Taking the path less travelled doesn’t scare Zach Garrett.
After all, it’s made him part of a championship hockey club.
Garrett, originally from Creighton, earned the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) championship with the Dakota College at Bottineau Lumberjacks this season.
He studies business, marketing and sales at Dakota College, a small public college near the Manitoba-North Dakota border with an enrollment of about 900 students.
Garrett joined the team after a junior hockey career that took him across the Prairies, from Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Saskatchewan to Thompson to play for the Norman Northstars.
He also played nine games with the Flin Flon Bombers, but found a steady home with the Tri-Town Thunder, a junior B team in Carrot River, Saskatchewan. It was there that Dakota College first noticed him.
“A couple coaches that I had when I was with Tri-Town talked to me about them,” said Garrett. “They asked me if I was interested last year and I said, ‘Yeah, sure,’ not thinking I would get a call back.”
Not only did he get the call back, the high-scoring forward helped the Lumberjacks to a 26-3-1 season and a spot in the NJCAA championship game. He finished second in team scoring with 47 points in 30 games.
“We almost had a perfect second half of the year,” he said.
Garrett and the Lumberjacks also played a central role in one of the more bizarre stories in hockey this year.
It happened during the championship against the Erie Community College Kats. Dakota College took control of the game, leading 7-4 late in the third period.
After a penalty, a Kats player jumped out of the penalty box and tackled a referee.
“That was wild. I’ve never seen that before,” said Garrett.
The game was stopped after the incident, giving the Lumberjacks their 10th national title. Video of the incident was shown on ESPN, with Sports Illustrated, the National Post and other publications picking up the story.
The gruesome hit overshadowed Garrett’s own performance in the game. He tallied a goal and two assists, earning a nomination to the tournament all-star team as a freshman.
Garrett and the Lumberjacks won the final NJCAA title, as the national championship will be dropped for next season.
Dakota College will play next season in the ACHA, a collegiate hockey group that includes teams the Lumberjacks played last season.
Dakota College is a two-year college, meaning next season will be Garrett’s last with the school.
Garrett hasn’t decided what his next step will be after leaving Dakota, focusing instead on next season.
“I usually just play it by ear,” he said. “I’m not really sure. I’m hoping to stay in hockey or to do something in sports, but other than that I don’t really know. I’ve been taking some classes on sales, so maybe going into sales.”
