DULUTH — Minnesota Duluth freshmen defensemen Adam Kleber and Ty Hanson may still be teenagers, but they both know what it’s like to live and play hockey away from home.
Kleber left Chaska High School following his sophomore year of 2021-22 and moved to Nebraska to play the Lincoln Stars of the United States Hockey League.
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Hanson — after winning the 2022 Class A state championship at Hermantown as a junior playing with Zam and Max Plante — moved to Iowa that same year to play for the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers.
Both stayed there for two seasons before coming to campus and joining the Bulldogs’ blue line. They’re guests this week of the News Tribune’s Matt Wellens and Zach Schneider of My 9 Sports on the Bulldog Insider Podcast to share their experiences on and off the ice both during their junior hockey days and these first few months at UMD.
Kleber also talks about winning a gold medal at the 2025 World Junior Championship with Team USA, and Hanson provides insight on how to start and stop a scuffle between the Plante brothers.
Below is an edited excerpt from this week’s episode:
Bulldog Insider: Take us through your thought process, your mindset of leaving high school early to go play juniors. In Minnesota, that sometimes gets vilified a little bit.
Adam Kleber: When the opportunity arose, I just knew it would be the next step in the development plan. I just thought our coach (at Lincoln), Rocky Russo, he had a good plan for me. He took me under his wing and really wanted me to get better and develop there. I just thought it'd be a good place to play and develop and get better. That's ultimately why I chose to leave.
BI: Does that play a factor in it for you, that Lincoln was a good place to go and not some other team that maybe you’re unsure about?
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Kleber: Yeah, I think it's a factor, because I know my agents had a good relationship with (Russo) and trusted him. I knew he was a good coach, so that's ultimately what led to me going there.
Ty Hanson: It's kind of the same with me — just the development piece of it, just a higher level. It prepared you more for the college game. And then it also helped with Zam and Max leaving as well.
I had some conversations with Zam after Max made the (USA Hockey National Team Development Program). What do we want to do? We were kind of in it together, I'd say. After winning, too, that junior year made it a cherry on top. We already did it. What else is there really more to accomplish?
My junior year after winning the state tourney, I went down to Sioux City for a couple of months and that help me see what I was getting into. It almost helped that transition for the next year.
BI: Would things had been different had you not won your junior year? Coming from Hermantown, with that kind of history, would you have wanted to win one before you left?
Hanson: I think so, yeah. We also had that conversation sophomore year. If we would have won our sophomore year — because we got shut down because of COVID — would we have some back for our senior year for the three-peat. We’ll never know.
BI: Had you won your sophomore and junior year, you and Zam would have been more tempted to come back for your senior year?
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Hanson: I think so, yeah.
BI: Adam, was that in your mind, the state tournament? Having to leave and just all these things that you dream of as a kid at Chaska, was that in the back of your mind that you were leaving this? Was that a tough decision?
You weren’t in the same position as the Hermantown boys.
Kleber: Not necessarily. I was always just focused on getting to that next step and growing my game. That's what I thought Lincoln could help me with.
BI: You guys leaving high school early — Ty, you’re a year older than Adam; Adam, you're true freshman age — those two years in junior hockey, how much does that help on the rink or even just off the rink?
Being away from home in college for many people is the first time, but you've had some experience now doing this. How much did that help when you got to Duluth acclimating to the college life?
Kleber: It helps a lot living away for two years. You know how to make some food and learn to grow up and share that responsibility of being an adult. Once we got to the campus, it's nothing new, really. You're used to living on your own. I lived with three other guys, so it's nothing new living with three guys in the dorms. Juniors just really prepared me off the ice.
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BI: You were playing against guys older than you in junior. In college, is that nothing new on the rink that you're playing against some guys, like Joe Molenaaar, who have been been around forever?
Hanson: I think yes and no. There's definitely times at the junior level where you're like, ‘Hey, this guy's bigger and faster and stronger than me,’ but I think it's just more at the college level now. Everybody is that age or a little bit younger. You just have to do everything a step quicker and know that the guy's going to be right there. You're not going to have that split-second time you might have in junior.
Check out the full episode for more from Hanson and Kleber. You can find the Bulldog Insider Podcast at DuluthNewsTribune.com/BulldogInsider , and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop Thursdays throughout the UMD men's and women's hockey seasons.
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