AMHERST, MA — Ryan Ufko, a 19-year-old hockey player and Smithtown native, is fresh off an “experience for a lifetime.”
Ufko represented the United States at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship in Canada, helping Team USA win bronze in the tournament.
“It was probably the coolest tournament that I’ve played in so far in my career,” Ufko told Patch. “Getting to represent your country is always an honor, so it was really special and really fun.”
Ufko teamed up with American players he had been competing against his whole life, he said.
“Getting to put the jersey on was a really cool feeling.”
Team USA defeated Sweden 8-7 in overtime on Jan. 5 to win the bronze medal in the tournament. Ufko scored a goal and added an assist in the game. He tallied a goal and nine assists in his past five games with the Americans, including the bronze match.
Team USA was eliminated in a 6-2 loss to Canada the day before the Sweden game. Canada went on to win gold.
Ufko thinks his teammates were happy with winning bronze.
“Obviously gold was the goal, and we all wanted to win gold,” he said. “After the Canada game, we kind of had to turn our mindset around and make sure that we came home with a medal; not finish in the top-4 without a medal. I think we had a good bounce back and we did end up winning bronze, so I think we were all happy and soaked in the experience.”
Playing Sweden for the bronze medal a day after losing to Canada in the semifinals was “definitely tough,” Ufko said.
“I think that was our coach’s biggest message: not hang on it too much or down our lifetimes, we would end up regretting it,” Ufko said. “Obviously it was a tough loss, but we had to reset and get ready for the next day.”
Ufko was drafted by the Nashville Predators of the NHL in July 2021. He currently plays collegiate ice hockey with the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Ufko plans to continue his development with UMass for the next season or two.
“And then hopefully make the jump into the AHL or the NHL and be a part of the Nashville Predators,” he said.
Ufko recalled ice hockey was never “too big” on Long Island when he was growing up. He has since watched his younger brother and a lot of other kids taking up ice hockey on the island.
He called ice hockey’s growth on Long Island “exciting” and shared a message to other players in his home region.
“Every hockey player: Just follow your dreams, keep pushing, and when there is adversity, fight right through it.”
As for Ufko, since he was…
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