How does a star college hockey player from the University of Washington become a successful hockey agent and a children’s book author?

Ryan Minkoff’s story is unique and had some twists and turns to get where he is today.

And that story began in Minnesota. All young hockey players dream of making it to the pros one day. It was the same for Minkoff. But his path to get there wasn’t going to be an easy one.

Attending a NCAA Division I hockey school was a goal for Minkoff, but the offers weren’t coming.

Minkoff recalled the offer he got from a school in New York. However, the coaches wanted him to play a few years of junior hockey and return. That was never in the cards for Minkoff as he wanted to go straight from high school to college.

That is where Washington came into play. His mother was from the area and Minkoff himself enjoyed visiting the West Coast. But he didn’t know much about what hockey was like in that part of the country. It grew on him the more he thought about it, though.

“My mom was from the state of Washington and I actually applied to UDUB on the last day they accepted applications just because she wanted me to have a West Coast option,” Minkoff told Hockey of Tomorrow. “Through senior year I ended up looking at that option a lot more as time went on and that’s where I ended up going. I thought it could be a cool opportunity.”

“I felt like it was an opportunity for me to try to put the program on the map and to see what can happen.”

And Minkoff did exactly that.

He helped lead them to Regionals for the first time in the school’s history as they won their conference championship. Minkoff himself still holds numerous scoring records for the school’s hockey program. Going pro was up next but it didn’t exactly come about the way one would expect.

Speaking with Minkoff, it is clear how much passion he has for what he’s doing. But he didn’t come into this thinking it was going to turn into what it has. He was originally doing it to stay involved in European hockey and help out some friends.

“Once I started helping my Latvian roommate and his brother, they started saying ‘Hey my friend needs some help, can you help him out?’ Some Finnish players were doing the same thing as time went on. And I started getting some North Americans that were reaching out to me. So it just kind of gradually built over the first couple of years.”

Minkoff’s client base began to grow over the years, going from around seven to mid-30s, mostly thanks to referrals that he was getting. That’s the moment that Minkoff knew he could do something with this. He joked that if he knew more about the business coming in, he may not have begun. But he’s glad he did.

To this day, Minkoff can look back at the situation in Finland and use that to help him today. The same issues that show up in the lower levels are just as present in the higher ones as well.

“I can relate to players’ issues really well because they all know my issues already. Obviously, you hope that players never have to go through any problems. But it’s sort of bound to happen at some point.”

Looking at Minkoff’s client list today, there are 57 players that his agency, 83LLC, represents. That doesn’t include the even longer list of past clients.

So after helping that many players, is there one that stuck out? It was a hard question for Minkoff to answer, but it all came back to Ozols and what he was able to do in Finland.

“He’s the reason I got into the business. I ended up sending him to England and visiting him. It was a great time, it was nice to see that he had good living conditions. I stayed with him, so it was a fun time. I got to go to a game. That was a good moment. I was like ‘This is really fun for me. I can see that I’m helping,’ because I knew what he dealt with before.” Minkoff said about Ozols’ impact on him.

That has been the best part of the business for Minkoff.

Seeing the impact it has on these players and even just being able to move them into a bigger league has brought him enjoyment with what he is doing.

Empowering Women With Children’s Book

Just as it was with his first book, Minkoff hadn’t thought about writing a children’s book. His first book, Thin Ice: A Hockey Journey from Unknown to Elite — and the Gift of a Lifetime, is an autobiography that details the unique journey that he went through. Minkoff began writing during his junior year of college, simply to keep track of what he had done up until that point.

That writing continued into his senior year and in Finland as well. By then he was up to about 200 pages.

“I just felt like, at the time, that my story and how I just navigated to the level I got to would really be beneficial for other players going through tough times when they’re in high school or even in youth hockey.”

He hadn’t planned to do anything with the book. It was going to be something he could look back on when he was older. But after his experience in Finland, he went with it. It took about two years to find a publisher to take it on and it went from there.

Minkoff wrote the entire draft of the children’s book while in Finland. He was involved in the community and helped the kids around the school, something Minkoff mentioned as being one of the best things he did there.

But he wanted to do more to help and that’s how the children’s book came to be. Minkoff wanted to make more of an impact on the children. It could be something that would help them learn English and show that he wanted to do more to help.

Nora’s Hockey Dream is based on his sister’s own experiences growing up. With his mom being involved in women’s hockey for over 10 years when he was younger, Minkoff grew up around players like Julie Chu and Jenny Potter. He saw that these women were playing on Saturday mornings, mostly in front of friends and family, and they were doing it for free.

The opportunities also weren’t there for them in terms of girls’ associations and having to end up playing with the boys. It’s something that Minkoff really began to understand once he got older. It was something he was inspired by.

“When I came up with this idea for the book, I was like ‘This is a great way to quickly repay those players that made a big impact on me and my sister growing up.’ Most of them have the book now and they really loved it. I’m really happy I was able to sort of give back this book to them and the women’s hockey community.”

Minkoff has been involved with numerous NHL teams who have welcomed him in. He has done events with the Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, and Anaheim Ducks among others.

“It’s awesome to see the reception that NHL teams are giving to promoting them as hockey. I can see they’re trying. I think it’ll just continue to grow.”

It’s also been cool to see, for him, that the NHL appears to be grasping that it doesn’t matter who is a fan of the game. It just matters that someone is a fan in general.

In the end, Minkoff did not come into any of this with any expectations of how things would turn out. In Finland, he was just looking to have a good experience that he could look back on. And it was the same thing with his agency and both books he has written.  

“I really didn’t go in with an expectation like this is gonna turn into something. I did have a little feeling that I can do something to make an impact. I know that my path and story could really resonate with people in the hockey world.”  

If there is one thing that Minkoff wants people to take away from his story, it is about believing in yourself and ignoring those around you who aren’t supportive of your goals.

It also involves having a long-term approach to things as well. Worrying about roadblocks along the way is only going to hurt you in the end.

The reality is that these players can achieve their goals in many different ways. No one goes through the same experiences or has the same story. Minkoff is just one example of that. That is probably his biggest message to everyone out there.

“I can’t stress it enough to parents and players that as long as you have perspective and you have your own belief, you can get to where you want to get to. You need to have some faith and just keep going.”