Around The Rinks: Anchorage's Trace Strahle and Wisconsin-Stevens Point are all about winning

When Wisconsin-Stevens Point coach Chris Brooks recruited defenseman Trace Strahle of Anchorage, he didn't give the kid the hard sell.

No over-the-top tire-pumping, no promises of heavy ice time, no fawning that Strahle was the unicorn Brooks sought on the blue line.

Instead, Brooks sold Strahle on how hard hockey was going to be with the Pointers.

"He had a philosophy of coaching I wanted to join — his attitude and the way he coached pulled me right in,'' Strahle recalled. "He wanted me, but he challenged me right away.

"He said, 'You're not going to just jump into the lineup right away. You'll have to earn your ice time.' ''

Mostly, what Strahle and his teammates have earned since he arrived on campus in 2013 is wins, including last spring's Division III national championship as a junior. That marked the third straight year Stevens Point advanced to the national championship game.

In Strahle's three-plus seasons with the Pointers, they are 75-20-6 (.772 winning percentage).

"Isn't that something?'' Strahle said. "It's a pretty cool thing. We know how to win, for sure, and how to compete.''

Strahle — pronounced STRAY-lee — is one of 73 men and women from Alaska who are listed on college hockey rosters at the Division I and Division III levels this season. That number has been fairly static, ranging from 68 to 77, in the last five seasons. And the majority of this season's college players from Alaska — 44, or 60 percent — unsurprisingly once again come from Anchorage, the state's biggest city.

Strahle isn't the only skater from Anchorage who savored Division III success last season. Mackenzie Millen won a D-III women's championship with Plattsburgh State, which is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation.

And an Alaska player has been part of a D-III men's championship team each of the last four seasons. Wisconsin-Stevens Point last season beat St. Norbert, which included senior captain Erik Cooper and freshman defenseman Tyler Andrews, both of Anchorage, in the national title game. The Cole brothers from Anchorage, Ryan and Brandon, won the 2015 national championship with Trinity, beating Strahle and company. Cooper won the 2014 title when St. Norbert beat Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and Jon Waggoner of Fairbanks won the 2013 championship with Wisconsin-Eau Clare.

[Check out our 2015-16 list of Alaskans in college hockey, and the siblings that abounded]

Strahle played three seasons of high school hockey at Service and his competition youth hockey for the Anchorage Hockey Association North Stars before heading to the junior level. He played one season for the Kenai River Brown Bears in the North American Hockey League as a 17-year-old and then one season for the Langley Chiefs in the British Columbia Hockey League before logging two seasons with the NAHL's Topeka Roadrunners in Kansas.

"I wasn't afraid of leaving home,'' Strahle said. "As soon as I got the chance, I was ready to jump into it.''

Brooks recruited Strahle in Strahle's final season with Topeka. Brooks said he told Strahle playing for the Pointers was not going to be easy, every practice was going to be competitive and players would be held accountable.

"Right from the start, I was honest with him,'' Brooks said. "When I saw him play, what I saw is a kid who could get around the ice and had good puck skills. Those are the foundation I look for because the other stuff I can teach him.''

Though undersized — 5-foot-10, 170 pounds — Strahle possesses the strong skating and mobility prized in today's game, no matter the level.

Strahle was in and out of the lineup as a freshman — he played in 14 of 30 games — but since has played all 71 Pointers games. In 85 career games, he has produced 9-27—36 totals. In nine games this season, he owns 3-3—6 totals for the No. 4-ranked Pointers.

Brooks said he uses Strahle, 24, in all situations.

Strahle is majoring in water resources, with a minor in resource management, and hopes to return to Alaska and work in conservation or water management. When he returns home in the summers, he loves to fish for red salmon, and he's run the storied Mount Marathon race in Seward a couple times as an adult; in Wisconsin, he fishes for walleye and pike, among others.

Brooks said Strahle's academic schedule is so rigorous it seems like his defenseman is always rushing to practice, or rushing to classes or the library. To accommodate the class schedules of players majoring in natural resources management, Brooks said, the Pointers next semester will practice at 6 a.m.

Strahle doesn't shy from such tough tasks. After all, he's spent the last three summers in Anchorage working as a construction laborer for Hickel Construction and Engineering.

Besides, getting to the national championship game a fourth straight season will no doubt require hard work.

"It's our goal from the start of the season, definitely the ultimate goal,'' Strahle said.

2016-17 Alaskans In College Hockey

DIVISION I MEN

ATLANTIC HOCKEY

Sacred Heart — Alec Butcher, Jr. F, Anchorage.

BIG TEN

Minnesota — Eric Schierhorn, Soph. G, Anchorage.

ECAC

Quinnipiac — Andrew Shortridge, Fr. G, Anchorage.

HOCKEY EAST

UMass-Lowell — Kenny Hausinger, Fr. F, Anchorage.

Merrimack — Alex Carle, Soph. D, Anchorage.

Providence — Truman Reed, Jr. D, Anchorage.

