WASILLA — Early in his junior hockey career, Teddy Zierden thought he had hung up his skates forever. But after just a few months of being off the ice, the Sartell, Minn., native had a change of heart.

That’s a good thing.

Now, Zierden has the chance to play hockey at the college level. Zierden, an assistant captain for the Alaska Avalanche, has committed to play for Wisconsin-River Falls.

“I’m very excited,” Zierden said after practice on Thursday. “It’s been a dream of mine to play college hockey.”

Zierden, a two-year veteran of the North American Hockey League, started his junior hockey career with the Junior B Twin Cities Northern Lights of the Minnesota Junior Hockey League.

During his first season with the Junior B team, Zierden thought it was time to skate down a different path.

“I decided I wanted to start a life and move on,” Zierden said.

So he enrolled at St. Cloud State, a university in his home state of Minnesota, and spent a semester in the classroom.

But his time away from the game didn’t last long.

“You can only play competitive hockey for so long, and then it’s beer league,” Zierden said. “So I called my junior coach back.”

After his stint in the MJHL, Zierden signed with the Alexandria Blizzard of the NAHL. An offseason trade in 2007 brought Zierden to Alaska.

Zierden’s change of heart led him to a chance to play college hockey. But his time at St. Cloud State did hinder his chances of playing at the Division I level.

Once Zierden became a student at St. Cloud State, even though he was not an athlete at the school, the clock started ticking on his Division I eligibility.

Now two years later, Zierden would be left with just two years of Division I eligibility. With that in mind, the 20-year-old defenseman focused on the Division III level.

NCAA rules state that Division I eligibility starts as soon as a student enrolls in college classes. That is not the case for the Division II and III levels.

And for Zierden, that level is just fine.

“College hockey’s college hockey,” Zierden said. “As long as I made it. That was my goal.”

Zierden is one of four 20-year-olds on the Alaska roster, and Alaska head coach and general manager Jamie Smith has been stressing to them all the Division III route is the way to go.

“I tell them they’ve got to make the decision — do they want to go Division I and maybe not play for two years or do they want to go and potentially be a Division III All-American?” Smith said.

Smith said the three others — goalie Dusan Sidor, forward Sean Ranum and forward Michael McCurtain — are also expected to sign with DIII schools in the near future.

Smith said the potential is certainly there for Zierden to have a successful career at Wisconsin-River Falls.

“He’s a veteran guy with a lot of character,” Smith said. “He’s a soldier. He did everything we asked him to do.”

Now, all Zierden asks for is the chance to move onto his new program and play.

“I hope to go and be able to play right away,” Zierden said. “Being the four or five defenseman would be fine. I don’t need to go there and start or anything, just as long as I’m playing.”

Zierden has played in 54 games this season, ranking him second on the team.

He’s currently the top blueliner on the squad, and has a goal and eight assists on the offensive side of the ice. Four of those assists have come while Alaska is on the power play.

Zierden said he considered a few schools, but chose Wisconsin-River Falls for its tradition.

“River Falls has a strong tradition for hockey,” Zierden said. “It’s a great Division III program.”

The Falcons are the five-time Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champions. The program has also won the Division III title twice and has an NAIA title to its credit.

River Falls is also a frequent destination for NAHL prospects. The Falcons ended the 2007-08 season with 14 former NAHL players on the

roster.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.