Carolina Hurricanes’ center Jeff Skinner is playing hockey with guys he grew up watching on television; the same guys he jokes around with outside of the rink when they are not with their wives or children.
At the age of 19, Skinner has already been honored with the Calder Trophy as NHL’s top rookie and had the opportunity, midway through his first season, to play in the 2011 All-Star Game, becoming the youngest All-Star selection in all four major American sports.
Skinner plays with the Hurricanes’ captain Eric Staal , who is 27, married and has a child. Despite the age difference, Skinner still enjoys having veterans as his teammates as well as someone to hang out with and look up to.
“You get used to hanging out with the older guys. At first, it was weird to think that when you come here, guys go home to their wives and pick their kids up from school and stuff like that,” Skinner said. ”But there’s still a bunch of young guys so we all sort of hang out with each other, but the older guys that do have wives and kids, they’re all pretty young at heart.”
That level of hockey success at 19 is something that hockey enthusiasts at N.C . State can only experience through watching someone like Skinner. The 22 members of State’s ice hockey club team will finish their college careers never experiencing the level of competition already reached by somebody who is younger than most of them.
For example, captain Harry Fryckberg competes because he loves hockey, but he is playing in a completely different arena.
Fryckberg , at the age of 21, will be graduating in May with a degree in economics and a minor in business administration and hopes to go into the financial world outside of North Carolina after graduating.
“Hockey helped a little bit with my decision to come to State because I knew there was a program here,” Fryckberg said. “I’m glad I joined because I’ve meet a lot of different guys through hockey.”
Fryckberg is taking 14 credit hours at State while balancing practice twice a week late at night and the 22-25 games during the season which starts in the middle of September until Spring Break in March.
Skinner graduated from high school in Canada and has four older siblings who played and are still playing hockey at a university. He had the chance to go visit them, but Skinner himself has never had the whole college experience.
Skinner is not just a professional athlete – he is also taking a psychology class through an online university in Canada. But for now, hockey is the most important thing on his mind.
“If I would have went to college after high school I’m not sure where I would be but I know I would definitely be playing hockey,” Skinner said. “If I wasn’t playing hockey I would be doing something with business.”
Former head coach of the Canes, Paul Maurice, said that 99 percent of the hockey world never has to go through that.
“At the end of the day, to get to where he is at his level, they’re usually special people and I can tell from meeting his family that they’re incredibly well-grounded and focused on what he does,” Maurice said.
Skinner is usually the last one off the rink after practice and Maurice believes that he is remarkably professional at his age.
“He has a lot of room to focus on his job, being that he is a young guy and has a lot of personal things ahead of him that haven’t happened yet. He’s handling it exceptionally well. “
