The trek from Thunder Bay, Ontario, to Duluth is about 300 kilometers -- or 190 miles to us. Yet before Travis Oleksuk watched a hockey game at Minnesota Duluth, where his father had been a standout player, he saw it played a tad farther away.
"The first time I saw the college hockey style was a game at Wisconsin in a 16,000-person arena," Oleksuk said of Madison's Kohl Center. "I remember thinking what an amazing environment college hockey was, and it wasn't going to get much better. College was the place I had to go."
Though he has worn three different uniform numbers since he arrived at UMD, the "where to" decision was easy.
Travis had grown up on stories from his dad about old Bulldogs battles. Bill Oleksuk scored 90 goals from 1978 to '82, including 30 in 29 games during a freshman season playing with Mark Pavelich, John Harrington and Curt Giles. That was a UMD freshman record before a hotshot Canadian named Brett Hull came along.
Though he has gone on record in the past to say his father's four years in Duluth had little influence in his decision, as Travis Oleksuk approached the final game of his junior season in Saturday's NCAA Frozen Four championship he let the cat out of the bag.
"Hearing my dad tell me all about it made an impact, and I just chose that this was the place," he said Friday.
The decision came when, as a 16-year-old, Travis had to decide between taking the Canadian major junior route or entering college. Bill Oleksuk was fortunate enough to play in an era when both were an option.
"He was able to kind of give me his view on how both went," Travis said. "He said college was the best four years of his life. He loved his time here, and I really took all that in when I came down for a visit.
