AUBURN — Jackson Wozniak calls roller hockey his stress-free hockey.

The Cypress, California native grew up playing “roller” before transitioning to ice hockey. Unlike most competitors at this week’s National Collegiate Roller Hockey Championships at Norway Savings Bank Arena, Wozniak reached the NCAA Division I ice hockey level with the Lindenwood University Lions based outside of St. Louis, Missouri, during the 2022-23 season.

“I always knew I’d be playing in the summer in tournaments and stuff,” Wozniak said of roller hockey. “Throughout my ice hockey career, there were some bumps in the road. It kind of got to the point where I needed to be happier for myself away from the rink, and roller hockey let me come back and be myself, have good friends and play hockey again.”

This year, the 24-year-old Wozniak is the leading scorer (32 goals and 26 assists in 18 games) for the two-time defending champion Lindenwood roller hockey team.

“I think it’s what everybody sees now in many ice hockey players who have roller hockey in their background, is the vision, the time with the puck, the decision-making with the puck,” Ron Beilsten, Lindenwood’s roller hockey coach, said. “He has a great shot, and he’s willing to take the shot. Those are great attributes. And he’s a good skater as well.”

REACHING DIVISION I

Wozniak was the quintessential junior hockey player. Someone with multiple stops across North America and in many different leagues on a quest to reach college hockey and potentially the NHL.

He played for multiple youth organizations, such as the LA Jr. Kings and the Colorado Thunderbirds, before embarking on a junior hockey career between 2016 and 2021 that included stops in the United States Hockey League, the British Columbia Hockey League, the Alberta Junior Hockey League and the North American Hockey League.

He bounced around North America, playing in Wenatchee, Washington; Corpus Christi, Texas; Sioux City, Iowa; Grand Prairie, Alberta; and Wichita Falls, Texas.

“It was learning that, you know, this can be a job,” Wozniak said of playing junior hockey. “It has to be taken as a job in some aspects, as you have to show up to work every day, and put your time in and do the extra work, right? Sometimes, the extra work can be hard to get in, but you have to find ways to push back a little bit.

Junior hockey was a lot of work, and had to be treated like a job, but Wozniak enjoyed it.

“The day-in, day-out grind and being with the guys almost 24/7, you get really close, especially playing in small towns and not much to do,” he said. “You get to know the fans and go to schools to do guest experiences and stuff like that. I enjoyed all my years of junior hockey, everywhere I was at — everyone was so welcoming and cheering me on every Friday night.”

Wozniak committed to Lindenwood’s club ice hockey team for the 2021-22 season and helped the Lions to an American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Division I national championship — he had a goal in the championship game — before the Lions became an NCAA Division I team for the 2022-23 season.

He only played in nine games for that season and recorded one assist. He enjoyed visiting some of the top programs in NCAA hockey.

“It was crazy going into some of these rinks that are comparable to NHL rinks,” Wozniak said. “You think about our resources to other teams. It gets you intimated a little bit, but it’s kind of a wow factor of, ‘I always dreamed about playing in this rink as a kid.'”

Among the arenas he singled out were Yost Arena at University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota’s Mariucci Arena.

“I always wanted to play college hockey. I want to play in those rinks,” Wozniak said. “It was special to get the opportunity to play in some of those rinks. No one can take that away from me.”

RETURN TO ROLLER

Wozniak said he knew in February of 2023 that ice hockey wasn’t working out, and he realized he wasn’t going to be in the Lions’ plans for the future.

“I didn’t want to stick around,” Wozniak said, “and the mental strain it was putting on me — ‘I don’t have to go through this every day, right? If it’s not what I want to do anymore, I can make the decision for what’s best for me and not for anybody else.'”

Lindenwood is one of the top roller hockey teams in the country, and the roster includes other players from California who Wozniak already knew.

“California and St. Louis always have been a very big hot spot for roller,” Wozniak said. “When I was going through the process of committing to Lindenwood for ice hockey, I already knew some of the guys on the roller hockey team. I played with (Christan) Acosta at 16 with the LA Jr. Kings. I kind of had that rapport a little bit, and like I said, it was getting back to stress-free hockey.”

Beilsten said Wozniak didn’t miss a beat when he joined the roller hockey team at the end of the 2022-23 season.

“When he decided to move back to roller from ice, it was, ‘Yeah, we would be glad to have you here with us,” Beilsten said. “We got him in a few games last year, got him on skates, and he got back to full speed instantly. He blends in well with the rest of the guys. He’s a good dude.”

Beilsten said the roller hockey team has had a few players in the past transition from the Lions’ ACHA club ice hockey team to the roller hockey team.

Wozniak said roller hockey allows him more time than ice hockey did to focus on other aspects of his life.

“I am getting to get to work in my career after hockey,” Wozniak said. “Even when I was playing ice hockey competitively, I was keeping in mind what I wanted to do after hockey and what that’s going to look like for me. Going to school and getting my business degree, as well, during the summer I am working on different career skills. I am trying to broaden my horizons and try different things. I am still doing some coaching in St. Louis with the youth. That’s been filling my time.”

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