Former Warrior skates among Colorado’s best

WASILLA — Ryder Conroy first visited Colorado Springs, Colo., as a fifth-grader with his peewee hockey team. He didn’t like it. Actually, he hated it. Conroy never thought he’d return. But he did, and the experience has changed his life.

Conroy, a former member of the Wasilla High varsity hockey team, recently capped his senior season at Fountain Valley School as one of the top players in the state of Colorado.

The 5-foot-10 wing who played his freshman and sophomore seasons with the Warriors was named first-team All-Colorado by The Denver Post and hockey athlete of the year by gazzettepreps.com after leading the Centennial State in scoring. And all of this success — the honors, more than 100 points in two seasons and the chance to captain his team to its first postseason appearance since the program’s rebirth three years ago — came after a chance encounter with Fountain Valley School head coach Mike Payne nearly four years ago.

As a sophomore at Wasilla, Conroy had a plan. And it didn’t involve immediately leaving his home state.

“I never thought about it at all,” Conroy said recently by phone from Colorado Springs. “I was pretty much set on playing 18AAA with the Junior Avalanche and maybe going on to play with the (Avalanche Junior A team). That was my goal. I was telling people that was my goal.”

After his freshman season, Conroy skated in a showcase tournament in Las Vegas. It was there Payne saw the young Alaska centerman.

“He talked to me, started sending me emails,” Conroy said.

Payne wanted to lure Conroy to Fountain Valley, a Colorado Springs prep school attended by about 250 students that was resurrecting hockey, a program that had been in hiatus for decades.

“Around May of my sophomore year, Coach Payne called me out of the blue,” Conroy said.

Conroy discussed it with his family, weighing the pros and cons. Ultimately, the Conroy family thought Ryder should take the chance. Conroy opted to leave his former teammates, friends and family and attend the exclusive prep school in Colorado Springs. And Conroy could not be happier about his decision.

“Fountain Valley is an amazing school,” Conroy said. “I think it’s given me the most I could get out of my experience.”

On the ice, Conroy quickly became a top player in Colorado. As a junior, Conroy led his team with 20 goals, 16 assists and 36 points in 18 games. He was fourth in his conference in scoring and seventh in the state. He posted as many points, 36, as his entire team had goals the year before.

As a senior, Conroy exploded. He led the state with 33 goals and 63 points. He was third in the state with 30 assists, and averaged 3.5 points per game in 18 regular season games. Conroy added seven more points in three playoff games.

Conroy said the move forced him to elevate his game.

“Coach Payne talked to me. He wanted to change my game from being a passive guy to a key guy,” Conroy said.

Fountain Valley moved Conroy from center to wing.

“I was usually a playmaker on my old teams. My shot wasn’t as good as I could have been,” Conroy said. “I started working on my shot. It helped a lot.”

Conroy was able to step up and become a scorer, tallying 53 goals in two seasons. But he also collected 46 assists in two regular seasons.

“That’s something I take a lot of pride in,” Conroy said. “Some players are one-dimensional. They’re a grinder, a scorer. I know a bunch of scorers who couldn’t pass to save their life.”

Conroy has excelled on the ice, but Fountain Valley has also helped him mature academically, he said. That rededication to academics is helping to factor into his next big decision — life after Fountain Valley. Conroy already has an offer to play college hockey at Division III Lake Forrest outside of Chicago. He could receive a partial scholarship if he accepts the offer, but would still have to make up a great deal of the school’s expensive tuition and fees. He could also return to Alaska and study at UAA for free. As the child of a university employee, Conroy’s tuition would be waived at UAA.

“I know I want to go to college,” Conroy said. “At Fountain Valley, they taught me the longer you put off college, the more you’re probably not going to go back.”

Conroy wants to continue in hockey, but is not sure junior hockey is right for him.

“I love hockey. It’s been my life since I was 4 years old,” Conroy said. “But at the same time, I don’t want to be stuck in juniors and waste three years.”

Conroy hopes to make his decision within the next few weeks. He doesn’t want to take it lightly. He said he knows most people his age would love to have either opportunity.

“It’s still 50-50,” Conroy said.