When one door closes, another one opens.

Rory Herrman has seen this happen firsthand.

Originally committed to Arizona State University, the Poway native decommitted from the Sun Devils earlier this year and reopened his recruitment.

Enter the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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“The assistant coach at RPI, Dan Jewell, called me and expressed their interest in me and explained the history of the school and hockey program,” said Herrman. “We had stayed in touch from then on and I eventually took an official visit mid-August to see the school and talk to the entire coaching staff. I loved everything about the visit and saw a strong future for myself there. I committed a few days after.”

RPI is located in Troy, N.Y., and the Engineers play in the ECAC Hockey conference.

“The hockey program is awesome,” Herrman said. “It’s the only Division I sport on campus, so the players are treated extremely well. I really liked the rink because it’s a classic college hockey rink that definitely gets rowdy during the games. The team is in a period of building and they see me as big part of that, which is pretty surreal.”

Skating this season with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers, Herrman grew up playing for the SDIA Oilers, San Diego Jr. Gulls, Los Angeles Jr. Kings and Anaheim Jr. Ducks.

“All my coaches had a great influence on my game, but the few that stick out are some of my earlier coaches, actually,” said Herrman. “I started with roller hockey before ice. My first roller coach, Bob Gauthier, helped me get into the game of hockey at age five. At age eight, I transitioned into ice and my first coach was Craig Sterling at SDIA. I bring up these two coaches because now when I look back on those days, I can’t thank these two coaches enough.

“I’m a huge advocate of the growth of San Diego hockey and they both promote youth hockey better than anyone I know. They made the game extremely fun for me and that’s kept me going so far.”

Top photo/Green Bay Gamblers/USHL

— Matt Mackinder

(Sept. 28, 2018)