The NCAA is celebrating Division III Week April 10-16, 2023. Division III Week is a positive opportunity for all individuals associated with Division III to observe and celebrate the impact of athletics and of student-athletes on the campus and surrounding community. Here at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, we want to use the opportunity to highlight some of the unique stories of Yellowjacket Athletics.
 

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For many, many years, playing hockey at the NCAA Division III level meant you had reached the end of the line, the conclusion to your competitive hockey career. Sure, there would be players that would receive the chance to continue their careers in the lower levels of pro hockey. There were even some – Keith Aucoin, Alex Hicks and Ralph Barahona come to mind, that parlayed their Division III experience into the chance to play at the highest level - National Hockey League.
 
Those players were few and far between. The operative word here, however, is were.
 
As players at the NCAA Division III level become more skilled and dynamic, their opportunities to play professional hockey become more plentiful.
 
Look no further, Superior, than right in your own back yard. Rich McKenna became the head coach of the Yellowjacket men's hockey team in 2016, and in his seven seasons, he has been able to put 24 of his players into professional hockey, at some level.
 
"It's a piece of the puzzle when we are recruiting, for sure," McKenna said. "One of the things we sell players on is, if they come to UW-Superior, not only are they going to get the chance to play in the best hockey conference in Division III, but if they do things the right way while they are here, they are going to have the chance to play at the professional level."
 
Eric Shand was the first player of the McKenna era to sign a professional contract, that coming in 2017.
 
"We got knocked out of the playoffs in the semifinals, and on the bus ride home I started talking to coaches I knew in the pro ranks," McKenna said. "By the time we arrived back in Superior, Eric had a place to play. He went to the Southern Professional Hockey League and ended up winning a championship."
 
It gets better.
 
The Yellowjackets won the WIAC championship in 2021, and 14 members of that team, to date, have played professionally.
 
At the conclusion of the 2021-22 season, the Yellowjackets had eight players sign professional contracts. That was the most professional signings of any team in NCAA hockey, at any level, with the exception of the University of Michigan.
 
Another eight players signed contracts at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, meaning 17 players who donned the black and yellow in the past three seasons have had the chance to play hockey beyond their time at UW-Superior.
 
Translation – NCAA Division III is no longer a place where careers come to an end, and UW-Superior has turned into a very fertile recruiting ground for the professional ranks.
 
"It went from having one, maybe two guys getting looked at, to seven or eight players getting the chance to sign. That speaks to not only the quality of players we're bringing in here now but also to the culture that we continue to build here in Superior," McKenna said. "Professional coaches like the players we're bringing in and the way we're developing them."
 
So far in 2022-23, seven recent Yellowjacket graduates – Andrew Durham, Jordan Martin (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Vincent Massey Collegiate), Artur Terchiyev (Kiev, Ukraine/Everest Academy), Sam Sterne (Batavia, Ill./Batavia), Charles Martin (Blainville, Quebec/École internationale Lucille-Teasdale), MacGregor Sinclair (Irma, Alberta/Irma School) and John Stampohar (Grand Rapids, Minn./Grand Rapids Senior) have earned the chance to play in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), which is the equivalent of AA baseball. In other words, these UW-Superior alumni are playing just two steps below the NHL.
 
"We've been fortunate to see some of our guys get that chance to play in the Coast this season, and they've really shown well," McKenna said. "Durham played 16 games and scored a goal. Terchiyev got over 20 games. Jordan Martin (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Vincent Massey Collegiate) got over 10 games and scored a couple goals. Charles Martin (Blainville, Quebec/École internationale Lucille-Teasdale) has nine points in 19 games and is playing absolutely great. These guys are moving up to a level that has NHL draft picks, and they don't look the least bit out of place."
 
And it's not limited to North America. McKenna's first captain, Anton Svensson, has had a long professional career in Sweden, including the setting of a new league scoring record. In 187 games since 2018, playing in HockeyAllsvenskan, Svenson has scored 60 goals and 131 points.
 
All of it shows there are plenty of opportunities for players to have a great college experience at the NCAA Division III level, and still get the chance to get a taste of the professional game.
 
"The game has evolved, and there are players capable of playing the pro game at a lot of levels, not just Major Junior and not just Division I," McKenna said. "To have the number of guys we have had get the chance to play pro hockey speaks volumes about our program and how we go about our business, and I'm excited to have the next group of players come through and get those same opportunities."