Saint Peter's Baseball alum Ryan Knapp '03 had the opportunity of a lifetime this month when he was picked to officiate at the Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minnesota.
While he may have played baseball in college, Knapp has hockey in his blood, first picking up a stick when he was just three years old. Growing up in Secaucus, he played through high school at Hudson Catholic but ultimately had to give it up when he accepted a scholarship to play baseball for the Peacocks. But he didn't let his love for hockey fade, and got back into the sport once he graduated from Saint Peter's.
"I had to stop playing, and I missed it a lot," Knapp said. "When I was done with baseball, I had a whole bunch of friends who did officiating and a few of those people pointed me in the right direction to get started with that and it was really cool because I could get back involved with the game because I missed it a lot."
Like most officials, Knapp started at lower levels and worked his way up. Given his age at the time he started and his knowledge of the game, he was able to move along quickly. He made the jump from minor league hockey to the Triple A level of professional hockey and college hockey.
He got the nod to work the Frozen Four in 2015 in Boston, but only officiated in a semi-final game. This year, he got to go a step further and ref in the championship game between Minnesota Duluth and Notre Dame.
"It's probably the highlight of my officiating career," Knapp said. "The Frozen Four is something that every official that works college hockey would like to get to. The experience itself was just incredible. It was in St. Paul, Minnesota, and everything about it was about college hockey, the atmosphere was amazing, it was completely sold out, and there was over 18 thousand people at the final game which was pretty cool."
Now with two Frozen Fours under his belt, Knapp looks towards the next level: the NHL. But given his age, it'll be tough to make it there. But Knapp remains hopeful that his time may come.
"I think that that's everybody's dream, to go to the NHL," Knapp said. "That's where I fell in love with the game, and I always watched all these people in the NHL back in the day, but my age is starting to get a little higher. If that opportunity ever came up I'd love to try and do it. If that was to ever happen I would love it, I just don't know if I would ever be on that radar."
Knapp was inducted into the Saint Peter's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014. He ranks third in career at-bats, third in home runs, fourth in doubles, fourth in total bases, fifth in runs scored, seventh in RBIs, eighth in hits, eighth in triples and 10th in stolen bases. He and his wife Kristen '04 have two children: a daughter, Kayla (7) and a son, Brayden (4).
