Defenseman Luke Rowe is different from any other player who has ever put on an Ontario Reign sweater.
He’s doing something only a handful of hockey players have ever done, play professionally after attending a United States Service Academy.
Rowe attended the Air Force Academy from 2019-24, suiting up for the Falcons during four NCAA seasons. Air Force, along with Army, are the only two institutions in the US that field Division I men’s hockey teams while also commissioning graduates as officers in the military.
Now as a member of the Reign, the blueliner is taking advantage of a policy that was enacted in 2019, endorsed by the secretary of defense that made it possible for exceptionally talented athletes who have graduated from a military service academy to pursue employment as professional sports athletes following graduation.
To do so, athletes need a contract or a binding commitment from a sports team, like the AHL deal Rowe signed with the Reign last February. He initially signed with Ontario for what was left of the 2023-24 campaign but agreed to an extension for the 2024-25 year and has appeared in 15 total games thus far, scoring a goal and three assists.
A native of Succasunna, N.J., Rowe played junior hockey close to home for the New Jersey Rockets and Boston Jr. Bruins programs and knew he wanted to continue his career at the NCAA level.
“I definitely had some room to develop,” Rowe said of his thought process as he was preparing to complete high school. “I was talking to schools and just hopeful that I could get somewhere.”
During that time his older brother was attending Florida State and visiting the big school in Tallahassee was an eye-opener for him.
“I saw the person that it could make you become and maybe the lack thereof in the sense that you just have so much free time,” Rowe said. “It’s your first time away from home and a lot of kids make mistakes and I didn’t really want that. It was too loose for me; I wanted more regiment.”
He reached out to Air Force and attended a prospect camp when he was 17.
“I fell in love with the place; it was awesome,” Rowe said of his first time in Colorado Springs. “You hear all the honor and legacy and tradition behind it, and you get the opportunity to serve your country at the end and it was just a slam dunk for me. Not to mention the friendships that everyone talks about and the bonds that you make and the person that you become on the other end.”
When Rowe…
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