ST. CLOUD, Minn. — If there was not a limit on the number of years a player can play college hockey, Spencer Meier says he would play the rest of his career for St. Cloud State.
That said, Meier is also aware of taking advantage of the best options available to him and making sure he makes the right decision for next season. So Meier, a 22-year-old defenseman from Sartell, weighed his pro hockey options carefully before deciding on Thursday to return to the Huskies for a fifth season.
"One thing is for sure: I love this place. I could play for St. Cloud the rest of my life and be a happy man," Meier said. "There's a point in time where you start to evaluate your options and you talk to your (family advisor) ... what it came down was trying to figure out what was best for me.
"For me, I could sign in the AHL or come back and have a really good summer, train hard and hopefully have a really good year next year and get an NHL contract. That's the thought process that went into it. I really want to bet on myself.
"The big thing is I want to play college hockey for one more year with my best friends. Once that's gone, it's gone. We're lucky enough to have the opportunity to play five years if we want," said Meier, referring to the NCAA granting an extra year of eligibility to athletes who participated in the 2020-21 school year due to the pandemic. "Usually, you only get four (years). I really wanted to play another year of college hockey because it's truly special."
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Meier will be coming back and likely to be the second SCSU player to be the team's captain for three years (Jimmy Schuldt, 2016-19) and he is coming off his best offensive season in college. In 36 games, he had five goals, 13 assists, 18 points and four power-play goals, all of which were career-best marks. In 139 career college games, Meier has 14 goals, 53 points, nine power-play goals, 52 penalty minutes and is a plus-6.
Meier, who is listed at 6-foot-4 and 212 pounds, said he knows what he needs to focus on during the offseason as he prepares for his last season with the Huskies.
"The last few years, the focus has been on my skating and I feel like I've gotten better and better each year with that," he said. "This year, I want to take a bigger step and really take that to another level and be quicker and really focus on the quick, short little bursts and be able to go from Point A to Point B quicker.
"I've gotten my form down the last three years and now I want to get quicker. I've just got to put in a good summer and we should be good."
Meier has been working with skating coach Katie McDonough from Cutting Edge Performance Power Skating in Coon Rapids. He said that he plans to work with her once or twice a week during the offseason and then also work more on his skating on his own at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
"She's been a rock star and been so helpful," Meier said. "She cares about you. She comes to my games, watches my form, knows what I need to work on and she's fun to work with."
Spencer Meier Hockey Camp to debut
On June 30, 2021, the NCAA changed its rules on whether or not college athletes can use their name, image and likeness to receive benefits. It means that players can make money off endorsements while still playing college sports.
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Sammy Walker of the University of Minnesota took advantage of that and ran his own summer hockey camp in 2021.
Meier plans to do something similar. On Aug. 8-11, he will be running the Spencer Meier Hockey Camp in Sartell. The camp will be for players ages 6-13. Cost is $475/player.
"I'm pumped for that," he said of running the camp. "It's really just gonna be a fun week for the kids. We're going to have two ice sessions (daily) for each kid. The first ice session, we will work on some skills and some shooting. The second ice session and we're going to have some fun. We're going to laugh.
"We will have some dryland (training), some stickhandling and play some games. It's going to be fun for me and the staff and, hopefully, teach them a thing or two."
Other St. Cloud State players on Meier's staff who are lined up to work the camp include Micah Miller , Brendan Bushy , Josh Luedtke , Nolan Walker and Jack Peart . A.J. Drobot, who recently completed his junior season as a forward for the University of Maine, will also be on the staff. Drobot and Meier helped the Fargo Force win the Clark Cup, the United States Hockey League's playoff title in 2018.
For more information on the camp, visit https://www.spencermeierhockey.com/.
