Senior Evan Ritt has positioned himself for an increased role in the Pioneers lineup with a strong performance in the team’s early practices, intersquad game and exhibition victory over Mount Royal.

Evan is was an NCHC Academic All-Conference selection as well as the co-winner of DU’s  Bob Martin Award for outstanding community service  last spring. Playing for DU has special meaning for the Lakewood native because he played all of his youth hockey in Colorado, first in Arvada, then at Boulder and finally for the Rocky Mountain RoughRiders, where he was teammates with fellow Pioneer Rudy Junda.

Evan took some time this week to fire away on some sweet feeds from us.

How great is it to play close to home?

It’s awesome because I grew up here watching DU. Being familiar with the landscape helps. … Every Sunday I go get some breakfast with my dad, which is great.

Speaking of, what is the breakfast of champions?

Every day I have 8 a.m. classes so I’m up early. I make oatmeal with brown sugar and canned apples, ones that my dad actually cans. The apples are good refrigerated. They’re cool and crunchy, a nice contrast to the warm oatmeal.

 

Are you superstitious about any pieces of gear?

I’m not superstitious but I’m a little stitious. I’m pretty detail oriented. I just like to make sure everything is the way I like it.

Is there one piece we shouldn’t mess with?

Probably my sticks. I won’t let anyone tape my sticks or anything. It’s part of getting older and taking the game for seriously.

I understand the team has a lot of funny characters. Who are the main comedians?

Actually everyone is funny in their own way, but Rudy Junda is hands down the funniest in my opinion.

What was the highlight of your summer?

This summer I had an internship in Denver and was working at a hockey camp so I was busy. The highlight was once we got back to school I went on a camping trip with Evan Janssen, Rudy and Sean Mostrom. We went up to Green Mountain Reservoir and went fly fishing. Sean is a huge fly fisherman so he showed us all how to do it. We also went cliff jumping.

Is that part of the DU offseason training program?

Yes (laughing), it’s good explosive training.

What’s your favorite super food?

One of my dishes I make at home is salmon, quinoa and avocado and all three of those qualify if I’m not mistaken. You could say I’m a health wizard.

Players have told me the season can get stressful, so what do you do to decompress?

I try to watch a lot of movies, and in particular like to watch the smaller, more independent ones. I enjoy ones by Wes Anderson. They’re clever and simple and creative. I love movies. I also listen to a bunch of podcasts, and I read a little bit.

If I started a podcast for Magness Mayhem would you listen?

Yes, I would listen to it. I look up interviews on YouTube. I just like seeing how subjects interact with people. I’m curious about this interview process. I’m fascinated about the art of interviewing process and giving a good interview. You can hear people say really cool things about themselves that you wouldn’t in any other platform.

Has this process been interesting?

We’ll see.

Can you tell us something about Monty we don’t know?

He’s a sucker for romantic comedy movies.

The hockey team is a marque program at DU, but do you run into students who have no idea what hockey is?

Yes, there’s a lot of international students. There’s a sort of larger issue with the marketing for our team. Kids don’t know when games are. It’s like, “Oh yeah, we have a hockey team.” We could get a much better student following.

If there is one guy on the team who should run for President, who is it?

I’m going to with Troy Terry. He’s a stand-up guy. He’s extremely loyal to his causes, “Go Cowboys!”

@MagnessMayhem