Skating Through Life
Colin Van Hauter likes a challenge almost as much as he likes hockey—which is good since his life has been full of both. Through hard work and an unrelenting passion, he faces off against adversity, finds the strength to breakaway, and faithfully follows where the ice leads him.
It was the all-American sport and Colin Van Hauter showed promise—as much as a 6-year-old baseball player could muster. It was his general athleticism that caught the eye of one of his teammates’ father, who asked Colin’s dad if Colin would consider playing hockey on his inline roller hockey team. So, in addition to a baseball and bat, Colin picked up a pair of inline skates and a hockey stick. “The first time my dad put the skates on my feet, I skated around the block and he knew I would take off in this sport,” Colin recalled.
As predicted, Colin took to the sport immediately. By age 8, he was playing competitive roller hockey and at age 10, he was selected to play for Team Illinois in the annual State Wars Hockey tournament—a position he maintained for five consecutive summers. “I loved the speed of the game and the camaraderie on the bench and in the locker room,” Colin said. “Hockey games were intense and quick compared to the long, slower-paced baseball games.”
Colin remained a two-sport athlete through age 14. “I wanted to play ice hockey,” Colin said. “I dreamed of playing at a higher level and roller hockey did not have professional teams.” So, when
Colin’s parents finally gave in to his request to transition to the ice, he concentrated solely on hockey and his dream to play NCAA collegiate hockey.
Hitting the Ice
Colin found the transition to playing on the ice fairly easy. After he adapted to the differences in the edge work (being on a blade compared to wheels) and learned certain technical aspects of the sport (such as checking and off-sides), Colin realized that through roller hockey, he already had developed the skills he needed as a forward on his freshman high school ice hockey team.
“I loved it immediately,” Colin said. “I couldn’t exactly tell you why, but I have this competitive nature and there is this thrill you get playing ice hockey. You forget about everything else in your life and you just live in the moment.”
The following two years, Colin played for a high school hockey club that included players from his high school, Elk Grove, as well as those from surrounding high schools. Playing in the forward and right-wing positions, Colin helped lead his team to a state championship, scoring three goals and an assist in his team’s 5-2 win his sophomore year.
“I was always the kid who was practicing,” Colin said. “I wanted to see how far I could take my hockey career.”
Colin said that he had a lot of friends at high school, even though he was quite shy. However, it was a different story once he stepped on the ice. “I was the complete opposite on the ice. I was very competitive, focused, and determined,” Colin explained. “One of the hockey fans in Wisconsin once told my dad that he loved the way I played, and was surprised when he met me off the ice because I was one of the nicest people he had ever met,” Colin said laughing.
Starting at age 15, Colin began receiving recruitment offers from junior hockey leagues across the nation. So, as he entered his senior year of high school, he signed his first contract with the Central Wisconsin Saints in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. “My parents didn’t think I was ready to leave as I was only 17, but they knew that to grow in hockey, I would need to go,” Colin said. “It was somewhat close to home and they trusted the high school I would be attending, so they finally agreed. I was excited to leave. I was ready to move on and live a different kind of life.”
A Different Kind of Life
Life for Colin now included living with a host family, along with another hockey contract player from Michigan. “It was that experience that changed me as a person,” Colin said. Beyond hockey and high school, Colin’s new independence also came with added responsibilities such as doing his own laundry and keeping his busy schedule. Colin said it was tough balancing school and hockey with much of his schoolwork needing to be done online during the 20-hour bus rides to games.
Colin said it was his older teammates who helped him with the transition. “They were great mentors and they definitely took me under their wings and helped me grow up at a time when I was young and vulnerable,” Colin explained.
Colin did well in hockey that year, finishing at the top of the team with 46 points in 45 games (22 goals and 24 assists).
With his contract with the Saints up for renewal, Colin decided he wanted to move back home for the last two months of school and graduate alongside his friends at Elk Grove High School. However, his return home was short lived.
