Garrett Roe Tearing It Up as SCSU Rookie
Dec. 6, 2007
by Tom Reale, SCSU Athletic Media Relations - ST. CLOUD, Minn. - It hasn't taken Garrett Roe long to turn heads at St. Cloud State.
The 5-8, first-year student from Vienna, Virginia is drawing considerable attention in St. Cloud, around the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, and throughout the nation for his impressive start for the Huskies. In his first 14 games, Roe has scored 10 goals and added 12 assists. In addition, he enters this weekend against the Pioneers with an 11-game scoring streak - one of the longest in recent SCSU history. In fact, after netting two goals in his first collegiate appearance, he has gone pointless only twice since - his second and third games.
Roe's 10 goals are tops among rookies, as no other first-year player has more than eight. His seven power-play goals outpace the next rookie by three, and only one freshman has more assists.
It all adds up to a wide early lead in the rookie scoring race, and Roe is also third nationally in scoring. Not bad for just 14 games of college experience.
Roe's hometown is a suburb of Washington, D.C., sitting on the Beltway and connected to the nation's capital through the Orange Line of the Washington Metro.
"I picked up hockey from my dad and my uncles," he says. "They all played hockey and loved the sport, so that's really where it came from."
While hockey may have been a family affair, Roe also excelled in other sports. He was a four year letter-winner in lacrosse, where he was named to All-State and All-Conference teams, and also played for the US National under-16 soccer team.
Washington is an area better known for football and political games rather than hockey, but the sport is growing within the region, as evidenced by the 2009 Frozen Four, which will take place in Washington at the Verizon Center, home of the Washington Capitals.
"It's not a hotbed of hockey but it's becoming more popular there as time goes along," says Roe. "It's nowhere near like it is in Minnesota, Massachusetts, Michigan, or Wisconsin or anything like that. They do have high school hockey, but probably the worst team in Minnesota could beat the best team there in a rout."
So what other differences are there between Central Minnesota and Washington, DC?
"It's a lot colder here, I can tell you that much!" Roe says.
Aside from the temperature, the atmosphere difference between the politics of Washington and the somewhat more humble rural life in the Midwest is also stark. "It's definitely different," he says. "People are a lot more down to earth here in Minnesota."
But Roe is no stranger to Minnesota. He attended Shattuck-St. Mary's in Faribault for two years and then got to experience the Midwest for three years in the USHL.
"It feels good to get the early pressure off that a lot of young players have coming in, but a lot of my success derives from my teammates and feeding off of their success, too. It's personal success, but really it's more for the team."
Of course, it doesn't hurt that one of the only two players in the nation scoring at a better clip than Roe plays right beside him on the very same line.
"[Ryan] Lasch is a fantastic player," says Roe of the national leader in scoring. "He puts points up the board every night and consistently works hard. He's someone you can look to for consistency on offense or even when you just need a little spark. He gets us going, and he's really one of the forwards that lead this team out on the ice right along with Nate Dey. They're the ones that get us going every night in every game."
Roe's early season success as a rookie recalls the success last year of Lasch and Andreas Nodl, who were two of the top first-year players in the nation last season. In fact, Roe may already be an early candidate to succeed Nodl as the national player of the year - which, oddly enough, would make the first two winners in the history of the award natives of Vienna - although Nodl's Vienna is just a little farther away from St. Cloud than Roe's.
"We've already heard a lot of the jokes," Roe says. "Supposedly we were recruited in the same class at the same time because we're from the same hometown and grew up with each other, and stuff like that. Some of it's pretty funny."
Roe cites head coach Bob Motzko as one of the primary reasons he chose to come to St. Cloud.
"I really liked Coach Motzko. When I first met him it was a very comfortable feeling. It didn't feel like he was pressuring me into making a decision. It didn't even feel like he was recruiting me. He just talked about the program and what I could do to help him win. Coach Motzko was really what brought me here."
It's still early in his collegiate career, but Roe is already starting to feel at home with his teammates, especially members of his class.
"I think we've got a fantastic group of players," he says, "and we can certainly make an impact here and now, this year. At the same time I think we have a lot of room to grow over the course of our careers here."
"Off the ice, we're all really close. It helps me be more comfortable here and has made the adjustment a whole lot easier."
The same could easily be said for the St. Cloud State faithful, who are coming to find that Garrett Roe is making the transition from last season's successes much easier - and who are already starting to make rather flattering comparisons to great Huskies of the past.
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