Former Blue Jay Brooks Roaldson committing to UJ men’s hockey – Jamestown Sun

JAMESTOWN — When he finished his season with the Badlands Sabres, Jamestown native Brooks Roaldson had multiple choices on what to do next but decided to stay home and commit to play for the University of Jamestown men’s hockey program.

“I decided to take a year off of school, go play junior hockey at the NA3HL in Rapid City and then when I was making my decision on whether I wanted to go to school and play hockey or play another year of juniors, I looked into UJ and realized that they have probably the best mix of both in academics and competitiveness in their program,” Roaldson said. “So that’s what really drew me to the school.”

Roaldson said he officially decided to commit to the program in May. Roaldson said he was deciding between the Jimmies, Florida Gulf Coast University and Grand Canyon University (Arizona). Roaldson said he wanted to go to the Jimmies over the other universities because of his knowledge of the program. Roaldson said he is thinking about studying mechanical engineering at UJ.

“It’s right at home, it’s familiar which is the nice thing,” Roaldson said. “I know people who have gone to UJ and been successful and honestly the academics as well. They have a great academic program and it was a nice mix of everything.”

Roaldson said he does not know what his role will be with the Jimmies this upcoming season. Roaldson said his goals as a Jimmie are to help the team go deep into the ACHA National Tournament. Roaldson said he will primarily be playing right wing for the Jimmies.

During his time as a Blue Jay, Roaldson said he and his teammates would practice against the Jimmies.

“Every year that I was a Blue Jay we had a chance to practice against some of the UJ guys,” Roaldson said. “We actually got a chance to play the Division II team a couple times while I was in high school. Being in the same facility as them and we’d have practice and they’d have a game after that. You follow along, basically, you know how they’re doing throughout the season because you’re just so invested in the hockey community in Jamestown.”

Throughout the recruiting process, Roaldson said he talked to Jimmies head coach Dean Stork about Roaldson’s plan and what the university could offer him.

Roaldson is the third player from Jamestown to play for the Jimmies after Andrew Yatskis and Easton Romsdal.

“I think that’s a big thing in growing the game of hockey in…