your future plans then.
Troy: Next year I signed a national letter of intent to play for the University of Minnesota. So I will play there for four years or whatever to get a good education and just play hockey. The campus isn’t too far from my hometown, you know, where I grew up. It is actually right down the road real close. So it will be fun playing in front of all my family and friends every night. It will be a good time, and I’m excited.
Sarah: Well, is there anything else you would like to tell the fans.
Troy: I love it here in Des Moines and appreciate all the support that they give us every night. That is great. We couldn’t do it without them.
