University of Minnesota Athletics
Freshman Faceoff: Jack Ramsey
9/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
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As we get closer and closer to the 2015-16 Gopher Hockey season, we continue our "Freshman Faceoff" series today with incoming forward Jack Ramsey.
A native of Chanhassen, Minn., Jack Ramsey has a last name that will sound familiar to Gopher fans across college hockey. His father, Mike, played for the Gophers and was part of the Miracle on Ice team at the 1980 U.S. Winter Olympic Games before a lengthy NHL playing and coaching career. Meanwhile, his sister, Rachel, was a captain for the Minnesota women's team and helped the Gophers win three NCAA titles.
Ramsey has had plenty of success on his own as he enters his first season at the University of Minnesota. The forward spent the last two seasons in the BCHL with the Penticton Vees and served as an alternate captain in 2014-15. Ramsey appeared in 111 career regular-season BCHL games with 63 points (26 goals, 37 assists) while adding another 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in 33 playoff games. He helped the Vees capture the 2015 Fred Page Cup as 2015 BCHL champions as well as the Ryan Hatfield Memorial Trophy as BCHL Interior Conference champions and the Ron Boileau Memorial Trophy as the BCHL team with the most regular-season points (89). Ramsey previously skated at Minnetonka High School where he was an all-conference honoree in 2013 and helped the Skippers to back-to-back Lake Conference titles.
Your family has a lot of history here at the University of Minnesota, but why did you want to play for Gopher Hockey?
To play college hockey at Minnesota, that's every kid in Minnesota's dream. Growing up, I lived about 20 minutes from here, so I came and watched a lot of games as a kid. It was close to home…I knew I was going to go play in Canada for two years and that was pretty far from home, so I definitely wanted to stay near my family for the next four years.
You were drafted a year ago by the Chicago Blackhawks. Was that a surreal experience?
I didn't know if I was going to be selected going into the draft. That was a bit of added excitement to it, the possibility of it happening. It ended up happening, I saw it was Chicago, I couldn't have been more excited. Obviously they've had so much success in the recent years, and they like college hockey players a lot. They drafted Justin Holl, who also played at Minnesota and Minnetonka, so that was kind of cool too. We've taken a similar route in our development. But it was a cool process, I got to go to their camp and stuff like that, tour Chicago a little bit, check out their facilities. There's no better organization really than them as a professional team.
You played with Steve Johnson and Vinni Lettieri at Minnetonka. Are you excited to be playing with those guys again?
It's pretty cool. Those guys were Skippers, and now they're Gophers. When I was younger and I saw Holl go to the 'U', it was kind of cool. I saw Stevie commit, Vinni played there, and I've just been looking forward to joining them and playing here for a long time.
You have a lot in common with the Reilly brothers - you're all from Chanhassen and you all played at Penticton before joining the Gophers. Do you know them very well?
They helped introduce me a little bit to Penticton. They got me on that path…I talked to their family about it. Our families know each other, and obviously I have a few years to get to know them better. They've gone through the same path as me. It's kind of cool to see that there are so many guys in front of me that are on the team now that I'm kind of following that same path, and see all the success they've had. Hopefully I can achieve that too.
Talk a little bit about your time up in Penticton, what's the culture like up in BCHL Hockey?
It's pretty fast, depending on the team, depending on the division it differs. But our division was pretty physical, pretty structured. We had some of the top teams every year in our division. Every night was a pretty good game but compared to the USHL it's a little more offensive, not as defensively structured. Penticton in general, when people think about Canada they think about igloos and what not. But Penticton is in a valley that's pretty warm all year round, we don't get a lot of snow in the summer so it was pretty good all year round. It was a great spot to live.
Did your family (dad, sister), have a lot of involvement in your decision to come to the 'U'?
Yeah, they did. My dad, it didn't matter to him he just wanted me to play college hockey. He didn't care where I went, he was happy to see me go anywhere. Rachel on the other hand was definitely pushing me to be a Gopher. When I committed, it was a possibility that I would play here when she was a senior. She was really excited. Seeing them, seeing my dad have success here, Rachel obviously had success here so it runs in the family for those two, so hopefully I can follow in their footsteps for that.
Do you have any stories from when you first started playing hockey?
Playing with my dad every Saturday or Sunday morning or when we had a snow day. For field trips I'd skip the field trip and go to the Xcel Energy Center and skate with Rachel. So growing up, I was always getting extra ice time at the X with my sister and my dad. Rachel says it a lot, when we were younger we wouldn't listen to our dad even though he's an NHL coach. One time, the guys were starting to get on the ice and I was still on the ice and my dad told me to get off, and I kinda shrugged him off. And Jacques Lemaire saw that I wasn't getting off, so lost it on my in French, and I grabbed my gear and scurried off the ice as fast as I could I was so scared, I was crying.
Was your dad retired as a player when you were born?
No, he was just finishing up his playing career when I was born. I was born in 1995 and then I think he retired in 96. He played for three teams and he had us in each city he played in. Rachel was in Buffalo, I was in Detroit and Hannah was in Pittsburgh.
What are your interests outside of hockey?
I like to fish a lot. When I was in Penticton there was great lakes and rivers there always running, there was a big salmon run this year, so I made sure to do that. I caught a lot of salmon, ate a lot of salmon. I fish a ton, trying to get into hunting. Being home, I'll be able to hunt with my dad, that's one of his passions. He'll enjoy that I can do that. I'm a big outdoors guy, love being up at the cabin, being on the lake.
How do you like the 'U' so far?
It's good. It's nothing really new to me, the campus and what not, because it's so close to home I've been here so many times. It's nice to be back in school after a little break. I was kind of looking forward to coming back to school so that's been going good. I was ready for college and now that I'm here, I'm loving it.
| Previous Freshman Faceoff Features | |||
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| Ryan Norman | |||
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| Brent Gates Jr. | |||
