For Janne Taskinen, the chance to study at Penn meant a year away from his home university in Finland, but also a year away from hockey.
Or so he thought.
Taskinen packed his pads in his bag anyway, hoping to find an opportunity to play the sport he's been at for 14 years.
He got his chance last night at Penn's club ice hockey tryouts.
One of about 33 people at the Class of 1923 Ice Rink, Taskinen is looking to make the final cut of 20-some players. But in order to be competitive, he's had to make a few adjustments.
Taskinen, a forward, said he found "American" hockey decidedly different from the style he was used to back home.
Americans "go more directly on the goal, we don't attack so much," he said.
It doesn't matter to him that he would only be part of the team for a year. Taskinen, who is studying engineering, will take any chance he can get to play hockey.
So would freshman Griffin Rotman, a Canadian who played hockey all his life. But in his sophomore year of high school, he made the decision not to play varsity in college - instead stipulating that the school he chose would have to have a club hockey team he could play for.
Alex Anderson, a sophomore from Las Vegas, is trying out for the team also for the first time, but after taking a slight detour.
"I rowed last year, but it was too much of a time commitment," Anderson said.
Hockey was a lighter load than varsity crew and after playing the former in high school, he wanted to get back into it.
"I had a class last semester with Sam Lerer, who's a team captain, and I saw him wearing a hat with 'Penn ice hockey' on it and asked him about it."
Getting back into shape for hockey hasn't been easy for Anderson or many of the other team hopefuls, but he said the tryout has been pretty low-key.
"It's actually a really fun tryout, it wasn't very formal or intimidating, it was just 'go out and play hockey,'" Anderson said.
And that's what has kept junior Dan Tavana coming back - even now, for his third season.
"It's the right mix because its not too much of a commitment like D-I hockey, but at the same time it's like being part of a real hockey team," he said.
