Editor’s note: The Daily Illini sports desk sits down each week and decides which Illinois athlete or coach is our Illini of the week. Athletes and coaches are evaluated by individual performance and contribution to team success.

Eric Cruickshank is in his second season with the Illinois hockey team, and it has not taken long for him to secure a pivotal role with the Illini.

In his first collegiate season, Cruickshank had the second-most points (32) on the team, scoring 13 goals and 19 assists.

This year, Cruickshank picked up right where he left off, scoring three goals and recording one assist in the Illini’s two wins against Michigan State this weekend.

According to Cruickshank, it did not take long for him to look and feel as if he was exactly where he was supposed to be. But before he was accepted into the University, Cruickshank had to make a decision that most junior hockey players have to face one way or another.

After Cruickshank graduated from Vernon Hills High School, he moved onto the junior hockey circuit to try to make it to Division I. He spent his first year in Wisconsin with the Janesville Jets of the North American Hockey League. After playing with the Jets, he moved to Minnesota and played with the Wilderness in the NAHL. He went on a third junior league stint with the Minnesota Flying Aces of the North American Tier III Hockey League.

After two years of playing junior hockey, it was time for Cruickshank to make a decision about college. He had interest from several Division III schools, but Illinois head coach Nick Fabbrini was recruiting him to come back to his home state and play for the Illini.

Cruickshank was familiar with some of the guys that were already on the team, and as a youth player, he played for a former teammate of Fabbrini’s. Fabbrini said that every single coach Cruickshank had ever played for had only great things to say about him.

The Illini are a Division I club team, and according to Cruickshank, the level of play between the two divisions is similar. He was surprised with the pace of play when he got to Illinois, but he also said it was just what he was hoping for. The main difference between the two is that Division III has a better path to play in the minor leagues after college.

Fabbrini’s pitch to Cruickshank was centered on an overall college experience.

“I just told him he will not get the same college experience at a Division III school that he would get at Illinois,” Fabbrini said. “We are a top-10 public school, and he will have the opportunity to see all of the other Illinois sports teams on T.V.”

Cruickshank weighed all the options, and after considering both the social and academic upsides of playing at Illinois, he made his decision.

It was by no means an easy decision, according to Cruickshank, and caused some self-reflection.

“I looked myself in the mirror one day, and I said to myself ‘OK, I’m not going to the NHL,’” Cruickshank said. “Fabbrini and I talked about it, and it came down to getting a good degree and enjoying my college life or essentially going to high school again.”

It took longer to adjust to the academic lifestyle than the hockey style. Cruickshank admitted that it was weird sitting in class again. He took online classes through a community college near Vernon Hills while playing in the junior leagues but had not actually sat in a classroom for two years. He said it only took him a few weeks to get back in the old routine.

Adjusting to the hockey aspect was no problem. He stepped in as an older freshman, and saw no reason why he could not be both a freshman and a leader for the Illini.

“I can say that this is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made coming to Champaign.”

@cole_Henke

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