By Ryan Stieg
In fall 2021, the St. Thomas men’s hockey team entered its Division I era, and ever since, the Tommies have added a new big accomplishment with each passing season.
A few days ago, UST added another one as junior forward Cooper Gay became the program’s first player to sign NHL entry level contract as Gay inked a two-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche.
“I mean it was a pretty crazy experience,” Gay said during a phone interview Sunday evening. “I was at the airport actually when I got a call and we just kind of talked it through. It was a tough decision obviously to either leave or go back to St. Thomas for another year and after talking with my parents and agent, it was just felt like the right time. It was a really hard decision. I love the coaching staff at St. Thomas and my teammates and everything like that and everyone who helps support us. It was just it felt like this was the next step in my career. Your whole life, you grow up wanting to play in the NHL and this is just helping me get another step closer to it. So again, it was a really tough decision again and it was one that took a lot of thinking, but after I got it signed, it kind of hit me and I was like ‘Wow, this is awesome.’”
Gay made his debut for the Avalanche’s AHL franchise, the Colorado Eagles, last Friday and during the second period, he skated down the left boards and wristed a shot into the back of the net for his first professional goal.
“So, I kind of knew it was gonna happen this weekend, or this past weekend, at some point after just talking to the coaching staff,” Gay said. “They just wanted me to get kind of acclimated to the systems, and to the players, and just get back into shape a little bit. I mean being off for, whatever it was, six days, you don’t think you’d lose that much, but you lose quite a bit after not doing anything and then you add the altitude on top of that and it’s just a whole other beast. So, they want me to just try to get back into the swing of everything and just get acclimated. Then they were like ‘We’re going to put you in a couple games here coming up. There was a game on Friday and I was really excited, obviously. It’s your first pro game and you’re never going to forget that. It was a pretty surreal experience.”
The type of goal Gay scored was similar to several goals that he scored during his time with the Tommies and he said that he kind of “blacked out” after the play as he knew he scored, but he couldn’t see the puck in the net.
“I wasn’t thinking I was going score in my first pro game, but it happened and I’m just really happy with that,” he said with a laugh. “Again, another thing that you’re never going to forget, your first pro goal.”
The quality of play increases at each level a player climbs, and Gay noticed that right away when he joined the Eagles. Players aren’t necessarily quicker, but the pace of the game is faster.
“For me, it’s not the speed factor that’s different,” he said. “There are faster players, obviously. The pool gets thinned out a little bit from college to professional, but it’s more so just how quick everything develops and happens. At this level, you’ve got to know what you’re going to do with the puck before you get it. You’ve got to know where your teammates are at all times and you gotta be ready at all times for a pass because guys are so good in this league that they can make that pass if they need to. Whereas, in college, I think you had like a half second more to make a decision or do something. Players aren’t vastly faster. It’s just everything happens quicker and everyone’s just a little bit better.”
The good thing for Gay is that he played for a college team with a lot of speed and talent as former teammate Liam Malmquist scored his first goal with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose Sunday. The Tommies finished second in the CCHA during Gay’s sophomore season and after a rough first half this year, they used a strong second half push to make it to the Mason Cup championship before coming up just short against Minnesota State.
“We all knew we had the right locker room and then at the beginning of the year, we thought we were going to win the MacNaughton (Cup) and Mason (Cup) and then, there was the bumpy start at the beginning,” Gay said. “But we knew we had the right guys in the room to win a championship and I think having that break, and being able to mentally and physically reset, really helped us because we kind of caught fire after that. Winning that first series back (in 2025) against Lindenwood really helped and this is just a joke, but I was talking to (captain Lucas) Wahlin, and then we’re kind of like ‘Yeah, I was really pissed off when everyone was asking ‘Oh, how’s the season going?’ over Christmas break when you’re talking to all your friends and family. You have to be like ‘Oh yeah, we’re 3-10-5 or whatever.’ So, we’re kind of a little pissed off about that and we turned around, which was great.”
After the heartbreaking championship, Gay said had every intention of returning to the Tommies, but then he got that phone call in the airport and is now on a new path.
“Obviously, it was really emotional, and you just don’t think that a season, like kind of a Cinderella story honestly, is going to end like it did,” he said. “I mean you go back to that game, and I still think about it a lot. One bad bounce off that I’ve never seen in my 21 years of playing hockey. Something like that happens and then it’s tied up and then just kind of a fluke goal for the second one too and then you’re kind of fighting it, but I honestly was really confident that we were going to win that game even after they scored those two. But yeah, in the locker room after, it was really emotional. I’m saying goodbye to the seniors and just knowing that the season is over, it really sucked. I didn’t have any intention of signing obviously, I didn’t know that was even an option until a couple days later. So yeah, I had every intention of coming back. I mean I was I’d be the first guy to tell you ‘We’re coming back next year and we’re gonna win everything and we’re gonna go to the tournament’ and that was kind of my mindset for the period of time that I didn’t know I was gonna sign.”
When asked what he’d remember the most about his time at UST, Gay said there were many good memories and he thinks the Tommies are building toward a great future.
“Obviously, I’m going to remember my teammates and I know a lot of teams say this, but we are a family and you can rely on any guy in that locker room if you needed help with anything,” he said. “They’d be the first guys in your life to drop a hat at your word kind of thing. So I’m going to remember those guys a lot and just the bond that we all shared and had. I can’t wait till St. Thomas wins the national championship and I’ll be in the stands cheering my butt off. I’m definitely going to remember just the whole process behind being a new Division I team and just trying to lay in that foundation of success and building a championship program and a championship attitude. I see St. Thomas hockey fighting for national championship every year. We’re making it to the Frozen Four every year kind of thing. This new rink is going to help a lot with recruiting and what (head) coach (Rico) Blasi and (assistant coaches) Leon (Hayward) and (Cory) Laylin are doing there and then all the other staff too, it’s got the foundation to be a college team that wins national championships, or is in the race every year.”
With the AHL Playoffs approaching, Gay is currently living in an extended stay hotel with some other former college players that recently joined the Eagles. He said he’s looking forward to the postseason and he’s taking things one day at a time.
“As of now, I’m just trying to get as many reps in as possible and learn as much as possible,” he said. “This summer, work out hard, skate hard. Just kind of get after it during the off-season and see what happens next year. We haven’t really talked about if I’ll be in the AHL or if I’ll be with the Avalanche. It’s kind of learning as you go right now, and we’ll figure everything else out later.”
He may still be figuring things out, but Gay is aware that being the first Tommies player to land an NHL entry level deal isn’t lost on him.
“Yeah, it is definitely something special and I didn’t even think about that until after a couple days after I signed,” he said. “I was like ‘Whoa, I’m the first guy to do it’ and I think it’s really good and it just shows where the program is going to go and where it’s trending. St. Thomas hockey is going to be a household name in five years. I think it’s a great school obviously. Great program, great coaching staff. And I think that is just another step and another notch on the old belt for Tommies men’s hockey.”