Lukas McCloskey made sure he gathered plenty of intel before proceeding with his college and hockey operations futures.

As a result, the calculating long-time Jr. Ducks defenseman concluded that Army West Point made the most sense, and his decision earlier this summer made him the 79th Jr. Ducks player to make a Division I commitment. 

“(The draw) was how good of a school it is,” McCloskey said. “That’s the biggest thing. Being able to play Division I hockey and attend a school like that, it’s the best of both worlds.”

Will PLay With Ivey Brothers at Army

McCloskey will find a pair of familiar faces when he heads to West Point, N.Y., next summer. Former Jr. Ducks teammates Ben and Jack Ivey recently completed basic training in advance of their freshmen seasons at Army.

“I’m very excited about (playing with the Ivey’s),” McCloskey said. “I’ve been able to ask them a lot of questions, and I’ll ask them a lot more.”

McCloskey also is the fifth Jr. Ducks player from the 2004-05 birth years to commit to a service academy, joining fellow 2005 Francois Devilliers and ’04 Kyle Isenberg, both of whom are Air Force commits. The schools are massive rivals in Atlantic Hockey America.

“I talked to Francois about it, and it’s more of a brotherhood between the service schools,” McCloskey said. “But we’ll definitely compete hard when we get to that point on the ice.”

McCloskey Hits His Stride at Vernon

McCloskey continued to establish himself as a well-rounded defenseman during his first two seasons of junior hockey — in Wenatchee in 2022-23 and Vernon this past season. His move to Vernon came after Wenatchee left the British Columbia Hockey League for the major junior Western Hockey League in 2023.

The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder increased his point total to 13 while becoming a lineup fixture. He pointed to several areas of growth in his game in Vernon.

“The defensive details, such as stick and body positioning, I had to fine-tune those so I can get the puck from the opposing team as much as I can,” McCloskey said. “Offensively, doing more with the puck, realizing I can do more with it than just passing it. You have to want the puck, and that takes confidence. 

“I made strides there.”

McCloskey Played Nearly a Decade with Jr. Ducks

McCloskey began playing for the Jr. Ducks as an 8U and continued through 16U AAAs. He said the list of those who helped him is a long one. 

“A lot of my coaches were big influences, starting with my first ones — Jason Marshall and Scott Niedermayer — when I was 8,” he said. “I was with Sandy Gasseau for four years, and he was a big help, as were others, including T.J. Miller, Bruce Surdin, and Alex Kim.”

Undoubtedly, starting off playing for two former NHL defensemen helped the young defenseman. 

“At the time I didn’t realize how cool it was, but I do now,” McCloskey said. “Jason’s son Lucas and I played together on that first team and again at 16s and then at Wenatchee.”

His lengthy career with the Jr. Ducks provided him another assist as well.

“There’s always a learning curve going to junior, but the Ducks definitely set me up for success,” he said. “We got to play against a lot of different teams and top players across the country. Our practices were well-run and mirrored what we have in junior.”

Commit Continues California Hockey Trend

In addition to his service academy brethren, McCloskey joined a growing list of Jr. Ducks alums from the 2004-06 birth years to make D-I commitments. 

He and Devilliers are joined by fellow 2005s Zeev Buium (Denver), Ty Henricks (Western Michigan), Christian Kim (Michigan State), and Philippe Lalonde (Dartmouth).

2004 teammates who made commitments included not only the Iveys and Isenberg, but James Hong (Minnesota State) and Merril Steenari (Colorado College). And 2006 teammates in the college pipeline include Colin Frank and Brendan Dunphy (Connecticut).