Corona, CA: Former MnJHL Ice Hawks Sanchez now a freshman at Concordia University (WI) - Junior Hockey News

After three seasons with the Minnesota Junior Hockey League's Ice Hawks, Forward Morgan Sanchez continues his playing career with Concordia University's Falcons. This season as a freshman Exercise Science major, Morgan has played 16 games with 6 goals and 4 assists. Originally from Corona, CA, Morgan started with roller hockey as a kid after being influenced by a professional roller hockey player who was housed by his parents. After playing 12 years of roller hockey, he switched to ice hockey. This season will be his 6th year on the ice.

After graduating high school in Morgan continued his career with the Ice Hawks, accumulating 116 games with 39 goals, 47 assists, and 3 National Championships from 2008 to 2011. His most memorable highlight is taking 3rd place at the National Tournament in Boston, MA his 2009-10 season.

Ice Hawks Head Coach Nick Fatis comments: "Morgan was a lot of fun to coach. He was one of the last players to make the team in the first season, but he worked hard to prove himself. He improved dramatically over the three seasons with the Ice Hawks. I think if he stayed in southern California he probably wouldn't have gotten the exposure that he got with the MnJHL. He's just another successful product of the league."

Even as a successful junior player, Morgan faced a challenging decision with continuing his career. He wasn't sure what college hockey had to offer or even if he would be good enough to play college hockey. His skills and hard work pushed him through to continue. "I was once told 'never let anyone tell you you're not good enough or can't do something'. This is really the main reason I am where I am at today," he comments.

Morgan's favorite thing about playing hockey is having that feeling of accomplishment and success at the same time. He hopes to use his strengths including his speed to continue to grow with Concordia. "Over the next couple of years I hope to accomplish getting better as a player overall, to continue to get good grades and hope to get a great job after college if I decide to stop playing hockey," he explains. "I hope to have a job with hockey as a strength and conditioning coach or really anything that has to do with hockey."

Morgan's perseverance and skill allowed him to continue with Concordia. His advice to other junior hockey players wanting to continue their career into college hockey is to stand out from the crowd and "don't let anyone tell you that you're not good enough to make a team."