WCHA

Alabama-Huntsville — John Teets, Soph. D, Fairbanks.

UAF — Justin Woods, Jr. D, Fairbanks; Tayler Munson, Jr. F, Fairbanks.

UAA — Chase Van Allen, Sr. D, Anchorage; Mason Anderson, Fr. D, Anchorage; Connor Wright, Sr. F, Anchorage; Brad Duwe, Sr. F, Soldotna; Alex Jackstadt, Soph. F, Anchorage.

Minnesota State-Mankato — Ryan Schwalbe, Soph. F, Anchorage.

DIVISION I WOMEN

COLLEGE HOCKEY AMERICA

Lindenwood — Katie Nokelby, Sr. D, Anchorage.

ECAC

Rensselaer — Taylor Schwalbe, Soph. F, Anchorage.

Yale — Abby Gahm, Sr. F/D, Eagle River.

HOCKEY EAST

Merrimack — Felila Manu, Soph. D, Anchorage; Madison Morey, Soph. F, Fairbanks.

WCHA

Bemidji State — Bailey Wright, Jr. F, Anchorage; Lisa Laiti, Soph. D, Fairbanks.

St. Cloud State — Jenna Redford, Sr. D/F, Soldotna.

DIVISION III MEN

COMMONWEALTH COAST CONFERENCE

Curry — Joseph DiBenedetto, Fr. F, Anchorage.

Johnson & Wales — Andrew Cooley, Fr. D, Wasilla.

University of New England — Tony Crow, Soph. D, Anchorage.

ECAC WEST

Neumann — Ryan Luiten, Sr. F, Anchorage; Shane Topf, Sr. F, Eagle River.

MIAC

Saint Mary's — Austin Arnold, Soph. D, Anchorage; Andrew Cummings, Fr. F, Anchorage.

NCHA

Milwaukee School of Engineering — Gage Christianson, Sr. F, Anchorage.

St. Norbert — Tyler Andrews, Soph. D, Anchorage.

NEHC

UMass-Boston — John Regnart, Soph. D, Anchorage.

Skidmore — Max Hegge, Soph. F, Anchorage.

NESCAC

Trinity — Ryan Cole, Sr. F, Anchorage; Brandon Cole, Sr. F, Anchorage.

SUNYAC

Buffalo State — Ryan Lund, Jr. G, Anchorage.

WIAC

Wisconsin-Eau Clare — Braden Mitchell, Fr. D, Anchorage; Colton Wolter, Jr. F, Fairbanks; Bryan Sinz, Sr. D, Anchorage; Jacob Wolter, Jr. F, Fairbanks.

Wisconsin-Stevens Point — Trace Strahle, Sr. D, Anchorage.

NORTHEAST-10

Assumption — Ben Barton, Fr. D, Kenai.

DIVISION III WOMEN

COLONIAL HOCKEY CONFERENCE

Becker — Megan Silta, Fr. D, Kenai.

Endicott — Jade Meier, Fr. F, Fairbanks; Dynnea Britton, Soph. F, Fairbanks.

Johnson & Wales — Summer Britton, Soph. F, Fairbanks.

Morrisville — Kali Rutka, Soph. D, Anchorage; Lillian Lewis, Fr. G, Anchorage.

ECAC WEST

Buffalo State — Cheyenne Matson, Fr. F/D, Wasilla.

Chatham — Erika Martin, Sr. F, Fairbanks; McKenzie Haskins, Sr. F, Anchorage.

Cortland — Josie Fletcher, Sr. F, Wasilla.

Plattsburgh — Mackenzie Millen, Soph. F, Anchorage.

MIAC

Augsburg — Taral Clayton, Jr. D, Anchorage.

Bethel — Karly Vohden, Sr. D, Fairbanks.

Hamline — Melanie Bartenstein, Jr. F, Anchorage.

Saint Mary's — Madison Thomas, Soph. D, Anchorage; Miryea Herman, Soph. D, Anchorage.

NCHA

Concordia (Wisconsin) — Brandi Muller, Sr. F, Anchorage.

Northland — Breena Gaskov, Fr. F, Anchorage.

St. Scholastica — Lindsey Wright, Jr. F, Anchorage.

WIAC

Wisconsin-Superior — Aubrielle Champagne, Fr. G, Tok.

NEHC

Castleton — Kathryn Noreen, Soph. D, Douglas.

Franklin Pearce — Sara Diltz, Jr. F, Palmer; Marisa Ketterman, Sr. F, Palmer.

New England College — Julia Radcliffe, Fr. D, Anchorage.

Norwich — Kirsten Watts, Fr. F, Chugiak.

Plymouth State — Courtney Evans, Jr. D, Fairbanks.

NESCAC         

Connecticut College — Elizabeth Cho, Fr. F, Soldotna.

Hamilton — Gillian Roberts, Soph. D, Fairbanks.

Williams — Annie Rush, Soph. F, Anchorage; Hallie Whitmore, Fr. F, Anchorage.