Like most youth hockey players along the Front Range, Evan Ritt of Lakewood was told he wasn’t good enough to play college hockey. But Ritt refused to accept what others thought was obvious.
He pressed on in memory of his mother.
Barb Ritt never saw her son become a valuable member of the University of Denver hockey team. She died of breast cancer at age 49 in 2009, when Evan was 16 and attending Green Mountain High School. Barb battled the disease since Evan was 2.
“She was my No. 1 fan and I learned a lot about hard work, perseverance and being mentally strong from her,” Evan said. “I learned a lot of valuable lessons seeing her fight that battle, and I put it toward hockey and my relationships.”
Evan’s relationships with his hockey coaches led him to DU, where he has played in 23-of-26 games as a senior, after appearing in 10 the three previous seasons. He centers a line with sophomore Colin Staub and senior Emil Romig for the No. 2-ranked Pioneers (16-6-4), who play Nebraska Omaha in a two-game series at Magness Arena this weekend.
Ritt joined DU midseason as a freshman in 2013-14, and he might be the only player from a pay-to-play junior league to ever contribute for the Pioneers, who have the luxury of stocking their roster with players from the Tier I United States Hockey League. Ritt came from the Tier III United States Premier Hockey League, which requires player payment.
“Evan’s been an incredible Pioneer — even while he wasn’t playing,” said DU coach Jim Montgomery, who took on Ritt midway through Montgomery’s first season as George Gwozdecky’s successor. “He’s a leader in that locker room, and him getting rewarded is nice for everyone to see. It shows that if you never give up and always do the right things, you’ll get rewarded.”
Ritt grew up playing for the Arvada and Boulder double-A youth organizations before advancing to the triple-A Rocky Mountain RoughRiders’ 18-under team. Ritt is the prized protoge of former Pioneer Nick Larson, a defenseman on DU’s 2004 and 2005 NCAA championship teams.
Larson coached Ritt with the RoughRiders for two seasons ending in 2012. Larson said Ritt had captain character and leadership abilities, but he couldn’t skate. His mechanics were so bad, he could barely finish a 45-second shift.
“I really messed up with that kid,” Larson said as a back-handed compliment to himself. “I told all the kids on my team that I would meet them at 5 a.m. any time they wanted to get out of bed and I would give them lessons for free. Well, I was at the rink like four days a week at 5 a.m. with Evan Ritt for 2 1/2 years.”
“Just an absolute rink rat,” Larson added. “I mean, he wanted it so bad. There’s a lot of players who are a lot better than him that never played Division I. The one thing I have that no one else has is, I saw what he was. You should have seen this kid skate. The second he got tired he would completely bend at the waist and have this arch in his back and he could barely move.”
After Ritt showed significant improvement, Larson helped place him with the junior-A Tier II Jamestown (N.Y.) Ironmen of the North American Hockey League. Ritt had success, finishing as the team’s second-leading scorer, but the Ironmen folded in the offseason and Ritt’s only option for 2013-14 was the Jersey Hitmen of the Tier III’s USPHL.
He played 15 games for the team in Wayne, N.J., before Montgomery’s staff offered him a walk-on opportunity. Larson, who was considered a player-coach at DU, was behind the deal.
“It shows the importance of having a great alumni group, to rely on them,” Montgomery said. “Someone like Nick Larson, who has won championships, is not very dissimilar to Ritt. Walked on here, was able to earn scholarship money. Having Nick Larson talk about the character and intelligence of the young man — that’s what we want to bring in here.”
Larson won’t take credit for Ritt’s success. He credits the “charisma that just oozes” out of Ritt’s ears.
“He’s one of those kids who you know is going to make it, just on character alone,” Larson said. “All the things the kid has overcome is pretty incredible.”
That kid, the son of Alex Ritt, is 24 and in position to succeed at whatever he does.
“He’s a very responsible kid, and he works hard at everything he does,” Alex Ritt said of his son. “He works hard at being a good person. He’s been lucky because his peer group, the guys on the team, are great young men. I guess that goes with the system, but we are grateful.”
Evan Ritt has scored only five points this season, but he has a goal and three assists in DU’s past three games.
“I am pretty proud of myself,” he said. “But at the same time, I always want to be doing better. I wish I was contributing more. I’ve been able to find a role this year. I take faceoffs, and have been able to be consistent with them. And defensively, I’m starting to kill penalties. To fill those roles, it feels really good.”