After less than a year in the real world, Pat Olson and Tim Danlow wish they were back playing hockey for the Illini.

Both former Illini came back to Champaign this weekend as part of the Illini hockey club’s annual alumni weekend. Festivities included a luncheon for the former players, an old-timer hockey game in the afternoon and a celebration at Kam’s.

But where are they now? And what’s it like being on the other side of the glass?

“It’s nerve-racking. I still shake while watching,” Danlow said. “I still feel like I’m in the game dissecting plays to figure out what might happen next.”

He had reason to shake. At the time, the Illini were tied with Penn State and trying to mount a comeback. But Danlow said the real world has been tenser than most hockey games.

“The scary thing is, everybody says there is a transition (between college and the working world) – there’s no transition,” Danlow said. “I went from being on top of the world as a college student to the real world, working until the day I die.”

After graduating, Danlow tried his luck with a career in hockey. As a former American Collegiate Hockey League most valuable player and member of the 2002-2003 league-title winning Illinois team that went 37-2, Danlow had the credentials.

He tried out for the Memphis Riverkings of the Central Hockey League and was the third-string goaltender.

“It was incredible,” Danlow said. “I never dreamed of taking hockey to that level where they would pay me to do it.”

But his stint with the River-kings didn’t last, and now Danlow plans on working with his father in the steel business, playing in men’s leagues on the side.

“I need a little time off, but I’m working my way back into it,” he said. “I’ll be playing with all the old guys like (Joel) Superfine.”

After Olson completed his final semester at Illinois, he went west to Montana to study grizzly bears. He said the study covered more than eight million acres and was a huge success.

Now Olson no longer spends his time outdoors, but in an office doing accounting and financial work.

“To go from college and playing for this team, to getting up everyday – it’s a big slap in the face,” Olson said. “But coming back here makes me appreciate the time I spent in Champaign and playing with the Illini.”

While at Illinois, Olson climbed to eighth among the Illini’s all-time career scoring leaders and is one of five Illini to have more than 100 assists. Although he excelled individually on the ice, what he will miss most are the times spent with his teammates and friends.

“(I miss) just hanging out with the fellas,” he said. “That’s what I miss most – the locker room and the atmosphere.”

Like Danlow, Olson said he plays in men’s leagues, but every now and then he’ll play against his boss, a friend who he’s not afraid to check.

“I give him a stick to the throat if he doesn’t give me a raise,” Olson joked.