Freshman Friday is a Q-and-A feature with new members of the men's hockey team. This is the seventh of nine installments this year, featuring forward Ben Tupker.

Q: The first semester is in the books. What do you think of Cornell so far?
A: It's everything I've kind of expected. I'm in the ILR school, and I'm really enjoying that. The guys in the room are great and everything off the ice is great, too. So I couldn't be any happier.

Q: Tell me a little bit about the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. I feel it's very interesting that we have twins come in that are in different colleges. What are you pursuing?
A: I've always been kind of interested in law, and obviously that's a good pre-law education. But I'm also interested in doing something with sports management, in terms of just kind of being involved with the game somehow after hockey. They've had a lot of alumni come through that school that have done various jobs in sports, so those are two pathways
 
Q: Quite a few, and they're in pretty prominent positions, too. Plus, you have teammates in ILR with you, right?
A: Yeah, Max (Andreev) and (Alex Green).
 
Q: So have you been leaning on those guys? Because they've also looked into becoming sports agents and that type of thing …
A: Yeah, that's what Greener's been talking about, becoming a sports agent. I haven't spoken to Max too much about what he plans to do afterward, but Max was my mentor over the summer so I was able to ask him a lot of questions about the school. He was really helpful.
 
Q: So your brother, Zach, told me that you guys were looking for a college to go together. That's an interesting dynamic, because you guys have different types of career aspirations. Would you say that you were kind of the one who latched onto the ILR angle first or was it really kind of a joint decision?
A: I don't know. For me, I've haven't been as specific in terms of what I wanted to do. I haven't always known. He's always been pretty focused on doing something with economics or finance, and he's interested in stocks and things like that. For me, I've had a bit of an open mind when I was choosing and just kind of did my research. I knew I was interested in law and doing something in regards to sports management, so when I was talking with the coaches they recommended the ILR school. And after looking at it, I thought it would be a great opportunity.
 
Q: We've had quite the twin tradition here, with you two became the fourth twins we've had in the last 20 years or so. Was that something that you knew about in the recruiting process?
A: No, I didn't know about that. It's kind of funny to read about. It's pretty unique.
 
Q: You and Zach are both forwards, so you've obviously played on the same line a lot – both here and elsewhere. Was there ever a time where you didn't? Or was there a time when one of you was a defenseman or goalie or anything like that?
A: No. I'm not really sure how it started, but throughout our careers Zach gravitated toward center and I've always been the winger. I can't really remember a time where we deviated from that. So, yeah, it's just kind of been like that for the majority of our lives.
 
Q: And you're a little bit bigger, too, which I would say it probably suits wing a little bit better. Is that just a coincidence or were you always a little bigger?
A: I've always been a little bit bigger. I don't think that really had a role in picking a position. But yeah, it's something to bug him about every once in a while.
 
Q: So tell me about your junior career. Were you both thinking about hockey in terms of how serious it was kind of identically, or was there a time where one of you was more serious than the other?
A: Through bantam, we always had the same numbers. So it wasn't necessarily one of us was looking at more or less opportunities, so we always kind of had the same goals and aspirations in mind. I think that having Zach is good in terms of being able to push each other. If one of us is having a tough go or something like that, the other guy can push him through it. We've always had each other to lean on. So after midget, we were kind of looking at what junior spots to play. We didn't really have anything concrete, but we went out to Carleton Place's camp and talked to them a little bit, and then we had a really good camp. So they offered us a spot and I don't if it could've been any better fit for me and Zach. We played three years there. The coaching staff was great, we had really great teams, and I think we became better players. I think we owe a lot of our development to CP.
 
Q: It seems like there is a lot of loyalty there, too. Your family moved out there (from your hometown of Collingwood), and then you stay there right up until coming to Cornell, when maybe other guys would have transitioned to maybe a different Canadian Junior Hockey League before college. Why were you guys so comfortable at CP?
A: I think it's getting better in terms of a lot of guys staying in the (CCHL). I think that was more of a trend in the past, in terms of guys moving on to different leagues. And that could be the case in other organizations, but with CP there have been a lot of great players go through there, and it seems like the majority of straight from CP to the NCAA. It's hard to describe, but the details – how the organization is run, the coaching staff, and things like that – we just felt that there wasn't a need to look elsewhere. We had coaches that would look after us and be able to develop us into the players that we wanted to be. We just felt extremely comfortable with that and thought that CP was the best place for us prior to coming here.
 
Q: Tell us about the decision to come here. The university was clearly part of it, but were you guys seriously looking at other places?
A: I think our first season in Carleton Place, the (Cornell) coaches reached out and expressed some interest. At the end of the first season, we came down and visited and we watched a game against Princeton. That was a pretty good game to watch in terms of the environment and everything like that. So right away, we were pretty hooked. Then going into our second season, we stayed in contact and once they showed that they would like us to play here, there was no need to continue talking to other schools. We hopped on and knew that this was the place we wanted to be.
 
Q: So we asked Zach this question, so you have to have a chance to retort. So, what's something that you would say makes you unique to Zach in a way and what's something that you can say that you are better at than he is?
A: I think that coming in here, right off the bat, you kind of take things for how they are, just to gain some experiences. But as we both got more comfortable in the room, like on and off the ice, I think the guys are starting to see that he's a little bit more – I don't know if shy is the right word – but a bit more quiet in terms of speaking out more. He loves hanging out with the guys and just observing, whereas I'm a bit more talkative or outgoing, you could say. That would be the one major difference, and I don't even think that's a huge difference either. I think that the majority of our differences lie in our interests away from the rink, even just looking at the degrees we are in. We are going down very different career paths and things like that.
 
Q: So, he claims he's funnier …
A: Yeah, we were reading that. I definitely asked him about that one. I don't know if we're the guys to ask about that. I think some other guys would have to step in for their opinions on this.
 
Q: You're taking the high road on this one …
A: Yeah, I don't know if I would agree with that. But it was pretty funny to read.
 
Q: What are some of the other interests that might be different aside from the aspired-to degrees?
A: I mean, he loves basketball away from the rink. He's very into doing other things. I mean, I like that stuff too, but he loves the odd time away from the rink getting into other things. He's good at finding new interests. Like last summer, he got into trading stocks and things like that, whereas I'm more laid back away from the rink and like to kind of just like to hang out in my spare time rather than find new interests and hobbies.
 
Q: So what are some of your tried and true hobbies and interests?
A: Growing up in Collingwood, the big thing was always snowboarding. So right after school, you'd go home, drop your bag off and we lived five minutes away from the ski hills. So just head out there for the night with some buddies. There are a lot of good memories out there.
 
Q: Hockey-wise, who would you say you look up as someone you model your game after?
A: Growing up, I was a huge Leafs fan. So in terms of a comparable player, I always looked up to James Van Riemsdyk. He's a guy with a big frame who played 200 feet and loved to play below the goal line in the offensive zone. Looking at the way he's able to protect the puck and be a presence in the crease, those are definitely details of his game that I've tried to bring to mine.

Freshman Friday

•  Oct. 18: Sam Malinski
•  Oct. 25: Matt Stienburg
•  Nov. 1: Travis Mitchell
•  Nov. 15: Ben Berard
•  Nov. 22: Zach Tupker
•  Nov. 29: Jack Malone
•  Jan. 3: Ben Tupker