Area hockey products McKay, Behrens, Renner thriving on collegiate ice
Dryden McKay was destined to become a goaltender.
Not only is his father, Ross, a former goalie who played a game for the Hartford Whalers in 1991, McKay is named after former Montreal Canadiens great Ken Dryden.
McKay has made a name for himself at Minnesota State.
The Downers Grove native is having a banner season for the Mankato-based Mavericks, who are ranked No. 1 in college hockey. Heading into Saturday night's game at Bowling Green, Minnesota State was 26-5 with 15 wins in its last 16 games.
As for McKay, who attended Downers Grove South High School, his 101 career wins rank No. 3 all-time in NCAA Division I men's hockey.
"A lot of people have reached out and congratulated me," McKay said in a phone interview. "To see some of the names that I'm associated with, it's very humbling and it's really cool."
Marty Turco, who played in the NHL for 11 years, including one season with the Blackhawks, won 127 games at the University of Michigan. Steve Shields, also a goaltender at Michigan, is second all-time with 111 wins.
McKay started playing goalie at age 8 and spent time with Corpus Christi in the North American Hockey League and Madison in the United States Hockey League before arriving at Minnesota State.
When the current season ends, the 6-foot, 185-pound goalie can sign with an NHL team as a free agent since he was never drafted.
"That's always been the dream," said McKay, a two-time All American. "We'll see what happens. All of that will kind of sort itself out after the season."
Sean Behrens
The Barrington native is doing quite well in Denver.
Drafted by the Colorado Avalanche on the second round last summer, Behrens has been showing why he's such a promising prospect during his freshman season at the University of Denver.
"It's been awesome," Behrens said. "Walking around campus, just kind of living the college lifestyle and playing hockey at the same time, it's been really fun so far."
On the ice, the 5-foot-9, 180-pound defenseman has helped the Pioneers climb to No. 4 in the rankings with 21 points over his first 22 games. In Friday night's 8-5 win over St. Cloud State, Behrens had 3 assists.
"I'd say it's got to be the toughest competition I've played against so far," said Behrens, who has skated with Team USA in the prestigious National Development Program. "Playing in the NCHC (National Collegiate Hockey Conference), you can't really take a night off with all the teams that are so high end here. You're playing against guys that are skilled, physical, fast. It's been a really good experience and something that's helped my game a lot."
Playing college hockey in the same city as the NHL team that drafted him has been a thrill.
"It's pretty cool seeing people wearing Avs stuff when I'm walking around school," Behrens said.
As for eventually making it the NHL with Colorado, Behrens is biding his time.
"I haven't really thought about it yet," he said. "Right now my focus is here at Denver, winning a national championship, helping this team reach its goals. In the next couple summers I'll probably think about making that jump but right now it's all here at Denver."
Andrea Renner
Born and raised in Barrington before moving to Arlington Heights during her senior year of high school at St. Viator, Renner has become a fixture in Boston while playing for the Northeastern women's hockey team since 2016.
Now a graduate student, Renner is tied for second in school history with 160 games played. The forward has helped the third-ranked Huskies post a 22-4-1 record.
"I think my style of play is just hard working," Renner said. "I like to establish a team-first mentality. Whatever the team needs me to do, I'm willing to do it. I'm not someone that's trying to be on the highlights and make all these really pretty plays. I try to work hard and make simple, smart plays that help out the team."
After she gets her Master's degree in April, Renner would like to stay in the sport.
"I'm pretty passionate about hockey," she said. "It's my bread and butter. I would love to get into coaching or a hockey director, manager type of position."