Schroeder close to home at Augsburg University

Oliver Schroeder is happy to be home.

Or, close enough.

The 20-year-old Virden Oil Capitals defenceman from Hudson, Wis., is now just a 35-minute drive from his hometown after committing to Augsburg University to play NCAA Division III with the Auggies for the 2026-27 season.

“It’s definitely a big weight off the shoulders,” said Schroeder, who will be studying business management. “It gives you motivation to train for a logo and not just train to try to find a spot, so to have this unreal opportunity and to do it in NCAA is even better, so I couldn’t think of a better scenario to be in right now.

“I’ve spent my last three years travelling around, so I feel like I’ve done my time travelling and it was time to stay close to home and this gave me the best opportunity to do that.

It also gives friends and family opportunity to come out and watch whenever they want.”

Augsburg reached out to Schroeder and held talks right before the start of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League playoffs. Once the post-season rolled around though, the conversations died down so he could focus on pursuing the Turnbull Cup with Virden, who scooped him up at the trade deadline from the Winkler Flyers in exchange for blue-liner Rhylan Baxter.

The Oil Capitals dispatched the Neepawa Titans in four games and then edged the Steinbach Pistons in six games, before getting run over in the championship series by the powerhouse Niverville Nighthawks, who also captured the Centennial Cup in Summerside, P.E.I., on Sunday.

After Schroeder’s season ended, the two sides picked up where they left off and finalized the deal late last week. He’ll be heading into the fall surrounded by all new faces, except interim coach Tyler Veen, a former assistant with the Rochester Grizzies who coached against Schroeder while he was with the West Bend Power of the North American 3 Hockey League.

The United States Tier III junior league is where Schroeder began his career in junior and it’s also where he shaped his identity.

“I think the NA3 was a crucial part of making me the player I am today,” he said. “Honestly, if I didn’t play in that A3, I wouldn’t play with the grit and I wouldn’t use my size how I do, it really taught me how to step up my game and play with size. They gave me an opportunity to where I was playing every night and I had a letter for a little bit and obviously having a lot of fun.”

In a season and a half, the six-foot-eight, 215-pound monster defender tallied 23 points. His play earned himself a call up to the North American Hockey League with the Janesville Jets after the Christmas break in his second season.

“I got a call to have a chance to go out to Alaska with Janesville and it was basically a two-week tryout with the team and luckily I played good enough and they asked me if I wanted to sign a contract, so I signed and stayed for the rest of the year.”

Schroeder played in 24 games for the Jets and added three assists, while logging 54 penalty minutes. He was traded in the summer to the Watertown Shamrocks and then was released from the club after just two games after some young reinforcements from the United States Hockey League entered the fold.

“It was a little bit of a shell shock,” said Schroeder. “It’s just such a big, heavy league with such a fast pace, so if you’re not ready to go and do your thing every night, you’re done.”

As big as Schroeder was, his leash was rather short. He admitted he struggled adjusting on the ice to his height, specifically with his skating, which felt like he was practically on stilts a lot of the time.

“I was basically Bambi out there,” Schroeder said with a chuckle. “I was always pretty tall, like taller than the other kids, but around, 6th grade was when I really hit my growth spurt to be super tall and then freshman year I spurted again and it just never stopped.

“I was always the big defender, but your body is just changing so much and it was basically just learning how to skate every year and keeping weight on too is very hard but we made it work and I feel my skating has changed so much with just having to bend your knees a bit more.”

Schroeder continued to put the work in at the gym and on the ice and then made his way to the MJHL, signing with the Winkler Flyers last fall. He totalled one goal and four points with the Flyers and then was traded to the West Division champion Oil Capitals, who he also posted a goal and four points with. In the playoffs, he added two assists in 14 games.

While he confessed a trade to Virden wasn’t necessarily on his radar, Schroeder was happy it happened.

“I was just sitting at the dining room table and I get a call, so I was definitely surprised at first, but once I got on the phone with Rammer (head coach Tyson Ramsey), I was more than excited to go there and join the team and make a run for the Turnbull.

“It’s everyone’s dream to win a championship, so I was excited to give myself the best opportunity to do that, so being an older guy and making a run to the championship, it taught me how to be a leader in the room and how to lead guys younger and even lead myself with what I had to do every day to keep healthy and keep playing 20, 25 minutes a night. It was a great experience.”

Schroeder’s certainly been around the block in the junior hockey world, but now he can finally settle down a bit at Augsburg. The Auggies, who went 7-15-3 this season with a 4-10-2 mark in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, are still in search of a head bench boss ever since Garrett Hendrickson departed in March following three seasons, where he registered a 30-40-6 record during his tenure.

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com