Back to School: Luke Loheit
Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Use hand sanitizer. Have your temperature taken.
But they don't mind.
"It's all the things they have to put in place for us to be able to get on the ice which we're obviously all going to follow as we all want to be out there and be on the ice and not stuck at home," Loheit said.
The Minnetonka, MN, native recently returned to school ahead of the 2020-21 season to an entirely different situation. When the 2019-20 campaign was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic in March, the Bulldogs were 22-10-2 and held fifth spot in the NCAA rankings.
He returns to campus heading into his sophomore season not even being able to use the team's locker room.
As of now, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) is targeting a November return to play. With that in mind, Loheit and his teammates have only just returned to the ice, sans their coaching staff.
"We have to get dressed on the other side of the rink and be socially distanced," he said. "Our coaches haven't been out with us lately. They're still waiting for the right time. We're doing our own skills stuff and they'll watch and keep up with us and ask how we're doing and give us some small stuff to do but we haven't had any actual practices yet which I think we've all been fine with.
"We're all just trying to get back into the swing of things here. It's been different but we're all adjusting and becoming use to a new norm."
Despite the challenges of Covid-19, the 20-year-old winger was able to have a fairly normal offseason. He spent April and May at home using local parks to train outside before being able to return to the gym come June and get on the ice shortly thereafter.
While he has protocols to deal with at the rink, Loheit is also figuring out classes. As of now, the university has imposed mandatory online classes for a two-week period but once that concludes, Loheit will slowly be able to return to class.
He's previously taken some online classes, like many of his teammates, to ease some of the burden with the team's travel. But regardless, he says it's "weird" not going to campus and seeing teachers in person.
"I know a lot of my classes are online so I'll be doing a lot of stuff remotely but I think a few of my classes are blended which means I'll be on campus a couple of days a week," he said. "It's not bad having to sit in your room and do classes from home so it's not such a terrible thing but it's also a little bit different so we're adjusting to that as well but so has everyone else.
"We're not the only ones here who have to adjust to that. All students are in the same boat so we're trying to make the most of it."
He is however looking forward to picking up his studies. Loheit is looking to major in finance and this upcoming year will see him start to take some of his major requirement classes.
"This year should be a little harder but it will start to get into things that interest me and can put more of my mind to than maybe some other classes," he said.
Back on the ice, Loheit describes his rookie campaign as "up-and-down." He played in all but one of the Bulldogs' 34 games, tallying five goals and an assist. He scored twice in the team's final three games of the season and had the game-winning goal against Denver on Nov. 9.
He admits it was a little intimidating walking into a school that had just won back-to-back NCAA titles and wasn't fully sure what to expect. So, he became a sponge.
"I leaned on a lot of the older guys and how they went about their every day and I took a lot in," he said. "A lot of these guys have done a lot here and put in a lot of effort and accomplished a lot of things so being able to soak in their knowledge and experience was super important to me and I think I did that."
A Senators seventh round pick in 2018, Loheit found himself a lot more comfortable in the second half of the season. He admits a lot of that had to do with being in the lineup every night.
"Just being in the game environment, being in the locker room, preparing for games and not having to sit in the stands and watch guys go for warmups, you get the feel of just being with the guys and to get out there and feel the momentum of games."
Now heading into his sophomore season, he's ready for more.
"Last year I think it was good for me just to be there and soaking a lot of it in and I ended at a really good point and am excited to pick it up this year.
"But I want to be playing a bigger role."
