I have to start at the Roseville Fire Department where Ryan’s father, Sean, worked as a firefighter for more than 20 years. When we toured the facility with the two of them, Sean told us he decided to become a firefighter because he wanted to be involved in his community and he wanted to be challenged on a regular basis. Ryan recalls visiting the fire station as a child for different family events. Apparently, at the same time every year, the families would gather there to cook and, then, to sell stew. He says he definitely did some chopping or some stirring as a youngster. Ryan also tells us that he learned how to work hard by watching his father work hard. According to Ryan, Sean was out the door every morning before Ryan was awake and he was constantly on call as a member of the fire department. Ryan refers to him as “an incredible role model” and it is apparent that he still feels that way about his father today.
Ryan chose to follow his older brother, Colin, to Cretin-Derham Hall High School, which is a private, Catholic high school located in Saint Paul, Minnesota about 20 minutes south of his hometown of Arden Hills. His grandfather and two of his uncles graduated from there. One of those uncles, Steve Walsh, was an NFL quarterback playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for two seasons in the late ‘90s. We followed Ryan and Steve through those halls as the two of them reflected on their time there. Ryan tells us he took a pottery class to “diversify” himself. He met his wife, Kaylee, at that school and she also played hockey. He won a state championship in hockey when he was a junior and his brother was a senior. Lastly, he discussed his decision to stay at Cretin-Derham Hall for his senior year even though he had other opportunities that, at that time, seemed to be more beneficial for his hockey career.
