Freshman Friday is a Q-and-A feature with new members of the men's hockey team. This is the fifth installment, featuring goaltender Austin McGrath.

Q: So we're a couple months in. What are you think so far?
A: It's been really fun so far. You know everyone on the team by now. They're all great guys and they make you feel really welcome, especially those first few weeks. So it helps a lot with sort of getting into that routine and sort of stepping up to going to college and being in class and playing hockey as well.

Q: So let's talk about that school part, because you're in a little bit of a different major than all the other guys on the team. How are things going there?
A: It's going pretty well. I'm in the College of Human Ecology, and my major is Human Biology, Health & Society. It's definitely tough. It would be nice to have some of the guys in classes with me, but you've just got to try to meet a few of the people in the classes and that kind of helps out.

Q: What are you hoping to do with that degree some day?
A: I'm hoping to go into something like physiotherapy or chiropractics, possibly. I'm not 100 percent set on it right now, but I'm just going to see what the classes are like and if it's something I enjoy or not.

Q: Makes sense. That's what college is for. As is getting away from home for the first time, which most of our hockey players have done before with billeting in different junior leagues and such — but you've been in Lloydminster, Alberta your whole life leading up to this year. What's the adjustment been like for you?
A: It's been a pretty big adjustment, for sure — especially because I didn't know any of the guys on the team coming in. I'd never even met anyone before. That was a big change, but it's gotten a lot easier as time has gone on just getting to know everyone. That's helped make the transition a lot easier.

Q: So switching to actual hockey, you were actually a pretty late commit to Cornell — as far as that whole calendar works out. So how did the whole thing break down? Was it a pretty quick decision?
A: Definitely. It all happened pretty quick. I started talking to Coach Syer in late January, I think, and then the staff watched me play through the end of January and February, then I committed in early March. So it really developed pretty quickly.

Q: You were born in 1998, which means you could have easily stayed another year in the AJHL and tried to see what other opportunities would arise. Why didn't you take that route?
A: To be honest, I wasn't really expecting to be at college this year, but the opportunity came with a great school and a great hockey program like Cornell. So you can't say no to that. I think just because it's such a great program. They do well every year, and they move guys on to the next level. The schooling is great. You don't get much better than that. The decision just made sense. It was a good position to come into, and ultimately it's what I wanted in a school. There's not much sense in waiting around for something when you've already got it right there.

Q: Rewinding to even before your junior days, you had quite the experience with your midget team — the Lloydminster Bobcats — going to the Telus Cup (Canada's national championship for that level). What was that experience like?
A: It was exciting, for sure. We were a pretty good team throughout the year. Then playoffs came and we became an even better team. It was really exciting to play every game. We just played as a team and did really well, and winning the Pacific championship was a super exciting atmosphere. It was in our home town, and we filled the rink. We had over 2,000 people there both nights — for midget games. So it was exciting to play in front of them, and then we flew all the way across the country (to Saint John, New Brunswick) and Hockey Canada puts on a really good event, so it was pretty fun to be there and playing against the best teams in the country.

Q: Now let's be clear — the reason your team went so far is because you barely gave up any goals. Obviously it's a team game and all, but everything I've read about the whole thing said that you just found another level throughout that run. When you get in those lockdown modes, does it feel any different to you?
A: I think the game just feels a lot simpler. When plays start to get a little bit out of control or there's a little bit of chaos in the game, I just find a way to keep it simple when I'm playing my best. It just helps to make the game a lot easier when you're keeping it simple and not trying to do too much.

Q: A good quality for a goaltender, for sure. And you were one of the oldest kids on the team at that point at 17 years old. How were you still in midget when you were clearly good enough to be in the AJHL?
A: Midget was really interesting for me. I hadn't really planned on playing three years of midget, but the Western league team that drafted me (the Medicine Hat Tigers) had a lot of other goalies in the system. So they were going another direction, and I was in the AJHL with Sherwood Park to start what would have been my third year of midget, and then a 19-year-old goalie came back from British Columbia, so I ended up getting bumped back down to midget. I could have looked for somewhere else to go at that point, but I think it was just the best decision for me to kind of be at home and just go through another year of midget and play a lot. So it was a really interesting path. Not the one expected when I was, say, 15 — but I think it worked out pretty well.

Q: So when did the NCAA route come into the picture?
A: During that last year of midget is when I decided that college was more for me, because I'd had a couple gos at Western league camps, and it didn't seem to pan out. Then I was 17, and it didn't really make sense to try to play one or two years in the Western league when I could play Junior A and go to college after that. I did pretty well in school, so that just sort of reaffirmed that was the way for me to go.

Q: Were academics always pushed at home?
A: I wouldn't say pushed, but my parents always knew that if I started to not do too well in school, hockey would be the first thing to go. So it was just more of my brother and I kept up on that so that we could still do other things. It just kind of came to us.

2017-18 Freshman Friday Archives:
Oct. 20 — Morgan Barron
Oct. 27 — Cody Haiskanen
Nov. 3 — Matthew Galajda
Nov. 10 — Brenden Locke