Ryan Mitchell made the decision last season to further his junior hockey career in the USPHL.

The Parker native has now played for three teams in three states and said he wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.

Last season, Mitchell started with the Decatur (Ill.) Blaze before joining the new Colorado Fighting Elk at the start of 2024-25 and then going to the Fresh Coast (Mich.) Freeze in November.

“The opportunity for me to sign with Decatur last year arose when the coach from Decatur reached out to me over the summer before the season after seeing me at other junior camps in the spring,” Mitchell said. “This season, signing with the Fighting Elk came up when I saw that Colorado was getting the team and I found the team’s contact information and reached out. The coach and I talked about the team and about how he wanted to bring the team to Colorado, and it seemed to be the right decision for starting the season. Then in November, I was traded to the Freeze through some tough points through the beginning of the season and it was a move to extend my future as a hockey player and better myself in a new environment.”

Mitchell added that playing in the USPHL has exposed him to routes into colleges and higher levels of hockey that he wasn’t really interested in before playing junior hockey.

“Playing here has opened up a lot of possibilities for me going to play hockey in college and seeing how my skills and hockey abilities can grow,” said Mitchell. “Being away from home is an experience I enjoy a ton, seeing new places and meeting all the people in the places I’ve been playing these last couple years has been an unforgettable and amazing thing for me. Obviously, I miss being home and seeing my family, but getting able to meet these new families, especially my billets, have been really special for me. 

“I’ve been more than lucky with the billets I’ve had and have. They’ve been huge contributors to my maturating and learning life skills. And just having them be open to having me live with them is a great feeling that they’re willing to go through these hockey seasons with me.”

Mitchell said his season with Decatur was “rocky,” but he’s glad he went through the year in southwestern Illinois.

“Decatur had to make the adjustment to having both a Premier and Elite team, so to everyone it was a learning experience,” Mitchell said. “Putting together the team was a task that might have been a part of our on-ice struggles. On a personal level, it was up and down. The people that I met there and I spent my time with on and off ice were amazing and people I talk to constantly still, but on ice, the coaching and I just didn’t always see eye to eye. While the coaching I got there was great and I learned a lot of new things and I’m grateful for all of it, my way of learning and their style of coaching just weren’t the best fit and was a contributor to my choice in moving organizations going into this year.”

Growing up, while he can’t pinpoint the exact time, Mitchell said hockey has been his life for as long as he can remember.

“I can’t exactly remember what drew me to hockey, but I’ve always loved it,” said Mitchell. “It took a lot of convincing of my parents to let me finally start, but in elementary school, I convinced them to let me start with roller hockey to test if it was really something I wanted to do, which obviously was what I really wanted to do no matter what they said. And being from Parker, we had plenty of hockey close by once I convinced them to let me play hockey and finding a team wasn’t difficult.”

The first organization Mitchell started playing for was the Arapahoe Warriors, playing there through Bantams. 

My coach that really helped me enjoy hockey and stood out to me and still does is Joe Castellino,” Mitchell said. “He coached me my first year of Bantams and then through spring high school as well. He has always been thought of very highly by me and I will always be grateful for the coaching he has given me.

“Through my time playing in Colorado, the things I will remember the most are the people that I met playing there and all the friends I’ve made through the years and just the experience and things that happened that made me fall in love with hockey — memories that have made me want to play hockey more and more every day.”

Moving forward, Mitchell has goals in mind, at the rink and in the classroom.

“Currently my short-term goals with hockey and life are to finish this season and next year play my age-out year of juniors,” said Mitchell. “After that, I would like to attend college and pursue a degree in either business or finance and hopefully continue my hockey career onto the collegiate level. The level I would like to play at is still undecided, but I want my academics to be put first and then with that I can find out what I would like to do from a hockey stance in college.”

Photo/PH3 Photo & Video

— Matt Mackinder

(January 18, 2025)