Prior to the next hockey season, Colin participated in a summer U.S. Junior Development Program training camp in Colorado. For two weeks, he was on the ice three times a day and in the weight room twice a day, being scouted by coaches from across the nation.
Colin found a match with the Omaha Lancers AAA program in Nebraska and was one of only three high school graduates on the team. “Every day was a battle,” Colin said. “It was grueling and mentally draining.” Colin’s daily life consisted of training, practice, a second training session, and two-hours of video review before going back to the home of his new host family. “I never felt that I was doing anything right,” Colin recalled. “It wears on you. The coach was preparing us to be professionals. I just wasn’t ready for the change, the intensity, and his coaching style. I was just overwhelmed, honestly.”
After two months, Colin decided to return to Stevens Point, the Central Wisconsin Saints, and his former host family to play another season. Success followed Colin as he was consistently first or second on the team in points. After the season, Colin transferred to the Dells Ducks in Wisconsin, helping his new team advance to the national tournament. “In the first four games of the season, I scored 16 points,” Colin said. “It felt great.”
Colin had hit his stride and was getting noticed. His coach had told him that after the weekend’s games, he should expect an important call—he was finally getting his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to advance into the North American Hockey League.
With his parents watching the Friday night game from home, Colin secured both a goal and an assist within the first period for his team. His coach took him out of the game, but Colin insisted that he continue to support his soon-to-be former team on defense. Colin was allowed back on the ice. He played hard and body checked a player, sending him flying backwards, skates up in the air. Colin’s momentum also pushed him forward, and into the opposing player’s skate blade, deeply lacerating his wrist, and just missing his artery and tendon.
Saturday, the team played without Colin. Sunday he was back on the ice, scoring a goal and an assist, “but it went down from there,” he recalled. “I couldn’t play because I couldn’t grip the stick.”
As Colin struggled for the next 15 games, his transfer to the North American Hockey League became someone’s else’s once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Delay of Game
“I didn’t take time off to heal, which affected me mentally,” Colin explained. During another fight on the ice, he tweaked his neck which compounded years of issues and stress to the area, once again taking him off the ice. “I knew it would be a fight to get back to the level where I wanted to be,” Colin said, so he looked for a fresh start on another team. He transferred to the Wisconsin Rapids River Kings where “I knew I could be a top player,” he said. At 20, Colin aged out of junior hockey and briefly committed to Western New England University before the desire to be closer to home brought him to a crossroads.
“I decided to hang up my skates,” Colin said. “It wasn’t easy. For two years after that I struggled with the decision. Eventually I got an offer from Worchester State University and decided to accept. But when I got on the ice again, it just didn’t seem worth it. It was my closure. Now I had to reinvent myself. I really didn’t know what I was going to do outside of hockey. I really didn’t.”
Ultimately, Colin earned his Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) license and was working for an ambulance company when he returned to hockey in 2015 as a coach of the Northwest Chargers. In 2016, the new Mount Prospect Ice Arena (MPIA) opened and became the home ice for the team. Ryan Zanon, who served as the assistant general manager of the MPIA, knew Colin from the local hockey community. When they bumped into each other at a practice, Ryan mentioned an open position at the arena as a custodian and offered Colin the job.
Both the EMT and the custodial positions were equal in pay, but the custodial job was more conducive to his hockey coaching schedule. So, Colin accepted the position at MPIA, and within five months advanced to a rink attendant position and drove the Zamboni. After two more months, Colin was tasked with starting an adult hockey league and in six additional months, he was named an assistant general manager. Two years later, Colin helped guide the transformation of the MPIA into the expansive Nicholas Sportsplex and joined Ryan as the facility’s two managers.
“I’m always looking for challenges,” Colin said. “I want to be the best in everything I do.”
In whatever ways life continues to evolve for Colin, his passion for hockey will remain constant. “There is nothing like a hockey player. They are a different breed,” Colin said. “We are such a close-knit community. I feel the joy being around the game, watching the game. It makes your problems and worries outside of the area go away. I just love it.”