MONROE — When the Monroe co-op saw its hockey season end abruptly in the first round of the WIAA Division 1 playoffs, senior Payton Stauffacher wasn’t sure if he was skating off the ice for the final time.
Now he has the answer: He’ll most definitely skate again.
Stauffacher was one of the first signees of the Oregon Tradesmen, a North American Tier III Hockey League team that recently moved to Wisconsin from Evansville, Indiana.
“It’s going to be awesome to continue my hockey career,” Stauffacher said. “It’s closer to home, too, so my friends and family can still go to games.”
Stauffacher was a three-year captain for the Cheesemakers co-op team, most recently earning second-team all-conference honors in the Badger South this season. A 5-10 defenseman, Stauffacher scored 42 points this winter, including 18 goals. In his career, which spanned 94 games in four years, he scored 83 points on 35 goals and 48 assists.
At the next level, Stauffacher intends to stay back at the blue line, and not switch positions as a forward.
“It’s what I’m used to, even though I’m more of an offensive-minded defenseman,” Stauffacher said.
The Tradesmen finalized their move not long after the end of the season and will be coached by Don Babineau. They will play at the Oregon Ice Arena in the Central Division of the NA3HL.
“I’m excited to be part of the Oregon Tradesmen organization led by a strong ownership group. I believe the organization is set up for success in all aspects. I’m looking forward to helping develop players to advance to the NAHL or move directly to NCAA Division III or ACHA Division 1 college hockey,” said Babineau in the league’s announcement of the Oregon club.
The NA3HL is 10 years old and is one of two USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III junior leagues has 30 teams split into five divisions. Wisconsin has three teams, including Wausau and Milwaukee. The league spans across the nation, with five teams in Minnesota, plus multiple clubs in Montana, Wyoming, Texas and Massachusetts; and other clubs in major cities like Atlanta, St. Louis and Boston.
The Central Division includes Oregon, Milwaukee and Wausau from Wisconsin, plus Peoria, Illinois, Rochester, Minnesota and St. Louis.
The Tradesmen, owned by Madison Hockey Partners, LLC, joined the NA3HL April 1. The team is also in the same ownership group as the Janesville Jets of the NAHL.
Stauffacher said that his goal, like everyone else that suits up at the NA3HL level, is to get moved up to the NAHL level, which then can catapult a player into either Division I or Division III college hockey.
“If you can play at that level, you’re really good. It’s my ultimate goal, though,” Stauffacher said. “It’s going to be a whole other level of hockey. All the guys want the same thing — to move on. It’ll be a real test for me to see how much I’ve matured and how prepared I’ve become.”
By signing with the Tradesmen, Stauffacher will get a chance to suit up this upcoming winter while still studying at Madison College.
“MATC and the team have a deal, so I’ll be able to go to school and still play hockey,” Stauffacher said.
One day he’ll want to work outdoors, with a goal of maybe working at a national park.
“Right now I just want to play hockey,” said Stauffacher, who added that he still has tryouts slated for other teams at other levels in the tiered system, and that if he gets a chance at one of those rosters, he very well might make the switch.
The onset of the COVID-19 outbreak has affected Stauffacher in multiple ways. First, he has been unable to finish out the final months of his high school career, as he expected to do entering March. Stauffacher is an all-conference baseball player for Monroe, and likely had his final season wiped out as well.
For much of the lockdown, Stauffacher has had his phone by his side, while also firing up his Xbox to play his friends in Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege.
In terms of hockey, the stay-at-home order has forced a few tryouts he was expecting to attend in April and May to get pushed back until later in the summer. He also has limited access for working out at home.
“I’ve got a pull-up bar; I’ve done some running — I don’t like running; dumbbells; sit-ups,” Stauffacher said.
He said without having a gym to go, he feels more like the movie boxing hero, Rocky.
“That’s what it feels like,” Stauffacher said. “I get random bursts of energy, so I try to work out when I can.”
