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Inspiring Students

Stop the Puck

By Mike Killeen

Goalies have one condition, and one condition only, to play successfully in professional hockey.

Stop the puck—with your glove, stick or body—and you can have a long career. Don’t do that, and well, you better have a good education.

Saint John’s University senior Adam Hanna understands that. Heck, it has almost become his mantra.

“I think a goalie is a different position than any of the skating positions because no matter where you’re at, they’re just shots,” Hanna said. “When you’re in the NHL when you’re a skater, you have to be in the right spot at the right time quicker, it’s harder to score, it’s harder to make passes, it’s harder to get in the zone."

“The goalie? He’s just trying to stop shots, you know? If you can do that, it doesn’t matter how big you are, or how small you are,” Hanna said.

Or, it might be added, if you come from a pretty good Division III hockey program.

Hanna made his final collegiate appearance at the 2006 Frozen Four Skills Challenge April 7 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wis. It capped a wonderful three-year career at Saint John’s in which Hanna became the Johnnies’ career leader in victories (51), goals-against average (1.77) and shutouts (14), was a two-time team MVP, a three-time All-American and a three-time member of the All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. He received the Sid Watson Memorial Award as the outstanding Division III hockey player in the nation in 2006. And, in honor of Hanna’s classroom achievements (he's an economics major), he was named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America College Division Men’s At-Large third team.

“Adam was a terrific player from the moment he got to SJU,” Saint John’s hockey coach John Harrington said of the transfer from Division I St. Cloud State University. “He is, without doubt, one of the top players to play at Saint John’s. His record, and numerous records, speak for themselves. I certainly have learned to appreciate the value of an outstanding goaltender, and what that player can do for a team, more than I ever have as a college coach after having the good fortune of having Adam on my team.”

Hanna was one of two Division III players (the other was James Shipley from Milwaukee School of Engineering) who participated in the Skills Challenge, which included male and female players. Skaters participated in a puck control relay, fastest skater and hardest shot categories, while goalies and players competed in the rapid shot and penalty shot events.

Hanna “stole the show” in the rapid shot competition according to U.S. College Hockey Online reporter Eric Schmoldt, stopping 22 of 24 shots from three players to lead all goalies and give the West a point in the team competition.

“Three shooters are in a triangle,” Hanna said of the rapid fire event. “There’s one shooter in the slot, and then there’s two passers off each (goal) post. The guy in the slot gets eight shots. They just alternate sides (on the pass),” Hanna said. “There was a few seconds between each shot. The one guy would pass it, the shooter would shoot, then there would be a couple of seconds, and then the other passer would pass.

“Actually, getting to the third shooter, getting toward the end, it was tiring,” Hanna said.

With the team competition tied at 6-6, the Skills Challenge finished with a penalty shot competition, with each goalie facing three shooters. Hanna did not allow a goal against the shooters he faced, and through eight heats, the score remained tied at 9-9 (a point was awarded for each goal scored).

The event went into a sudden death shootout. Hanna next stopped Mike Ouellette from Dartmouth, and when the West’s Brandon Kaleniecki from Michigan scored, it appeared like the West had won 10-9.

But the East was mistakenly added a shot, and Justin Cross from Niagara beat Hanna to tie the score. The East won the event two shooters later.

“I was a little nervous going into it—being off for a month, and I don’t think that breakaways are necessarily my strongest suit as a goalie,” Hanna said. “But, you try to stop them. And, it worked out. I had confidence I could stop them.”

He called the sudden death a bit “confusing.”        

“The East shot first in the sudden death, and then it stayed tied for a while. Then we scored, so we should have won. We had the last shot,” Hanna said. “And then apparently they forgot that and they let (the East) have another shot and they scored—that was against me. It was one of those things like you knew they were going to score. So, they got the first shot and the last shot. Pretty good for them.”

Hanna said participating in the Skills Challenge helps get his name out before pro teams and scouts. He is a free agent, eligible to sign with any team.

“I just don’t think that too many professional scouts are going, ‘He did well in the Skills Challenge,’ ” Hanna said. “I mean, it was a Skills Challenge. They don’t care. But I think that helped. People seeing you is always good, regardless of how you play.

“Winning the Sid Watson Award, I think, helped me a lot more than this did, although I think this was great for me,” Hanna said.

Harrington said “a lot of teams have called and inquired” about Hanna. “If Adam is going to play this fall, he is going to have to go to some try-out and free agent camps this summer. He is going to visit a couple of the teams in the next few weeks, and maybe he’ll be guaranteed a spot with one of those teams.

“There are a lot of Division III kids playing pro hockey, so playing at that level shouldn’t hurt his chances,” Harrington said. “It’s just that when Division III players go to pro hockey, they need to work themselves up through the levels of pro hockey.”

“That’s where the Sid Watson (Award) is pretty big," Hanna said. "They see that and go, ‘OK, this kid can play, too. Here’s a goalie option for us. Would I rather have this kid, who was the Division III player of the year, or do I take a guy from a Division I school who was kind of the backup?’

“Well, who’s better? Just because he played Division I doesn’t mean he’s better or had more experience or anything. I think they understand that, because I don’t think they really care where people come from, necessarily,” Hanna said.

Or, how they stop the puck.

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