Ian Young moved to Chicago prior to the 2020-21 season to play for the USPHL’s Chicago Cougars.

Two years later, the Lakewood native is on the move again, heading to Angola, Ind., to play college hockey for Trine University.

Young, a goaltender, said it was all about connections and word of mouth in getting acclimated to Trine.

“I don’t really remember how the school first got on my radar,” Young said. “Our team visited once during the ‘20-21 season, but at that point, I wasn’t too interested in the school. Earlier this year, something just arose as coach (Josh) Dallmann mentioned to me one of my former teammates Adam Brimie went there, and I looked into it, and it sounded good. From there, I got in touch with Coach (Kyle) Williams, we talked a good bit, he saw a couple games, and another one of my teammates Jack Parks who is also committed to Trine, and I went in visited in January or February of this year.

“Really everything about the school just checked all the boxes.”

Young added that the school has everything, on and off the ice.

“Academically, they had the major I wanted and during our visit, we had a great tour with both the hockey staff and engineering faculty there. I didn’t really worry too much about it being a smaller school, and I feel the small class sizes will benefit me as a student athlete,” said Young. “As far as the hockey goes for an ACHA program, it’s really well supported by the school, they play in a great rink with nice locker rooms and facilities, and I just liked what I heard from Williams and Brimie about the program. Overall at the end of this last season when it came down to picking a school, Trine just stood out as one that felt right, and I went with it.”

When looking back at his two seasons playing for the Cougars, Young said that they helped prepare him for college.

“I think playing in Chicago, especially for the Cougars, and taking those extra couple of years to play helped me, both on and off the ice,” Young said. “For one, I got quite comfortable living on my own while not attending school full-time, but I still took part-time classes and had to balance out my hockey, work, and school. Hockey-wise, I feel I improved greatly over these past couple years, and the extra development has given me good confidence going into my first year of college, especially coming out of this last postseason and nationals.

“Additionally, the level of play in juniors is just so much more competitive and fast compared to U18s and high school that I expect the transition to not be as difficult had I come straight out of high school.”

This past season, the Cougars played their home games out of Fifth Third Arena, the Chicago Blackhawks’ practice facility, in downtown Chicago.

“Playing in downtown Chicago was an incredible experience, and I think it tops the list of places I’ve played over these last few years where I jumped around quite a bit,” said Young. “Moving from Carpentersville to downtown Chicago was a bit of an adjustment, but we spend a lot of time downtown, and one of the first things we did as a team was have a day downtown where we explored the city and went to the lakefront.

“Ultimately, I really enjoyed the city, and could very much see myself moving back to Chicago after college depending on how things work out, and that’s just the city. We were fortunate enough to play at Fifth Third Arena where the Blackhawks practice, and everything there from the ice to the gym to the facilities was great and really elevated the hockey side of the experience.”

Now with his college life in front of him, Young can begin to focus on his future.

“Aside from hockey, I’m majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Aerospace engineering, so my short-term goals would just to be to have fun in college while getting my degree, finding a job, and really figuring out which way I want to go with my career,” Young said “In the long run, I’d like to do something in the aerospace field. Colorado is home to some big aerospace companies like Lockheed Martin and Ball Aerospace, so I could also see myself returning back to Colorado to work there or pursue internships while still in college.”

Playing all of his youth hockey with the Foothills Flyers, Young had previous junior experience with the Steamboat Wranglers in the WSHL back in 2018-19 and also played for Columbine High School.

Photo/Beverly Buchinger

— Matt Mackinder

(June 28, 2022)