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Andrew Copp:
Off the Gridiron,
onto thef rIce
by Greg Garno, Daily Staff Sports Writer
Andrew Copp sat at the Ann
Arbor Ice Cube three years
ago, facing one of the defining
moments of his young athletic
career.
He had waited so long for this
occasion - essentially his entire
life.
At the end of August, before
his junior year at Skyline High
School in Ann Arbor even began,
Andrew sat with his father,
Andy, listening to coaches from
the U.S. U-18 National Team
Development Program. They
presented Andrew with an
opportunity, one that had fallen
into place in just a short time: the
chance to play hockey while rep-
resenting his country.
The privilege is afforded to
less than 25 young men each
year. The group travels the
country to play against the best
college talent and garners the
attention of college coaches
and most importantly, National
Hockey League scouts.
Andrew had tried out for the
team in March, but didn't make
it. Now, he sat staring down his
second chance at fulfilling "a
dream," as his father would later
say.
But there was one caveat.
"You'll have to quit football,"
they would tell the starting
quarterback.
Quit? Surely, there must be a
way to do both. They wouldn't
leave him with that ultimatum,
would they?
"I can't. I can't quit on my
team. I can't let those people
down. I can't walk odt on these
people now," Andrew would
recall.
So he didn't. Now there's no
hesitation in his voice when he
speaks. He glances back up and
continues his story. Andrew's
gotten used to repeating it, now.
"I guess looking back on it, it
was kind of dumb," Andrew said
with a laugh.
"I wasn't 100-percent excited
about the decision," his father
added.
Yet behind the disappoint-
ment and the frustration,
Andrew's life fell into place five
months later, putting him on his
path to Michigan.
Three years after that fate-
ful day, Andrew is an alternate
captain for the Michigan hockey
team as a sophomore forward, -
waiting for his time to join the
Winnipeg Jets organization.
Once again in his life, Andrew
finds himself at the center of an
organization. And at the center
of Andrew is his character.
"I think that's what really
defines his character level," his
father said. "That he was willing
to turn down his dream, because
of his responsibility to his foot-
ball team."
Andrew's character level.
has come to define his work
ethic. His work ethic has come
to define how he performs in
a game. And his performance
could be what defines the Wol-
verines this year.
Andrew Copp grew up in a
hockey family. Like so many of
his teammates, he has played
since he was young and hasn't
stopped.
"Since he could walk," Andy
said.
His father has been a hockey
coach for nearly all of Andrew's
life for the Compuware teams a
short drive away in Plymouth,
Mich.
Andrew's mother was a figure
skating coach for the Wolver-
ines, making her living on the
ice. His brother, meanwhile, is
also a hockey player.
Andrew's father wasn't a
standout NHL player or a col-
lege star, but he loved the game
- something his son has picked
up as well.
When he wasn't on the ice,
Andrew spent his time watch-
ing more hockey, idolizing play-
ers like Michigan's first Hobey
Baker winner and Vancouver
Canuck, Brendan Morrison.
And when he wasn't watching it
on the TV or playing on the ice,
Andrew travelled the 15 minutes
to campus to watch Michigan
play at Yost.
"Hockey was always his first,
and his second, commitment,"
Andy said.
Andrew's family owned sea-
son tickets for much of his child-
hood, where he witnessed the
great players like Morrison and
goaltender Marty Turco on the
ice.
Andrew, though, had his
chance to follow his childhood
dream by accepting the position
on the U.S. NTDP - which regu-
larly fed players into Michigan.
He turned down that future.
Andrew Copp was a natural,
even though organized tackle
football was never a reality until"'
he was 14 years old and a fresh-
man in high school.
At Emerson School, a K-8
school 20 minutes west of Ann
Arbor, Andrew didn't have the
opportunities to compete in
anything outside of basketball
or track, so he competed in flag
football on weekends in the fall
and baseball in the summer.
Hockey was always his No. 1
priority, though. After eighth
grade, Andrew sat down with
his parents at home and dis-
cussed his future.
Andrew wasn't keen on going
to a private school in Ann Arbor.
And with a new public school
opening nearby to relieve the
overcrowded Ann Arbor Pioneer
and Huron High Schools, there
was one likely choice. Plus, Sky-
line offered football, something
his parents supported in the
summer and hoped would act as
an important social aspect.
"I encouraged him to play
football, because I thought it
was a really good experience
for him," Andy said. "I thought
the physicality would definitely
help him in hockey. That was
one of the things that Michigan
and other schools had said, they
wanted to see him be a little bit
more physical."
Andrew wasn't quite ready
for the next stage in hockey, but
football helped prepare him?'%-
With football, he could improve
his physicality for hockey.
Everything was done for hockey.
From the start, Andrew was
a natural fit to be a quarter-
See COPP, Page 6L
DESIGN BY NICK CRUZ