Staff writer James Newhouse wrote an article earlier this season titled "The Many Paths for 9th Graders." One of the paths that players from Minnesota can explore is moving away from Minnesota and playing Tier 1 hockey at a prep school (e.g. Shattuck St. Mary's) or for a Tier 1 AAA program.

At the Tier 1 level players will live with another family called a billet family for the school year as they player pursues their studies and further hockey development. Anoka, Minnesota native Killian Kiecker-Olson is one of a handful of players from the area that have left home the past few years to take a different path. 

In his second season with the Colorado Thunderbirds, he's found a home away from home. After playing Tier 1 hockey a few years ago in Iowa, the 2001 birth year met a Minnesota transplant Dave Fromm who was coaching with the Thunderbirds in Denver. "I wanted to keep playing Tier 1 hockey and I met coach Fromm who from the minute I met him I knew it was the right fit," said Olson. "I have always known that Tier 1 was the best decision for me."

As we have stated on YHH for years, their are many paths to reaching your goal. Knowing the goal is sometimes the hardest to understand. "My end goal is to play at the highest level possible, which is the NHL," said Olson after his game last week in Blaine. 

Kiecker-Olson is a very smart kid. At the age of 14, he seems wise way beyond his years. Over the next two years, he will have to make some very difficult decisions about his hockey future. Some of those decisions will be whether he pursues major junior hockey in the US or Canada. The US route could lead him to Division I hockey, the Canadian route would remove that option. Players signing with the Western Hockey League (WHL) where Kiecker-Olson wlll be drafted this Spring lose their eligibility to college hockey - leaving players with only one option, going pro. 

Very few Minnesota players choose Tier 1 hockey and even fewer choose the WHL. Players that have gone the route of the "W" have faced mixed results. Most recently Keegan Iverson and Paul Bittner have  been high draft choices into the NHL, while others have gone un-drafted or unsigned by professional teams.

There are many paths to the "end game," we wish Kiecker-Olson the best no matter which one he chooses or how far he goes.