Article Written by Samantha Roering. Photo Provided by Luke Schmidt.

The reality of being a student-athlete looks different for everyone. Students come from various backgrounds to try their hand at a collegiate career.

Some travel 15 minutes to compete for their hometown school, while others, like Ryan Rosborough, travel to another country for the opportunity to play for an NCAA Division I hockey team.

Born into a hockey family, Rosborough grew up watching hockey and started skating by the age of three.

Rosborough’s dad played hockey and influenced his enjoyment of the sport. Being a big fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins, his father enjoyed watching Mario Lemieux, but for young Rosborough, he idolized Sidney Crosby.

Before coming to St. Cloud State University, Rosborough played in the Ontario Junior Hockey League. The OJHL is made up of most Toronto-based teams, and playing in a high-paced league is something Rosborough deemed a great experience.

Following his time in the OJHL, Rosborough spent a year playing in the National Collegiate Development Conference because of the pandemic. That year gave Rosborough a preview of college-level hockey.

Then came the decision to come to St. Cloud State University.

“My reasoning was because of the program, the history, and how good they’ve been for forever,” said Rosborough. “Another reason I ended up here was my relationship with Coach Dave Shyiak. He watched me when he was with Western Michigan and when he came to St. Cloud, we had that connection already.”

During his first season with the Huskies, Rosborough decided to redshirt; he didn’t play games but still attended practices and classes.

After talking with Coach Larson, Rosborough prioritized his focus on development.

By putting his energy into practices and working hard in the gym, Rosborough made the most of the season. He gained experience with the team and developed his skills without burning through a year of athletic eligibility.

“I get four years to play still so that worked out really well for me and my development,” said Rosborough of the decision.

This past season, Rosborough got more ice time and transitioned from not playing in any games to playing in 19 of them.

Throughout the season, Rosborough made adjustments in his game and learned more about what it takes to compete for a D-I team.

“You can’t take a shift off or a game off,” said Rosborough. “When you play in probably one of the best conferences in college hockey, you got to bring your A-game every night, or else you’re probably not going to win.”

Rosborough plans to make improvements and develop his style of play for next season. His primary goal is to put on more weight and add more strength to his game.

“I think that’d help me a lot with protecting pucks and playing low, making it harder for them to defend me,” said Rosborough.

Hockey isn’t the only aspect of life that he’s making changes to.

As a St. Cloud State student, Rosborough started as a health and physical education major but recently wants to switch to finance.

Even with that slight change in plans, Rosborough maintains a healthy balance between school, hockey and fun.

The convenience of his schedule helps with that.

“We work out and practice in the morning. We’re done before noon, and we have the rest of the day off so we can go to our classes and do our homework,” said Rosborough.

Outside of school and hockey, Rosborough enjoys hanging out with his teammates. They play video games together and golf when the weather is nice.

Rosborough is proud of his accomplishments at St. Cloud State. He reflected on the things that went well this year and looks forward to next season.

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