Falls native honored in goal
Brady Hjelle’s future plans are similar to his recent past — play two years of college hockey after a year in the United States Hockey League.
Now, however, the International Falls native has four additional years of hockey experience since his days playing for the Broncos, which he shortened by a season to join the United States Hockey League’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders as a goaltender in 2007-08 when he was a senior in high school.
His second season in goal for the RoughRiders in 2010-11 ended Sunday when Cedar Rapids lost 3-1 to Green Bay in game four of the USHL Eastern Conference finals, resulting in the Gamblers winning the series 3-1 and advancing to the Clark Cup finals against Dubuque.
Hjelle, who was also part of the bronze medal-winning Team USA at the 2007 World Junior A Challenge, said Cedar Rapids became interested in drafting him when he played in an elite hockey league in Minnesota as a junior in high school.
He posted a 22-15-4 record during his first season in goal for the RoughRiders, prior to attending the University of Minnesota-Duluth for two years.
Hjelle didn’t see much action during his freshman season with the Bulldogs, appearing in only two of 43 games in 2008-09 and being the goalie of record for one victory.
He appeared in almost half the games — 19 of 40 — in his sophomore season at UMD, compiling a 9-7-1 record in goal. During 2009-10, Hjelle had a 2.85 goals-against average and a .898 save percentage while making 431 saves.
His return to the RoughRiders in 2010-11 was one for the USHL record books, setting the single season record for wins by a goaltender after appearing in 53 of 60 regular season games and posting a 40-8-5 record.
Hjelle surpassed all other USHL goaltenders in playing time for the season by nearly 230 minutes as he recorded the fourth-best goals-against average (2.21) and ranked second in save percentage (.923) while making the most saves (1,419) in the league.
A vote of USHL coaches and general managers selected Hjelle as the league’s 2010-11 “goaltender of the year.”
Hjelle said he credits the team as a whole for making it possible for him to be honored by the USHL.
“I thought it was real special and an honor to me,” he said.
Hjelle, who plans to continue his hockey career next season at Ohio State University, said the experience and coaching he received since his playing days at International Falls helped improve his performance in the ice.
“I think the biggest thing is my consistency,” he said.
Hjelle was among 11 players OSU announced last November as committing to the men’s hockey team for 2011-12.
When asked how the Buckeyes became interested in recruiting him, Hjelle said OSU’s associate head coach, Steve Rohlik, had been an assistant coach at UMD when he played there.
Hjelle said he has taken college courses while playing with the RoughRiders in 2010-11 so that he will be eligible to play for the Buckeyes next season.
After having studied accounting at UMD, Hjelle said he is planning at OSU to major in business with a risk management specialty.
“I know I wanted to be in business,” he said.
Though his remaining two years of eligibility to play college hockey will conclude with the Buckeyes a year before the Big Ten is planning to start its own hockey conference in 2013-14, Hjelle said he hopes OSU will become a national contender by his senior season.
He said the Buckeyes are “just getting on the mat” as a hockey program with the head coach, Mark Osiecki, having completed his first season at OSU in 2010-11.
