Zach Urdahl has announced his commitment to the University of Wisconsin, and is set to roster for the 2021-2022 season. NZ has described Zach as an incredibly athletic player with a strong skating stride. He has the foundation to become a promising hockey player and showed great upside when scouted. Read more about what our scouts had to say after a good look at Zach at USA Select 17 National Camp
Zach tells us how he fell in love with the sport:
“I started paying hockey around 3 or 4, in my hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin for the youth program that the city has. [I remember] playing outside on my backyard rink with my older brother, my dad, and my friends. I remember playing for hours on end. Pretty much from sunup to sundown, we were out there as much as possible and it was always so much fun.”
He would go on to play for Eau Claire North High School and told us what the experience was like:
“It’s awesome playing for your high school. Being able to play in front of your home city with the alumni, the parents, and the current teachers and students all cheering us on is really something special. It’s something that is awesome, being able to share with all of them.”
Taking us through his NCAA recruiting process:
“It came down the the University of Wisconsin and the University of Nebraska Omaha. I visited both and they are both great schools with incredible hockey programs and world class coaches and facilities. But ultimately came down to how I felt at each school, I loved being there and Wisconsin was a place I knew I could see myself at in a few years.” Elaborating more on his decision, “The city, the campus, the rink. It’s all amazing and it’s a place I want to be at. It’s close to home, there is other recruits from Wisconsin that I’m friends with and the coaches are unbelievable. It’s really the perfect place for me to continue my hockey and academic career.”
Being a native Wisconsinite, he tells us how it feels to commit to a program in his home state:
“It’s unbelievable. So many kids from Wisconsin grow up dreaming about one day being a Badger and for me being able to have the opportunity to actually be one is truly a blessing and I’m really excited.”
Recently, Zach has been drafted to the USHL by the Lincoln Stars, he tells us about his draft day:
“I kept up to date on the draft because some of my buddies were going to get drafted and I was hoping to as well. I wasn’t really sure if or when I’d get drafted so I didn’t really have any expectations going in to that day. I remember I was in math class and I got a bunch of notifications on my phone and I went check to see them and it was a bunch of texts from my family and friends congratulating me and later we went out to eat as a family. It was a really special day and something I won’t forget.”
Zach still has two full season before going to Wisconsin, we asked what his plans are:
“I plan to either play high school or juniors next season followed by a year of juniors after that. I want to continue to better my game everyday during the winter and work hard in the offseason to get stronger, faster and better do be able to compete at the Division 1 level.”
Zach has an impressive 26 points in 10 games for his high school team this season, 20 of those points being goals. He has also had a great start with the Lincoln Stars getting 2 goals in 2 games.
Photo credit: Hickling Images
