Arizona Coyotes considering going back to school

Coyotes rookie Clayton Keller chose to attend college to help further his hockey career, an experience that wrapped after just one season with Keller turning pro recently to join the Coyotes.

But Keller wasn’t just the Terriers’ leading scorer during his freshman year.

He was also a student taking classes in social sciences and rhetoric as part of a general studies program, as Keller had yet to declare a major.

The 18-year-old isn’t sure if he’ll return to school at some point in the future to complete his degree, and he isn’t the only Coyotes player to leave college early to pursue hockey, as a few teammates have taken a similar path to the NHL.

Resuming life as a student, though, is a possibility, as players have thought about continuing their education.

“I’m only a year away,” forward Josh Jooris said. “It’s something I’m going to hopefully do sooner rather than later.”

Jooris spent three years at Union College in New York studying psychology because he anticipated the knowledge he picked up would complement his hockey pursuits – especially if he wanted to coach one day. And so far, it has.

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“I wanted to do something that kind of pertained to my career,” he said. “It’s definitely helped me. The mental side of the game is such a big part of it. There’s so many things, obviously, in psychology, but when you focus on sports psychology alone, that’s the biggest thing – having a good mind and be able to battle through when things are tough, long season, little things like that. You have to be mentally tough.”

Determining whether to stay or go when the Flames offered him a contract before his senior season was a difficult decision for Jooris. He wasn’t sure if the opportunity would come around again and wondered what would happen if he got hurt in college.

Ultimately, he chose to turn pro and is happy he did – even if he did miss out on a national championship when his college team went on to win during what would have been his senior year.

“Luckily, it worked out,” Jooris said, “but it was tough.”

Defenseman Alex Goligoski is also just a year shy of finishing his degree from University of Minnesota, where he studied business and marketing education.

“I think I’m going to start maybe this offseason,” Goligoski said. “There’s so much stuff you can do online now.”

Completing his secondary education has become more of a meaningful objective to Goligoski since he’s started a family.

“Kind of want to set that standard of enjoy school, go to school, so my kid can’t go and say, ‘You didn’t do it,'” Goligoski said.

Fellow blue liner Connor Murphy also has an interest in furthering his education to potentially help set him up for life after hockey; although he never attended university for the sport, Murphy did take a couple online finance classes from a community college while he was playing junior.

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“A hockey career’s short in the grand scheme of life, so I wouldn’t want to be someone who sits around,” Murphy said. “I’d want to get going right away. Probably grind it out for four years or so to try to get some sort of degree.”

Coach Dave Tippett banked two years at North Dakota, focusing on recreation administration as a sophomore, but he said he has never considered going back and can’t see himself returning.

Forward Jordan Martinook merited interest from the NCAA before signing with the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League and believes he would have studied communications or marketing if he would have ended up in college.

“I like dealing with people,” Martinook said. “I’ve always liked interaction. I just wouldn’t want to be stuck behind a desk all day. I like being around people.”

As for goalie Mike Smith, he hasn’t had any urge to sign up for classes.

He transferred schools during his senior year of high school after he got traded from Kingston to Sudbury while he was in the Ontario Hockey League and needed just one credit his second semester to graduate.

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Smith chose a woodworking class, but since he missed so much school because of hockey and “probably other reasons, too,” he said, Smith’s teacher told him he wasn’t going to pass but offered up an assignment to help.

“He’s like, ‘OK, build me a birdhouse and I’ll pass you,’” Smith recalled. “ … Yeah, I’ll never forget that. I had to build a birdhouse to end up passing through high school. So that’s the kind of student I was.”

A career in the NHL has required its own curriculum as players have devoted much of their lives to their craft, an investment that has culminated in their status as NHLers.

And while they’ve honed these skills outside the classroom, their commitment is similar to what those in other professions need to achieve their own brand of success.

“Anything you put that much time into, you want to try to have some sort of reward from it and make it to a certain level,” Murphy said. “So I think that’s one of the biggest things. But I think that’d be the same thing with anyone going to school. If they work so hard and they put so many years – whether it’s to be a doctor or nurse or anything – it’s gotta be big to be able to feel like you accomplished it and learned a lot.”

Ice chips

• Captain Shane Doan returned to the lineup Friday against the Capitals after missing the previous seven games with a groin injury.
• The Coyotes assigned winger Christian Fischer to the American Hockey League.
• Winger Jamie McGinn has rejoined the team after leaving earlier in the week because of a death in his family, but McGinn did not play Friday.
• Backup Louis Domingue made a second straight start with Smith under the weather.

Reach the reporter at sarah.mclellan@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8276. Follow her at twitter.com/azc_mclellan.