The most difficult part of any young man’s life revolves around planning for the next stage of life, whether those plans involve going to college or going to work.

But for three Albert Lea hockey players that time involves an opportunity to extend their playing career.

Adam Royce, Casey Woodside and Ben Waalken have all decided to tryout for junior hockey teams in part to play Division I hockey down the road.

Each has taken a different path since embarking on the journey to playing collegiate hockey. Royce, a defenseman, was a tender for the Albert Lea Thunder while Waalken, a goalie, and Woodside, a forward, continue to weigh their options.

Waalken has tried out for four teams and doesn’t want to wonder some day if he could play Division I hockey.

“In a lot of ways I think it’s a good choice, coming out of high school everyone wants to play D-I and playing juniors is one of those ways,” Waalken said. “I know I just want to keep playing hockey and it’s always been a goal to play college hockey. I don’t want to look back at stuff like that.”

Waalken has found the entire process of breaking in on a team difficult to say the least because there are very few goalie spots available.

“As a goalie there’s only one spot, sometimes there are 40 kids out for one goalie spot,” Waalkan said. “You can come into a tryout and play really well and not even get invited. I know I can play in that league, it’s just a matter of making a team.”

The tryouts are rigid to say the least. With an open camp up to 70 players show up and then over the course of two days the field is narrowed to around 25 for an All-Star game on the final. From there the team decides who it would like to see more and invites them to a final tryout. Making the final tryout is far from a guaranteed roster spot and that’s one of the most difficult things Waalken and Woodside have had to face.

“We didn’t get drafted or signed,” Waalken said. “A lot of the time if you’re drafted you don’t have to standout, being a person not signed or drafted you really have to standout.”

Waalken has talked with Hamline and has a spot on the team if he wants, but the jumping from a smaller school to Division I hockey is more difficult than playing in junior leagues. With registration going on during the summer, there is little time for him to make up his minds.

“Sometimes you’re invited to main camps and what happens if you get cut there? I can’t just say I’m going to play for Hamline,” Waalken said. “It’s kind of day-to-day for me.”

Royce has the closest thing to a sure-shot with the Thunder. As its first tender Albert Lea gained his playing rights, but he still has to make the final roster.

“It’s one of the biggest choices of your life,” Royce said.

While he will pass up going to college full-time, Royce said playing in junior hockey still allows players to take college classes, which he plans on doing.

“I’ve had some time to think about it and I think I made the right decision,” Royce said.

The way Royce saw it was that he has a majority of his life to work, but the opportunity to continue to play hockey outweighed going straight to college.

“I always wanted to play post-high school hockey,” Royce said. “We (Royce and his family) talked about it for a long time and decided this was the best bet.”

For Waalken going to college right away isn’t a poor decision, but it would be difficult for him to fulfill his goal of playing Division I hockey.

“That’s not a bad choice either,” Waalken said. “I really just want to keep playing hockey.”

Junior hockey provides the opportunity for promising players to become better prepared for Division I hockey. College coaches have told Royce that if he were to make the jump to a Division I school right now he would be red-shirted, but playing juniors allows him to play on a regular basis in game situations.

“One thing with juniors, everybody makes their own choices while playing juniors,” Waalken said. “You can either get a part-time job or take classes.”