Colton Young Commits to Colgate University

Colton Young is a 2019-2020 recruit to Colgate University that thrives in the offensive zone. He has shown impressive stickhandling skills, creativity, and a quick and powerful shot.

Colton tells us about his recruiting journey:

“The NCAA recruitment process presented a lot of different options. The main two, which I visited were the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Colgate University. Both Universities I had been talking to since early September, maybe even before, and took my time getting to know each [of the] University’s coaches, programs, and also the feel of the campus.”

Taking us through his final decision:

“Committing to Colgate early in the year was really nice for me. It really felt like a comfortable campus, rink, and coaching staff. On top of all of that the school program and the reach of the alumni. . . are both amazing. [It is] an opportunity that doesn’t present itself often and is something I really want to be apart of.”

He added:

“Moving [to] the States to play hockey will be a big change for me. I am from Calgary, and play only an hour away from home in Canmore. So moving across two time zones will definitely be a change. But I’m excited about the opportunity, the location, the school, everything about it is exciting and it’s where I want to be.”

He told us a but about Canmore and his experience playing for that organization in the AJHL:

“This is my fourth season as apart of the Canmore Eagles organization. I started as an [alternate] out of midget AAA then have played the past three seasons here. My experience here has been phenomenal. It’s amazing to play in the mountains and play in a place as beautiful as it is in Canmore. The coaches really set a good path for me to develop, obtain a scholarship, and be NCAA ready when I move on from junior hockey.This season I am expecting to develop as more of a leader. I am wearing the ‘C’ for the first time in my career and really am working on my development as a captain [on] a winning team. I am also expecting to push myself to develop the little areas of my game that help teams win up from the junior standard into the NCAA standard.”

We asked Colton about his younger  brother Alex who plays with him at Canmore. He also committed to Colgate recently:

“It’s been amazing being able to play with my younger brother, Alex. We both get along well and have a unique style to both our games that fit really well [with] each others. Being able to play into university with him makes me very proud as a brother to see that his work has paid off. We’ll both be able to push each other maybe a little more since we always have a little sibling competitiveness in us.”

We asked about his toughest challenge:

“The toughest challenge that I’ve faced in hockey was when I was 16 and was cut from the major midget AAA team. It was a time where I felt like I wanted to quit hockey because I didn’t feel like I could move on to higher levels if I didn’t play midget AAA that year. I used it as motivation through that year, playing in AA, and pushed myself from then on to where I am at today.”

Colgate is a great school so we asked Colton about his long term plans after hockey:

“I believe I would always like to be around the game of hockey. Whether I can be a coach, scout, or anything I would just love to have a career in the sport when my time playing is up. I plan on studying economics or business administration as I believe if I can’t have a career in hockey those will both help moving into the working world.”

Colton is averaging over a point per game this season for Canmore, with 56 points in 50 games. His brother Alex Young has 68 points in 52 games.

Photo Credit: www.pamdoylephoto.com