From DU to the NHL
With more than 102,000 living alumni, DU has graduates all over the world.
But three of those alumni have landed near their alma mater and at the highest echelon of their profession.
Three former DU hockey players who currently play for the Colorado Avalanche returned to Magness Arena for the annual Burgundy and White game for charity on Sept. 18. From left: Antti Laaksonen, Paul Stastny and Mark Rycroft.
Mark Rycroft, Antti Laaksonen and Paul Stastny all play for the Colorado Avalanche in the National Hockey League -- one of the best franchises in pro hockey. At different times over the past 12 years, the trio competed for the DU Pioneers.
Playing at the highest level of hockey means achieving a standard of excellence in professional sports, but Laaksonen and Rycroft see their undergraduate degrees from one of the top universities in the country as one of their highest achievements.
Laaksonen played for DU for four years from 1993-1997 and completed his bachelor's degree in international business. His parents back in Finland asked him to finish the degree so he'd be prepared for life after hockey, and he's never regretted it.
"I'll probably go to grad school, but I also plan to use my international business degree," Laaksonen said in the minutes before the annual Avalanche/Pioneers charity game at DU's Magness Arena in September.
Laaksonen exemplifies DU's commitment to the academic side of the student-athlete. Eighty-three percent of DU athletes graduate compared to the national average of 57 percent.
DU's commitment to producing student-athletes that excel in the classroom and on the field goes beyond the rink. Since joining the Sun Belt Conference in 1999-2000, the Pioneers have held the highest graduation rate for six consecutive seasons. The achievement doesn't stop at the conference level. One hundred DU student-athletes have earned academic All-America recognition since 1990.
Stastny, the son of hockey Hall of Famer and European Parliament member Peter Stastny, plans to return to DU and finish his degree -- a path already traveled by Avalanche teammate Mark Rycroft.
Rycroft, of Penticton, British Columbia, left DU after his junior year in 2000 to establish himself in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues, but felt he couldn't leave his education on the table. He finished his bachelor's degree in real estate/construction management over the next three summers and got his diploma in 2003.
"A degree from DU is a prestigious thing," Rycroft said. "And it's taken seriously by people in the working world. DU makes you work hard to learn your stuff."
Published on Oct. 6, 2006