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UW men's hockey: Erstad changes course, will play for UWSP

Todd D. Milewski  —  9/05/2008 7:44 pm

When Travis Erstad sat down in University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point coach Wil Nichol's office and said he wanted to play for the Pointers this season instead of returning to a junior hockey track that was expected to land him at Wisconsin, the vetting began.

Nichol wanted to make sure that Erstad's intentions were well thought out. He reminded Erstad that the power forward had a scholarship waiting with the Badgers and that Division III UWSP doesn't play in a league the caliber of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

But Erstad gave what Nichol called "mature answers" to his questions and "good reasons" for wanting to change course, and that Wednesday morning meeting set things in motion.

Erstad then called Badgers coach Mike Eaves to let him know he was backing out of his verbal commitment to join UW next season.

"He said, 'Well, my heart really is not into going down there,' " Nichol said, recalling the Wednesday conversation with Erstad. " 'And if my heart's not into going down there, I don't think it's fair to the Badgers and I don't think I'll ever be productive. This is where I want to be.' "

Erstad didn't return a message left on his cell phone, but he told the Stevens Point Journal that he started thinking about the change in plans at the end of last season, which he spent with Lincoln of the United States Hockey League.

He admitted that giving up on what he once called a dream of playing for the Badgers was tough. "But to go to school in your hometown, you can't beat that," he told the newspaper.

Nichol, a former Madison West athlete, said the 6-foot-4, 200-pound forward told him the decision had to do with concerns about how the Stevens Point native would fit into the Madison campus.

"I basically cross-examined the kid, and it was very evident to me that he had thought long and hard about this," Nichol said.

Erstad, a fourth-round NHL draft pick of the St. Louis Blues in 2007, was in a group of five forwards that were expected to join Wisconsin next season, when only two forwards will finish their eligibility.

He's also the second player to back out of a verbal commitment this off-season. Defenseman Patrick Wiercioch decided to join Denver next season instead of waiting another year to play for the Badgers.

Nichol said he asked everything to make sure Erstad was joining the Pointers for the right reasons, and he called it gutsy to make the kind of change the 19-year-old is making.

"I'd love to be a Badger; a lot of people would," Nichol said. "But if this is what he wants to do -- I told him it's not the normal path, but if this is what's going to make you happy, everybody will support you. And everybody has, including Mike (Eaves). Mike was great about it."

Todd D. Milewski  —  9/05/2008 7:44 pm