You might not envision Arizona as a hockey hotbed.
But you might be surprised.
“Hockey in Arizona is a lot bigger than you think,” said University of Maine freshman center Jaden Lipinski, who is from Scottsdale.
“It’s a great spot to retire so a lot of NHL players go there to live out their retirement and play a bunch of golf. There is no shortage of great coaches there,” said Lipinski. “The youth programs are fantastic.”
The list of current NHL players from Arizona is an impressive one and includes two of the league’s most prolific scorers in Toronto’s Auston Matthews and Buffalo’s Tage Thompson along with the Tkachuk brothers, Florida’s Matthew and Ottawa’s Brady.
Lipinski has gotten off to a good start in his Black Bear career.
Entering this weekend’s two-game series with visiting Colgate, he is tied with fellow freshman Justin Poirier for the team lead in points with five through the Black Bears’ first four games. He has two goals and three assists. Poirier has three goals and two assists.
Lipinski has both game-winning goals for the 2-1-1 Black Bears and is tied for the team lead in plus-minus at plus-six.
Players receive a plus-one if they are on the ice when their team scores an even-strength or shorthanded goal and a minus-one if the opponent scores one.
Lipinski said he fell in love with the sport when he was five years old. He went to the Ice Den in Scottsdale for public skating and he also watched an Arizona Coyotes game.
“And I kind of decided that’s what I wanted to do,” said Lipinski.
The Coyotes existed in the NHL from 1996 to 2024 before moving to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Lipinski wound up playing for the Arizona Junior Coyotes at different age levels for three years and then took advantage of an opportunity to play Major Junior hockey for the Western Hockey League’s Vancouver Giants when he was 16 years old.
One of his Junior Coyotes teammates, Colton Langkow, son of long-time NHL forward Daymond Langkow, had been drafted by the Giants in the fifth round and was on the team.
“They were scouting him and they ended up finding me, too, so we went there together,” said Lipinski.
The 6-foot-4, 209-pound Lipinski wound up playing in 260 regular season games for the Giants and racked up 68 goals and 124 assists for 192 points.
He was drafted in the fourth round by the NHL’s Calgary Flames in 2023. He was the 112th overall pick.
When players from Canada’s three Major Junior Leagues recently became eligible to play U.S. college hockey, Lipinski decided he wanted to give college hockey a try.
UMaine head coach Ben Barr contacted him and expressed interest and Lipinski decided within two days to head east.
“He wasn’t trying to pitch me anything. He just told me what the deal was here and how they do things. I obviously believed in it and I still do,” said Lipinski. “I think it’s the right spot for me.”
Lipinski said he feels good about his game but noted that it has been “hard.
“But it’s supposed to be hard. The coaching staff demands a lot out of each guy, including myself. But a lot of progress has been made and not just me but seeing the other guys, too. It’s a day-by-day process,” said Lipinski, who plays on the power play as well as in even-strength situations.
He is enjoying the college game.
“It has been good. I’ve had the privilege to play at a lot of different levels and it has been interesting to compare it to that,” Lipinski said. “Obviously, it’s faster. The intensity is a lot higher. You’re waiting all week to play.”
He said the pace of the college game is good and the players are a lot stronger.
“At the end of the day, it’s just hockey,” Lipinski said. “It’s physical hockey. It’s a good brand of hockey.”
The 20-year-old Lipinski learned a valuable lesson in Saturday night’s 4-0 loss at Quinnipiac when he received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for kneeing in the first period.
“That was unfortunate. The worst part is I wasn’t able to help the team. I will learn from it and move on,” said Lipinski.
Barr called him a “high-potential kid” who has “done some really good things” while playing a lot of roles for the Black Bears in a short time.
“There isn’t anything he doesn’t do well. It’s just can he consistently do it? And can he get a little stronger and can his endurance level come up a little bit? Those big guys have to work a little bit harder to get around the ice sometimes,” Barr said. “As he improves that over time, he has a chance to be a really good player.”
Barr said he expects Lipinski to learn from his mistake on Saturday night.
UMaine senior left wing and co-captain Thomas Freel, who has been Lipinski’s linemate, likes his game.
“He reads it really well. He has a big body and he’s starting to realize more and more how much he can do by using his size and frame to protect pucks,” Freel said. “It’s been really cool to see how quickly he has adjusted and he even has this much more room to grow as well.”
Lipinski said he needs to use his size on both offense and defense, and without the puck.
“Imposing my will is a big thing,” Lipinski said. “Just holding onto pucks and making it hard for the other team. When I do that, it’s hard to defend.”
One of the levels he has played at is the American Hockey League, which is one notch below the NHL. He played a total of three games with the Calgary Wranglers over two seasons.
He said it was a good experience.
“I wasn’t quite ready but it was good to get that experience and see how guys do it at the next level,” Lipinski said. “Those guys are pros. They take care of themselves. They’re making a living doing it.”
He felt he held his own.
Senior defenseman and co-captain Brandon Holt said Lipinski has “so much potential” for UMaine.
“He has been a big pickup,” Holt said.
