Across the boards, time to grow

By RACHEL BLOUNT, Star Tribune

March 5, 2008

LAST OF FIVE PARTS

A couple of weeks after he returned from Russia, Nick Mattson received a gift from his mom -- a green-and-white University of North Dakota hockey banner. It was just the right size to hang over his bed at his host parents' home in Ann Arbor, Mich., where Nick is living for the school year while playing hockey.

Everything had started to click for him at the Four Nations Tournament outside of Moscow. Nick's sagging confidence had been restored by his steady, poised play. Coach Ron Rolston, pleased to see Nick becoming the defenseman his coaches had predicted he would become, gave him more ice time and more responsibility.

With one burden lifted, Nick rid himself of another just days after coming back from Europe. In mid-November, he committed to North Dakota. Although Nick had felt all along that Grand Forks would be the right place, he had vacillated for months. He had dreaded telling the coaches at Minnesota and Wisconsin -- which also had offered him full scholarships -- that he was turning them down.

But he had just come through the most trying period of his young life, and he now felt confident enough to confirm his choice. He called the coaches. He called his parents.

As Nick hung the Fighting Sioux banner over his bed, he could see his future beginning to take shape.

Feeling relaxed, getting sharper

With his college decision made, Nick felt more relaxed on the ice than he had in months. Before the Russia trip, he had gotten only two assists in 12 games. In the next 31 games, he contributed a goal and 16 assists.

He was improving exponentially, Rolston said. During the tryout camp in March a year ago, Nick's skills and presence on the ice had reminded him of Phil Housley, the South St. Paul legend who went on to become the NHL's top-scoring U.S.-born defenseman.

But Rolston also knew that every kid in his program had to grapple with the self-doubt that comes with stepping up to this level of hockey. That struggle, he believed, helped mold the best of them.

The coach had seen how upset Nick had been when he was benched for a game, and Rolston recognized it as a good sign. Nick poured his anger and disappointment into hard work -- weightlifting, conditioning, practice time. Rolston noticed his slender upper body broadening with 15 pounds of new muscle; Nick seemed a little taller, too, though he might have created that impression by the way he now carried himself.

Not only had Nick become stronger, but he had also evolved into a smarter and more efficient defender. He willingly skated into corners to battle with bigger players, and he was more poised and assertive with the puck on his stick.

Even Nick recognized how far he had come. He thought he was pretty good last year, but after watching highlights video, he recognized he wasn't nearly as polished as he had thought.

I made so many defensive mistakes, he mused. If I'd kept playing that way, I would have been torn apart up here.

Other things were falling into place, too. Nick had become used to the huge Pioneer High in Ann Arbor, twice the size of his previous school in Chaska. On an afternoon in late November, he fired off a few text messages before the bell, then listened attentively -- if quietly -- to his Spanish instructor.

He looked wistfully out the window. It was snowing; pond hockey weather.

Back home, his friends had begun setting up their backyard rinks. Though Nick's homesickness had abated, he looked forward to his next visit to Chanhassen, when he would get a glimpse of the future in Grand Forks and a taste of the past with his old friends.

A trip to Grand Forks

On Dec. 6, Julie and Kevin invited relatives to their home to watch one of Nick's games via the Internet. As they did for all his games, they hooked up the computer to the wide-screen TV, and they put out snacks and drinks.

Nick's Christmas stocking hung over the fireplace, just feet away from the tiny image of him on the TV screen. "He looks so much more comfortable now," Julie said, as Nick swatted a puck away from his team's net.

He flew to the Twin Cities the next morning and drove with his folks to Grand Forks to see North Dakota play at Ralph Engelstad Arena. The coaches invited him to sit on the bench during warmups and visit the palatial locker room after the 4-2 victory over the Gophers.

This is what it's going to be like, he thought, listening to the raucous crowd. This is what I'm working for.

The family returned home with a carload of Sioux gear -- all of their Christmas shopping, done in one fell swoop. Nick spent Saturday playing pond hockey with his buddies and attending a Chaska High hockey game. He would be back for three days at Christmas, but the weeks in between visits would not seem so interminable.

He now had a concrete vision of the next big step in his life plan: playing elite college hockey. Ann Arbor was Nick's bridge, his yellow brick road. It wouldn't be easy to get from the security of his childhood to the promise of a career in hockey, but he felt certain he had chosen the best route, if not the simplest.

I loved playing high school hockey, he thought, but it's time to move on. I can have fun with my friends when I visit, and in the summer. I've had to grow up really fast; it's different than a normal kid. But at the end of the day, this is good for me.

Moving on

During his first four months in the program, Nick counted the days leading up to every visit home. But as he settled in and grew more comfortable in Ann Arbor, he didn't yearn for those breaks as much as he had. He almost forgot about his mid-February visit until it was time to pack.

Nick had begun to ponder the idea of finishing high school in Ann Arbor early, so he could start at North Dakota in 2009 instead of 2010. He talked of getting his driver's license when he came home for the summer; a necessity, his mom said, given the daily offseason workouts he had planned.

As Nick sat at the dining room table in February with his parents, his dad glanced through the glass door to see some kids gathering on the pond behind the house. "Looks like the next generation is out there," he said.

Nick turned to look at them and smiled. Once, he was one of them, skating in the backyard for a Stanley Cup made of coffee cans and duct tape.

He felt at peace with his decision to leave those ponds to chase the dreams that took shape there. Coming back now, feeling more grown up every week, Nick understood that those days would always be part of him, no matter where hockey or life might lead him next.

Rachel Blount • 612-673-4389