OIL KINGS’ RACHINSKI A UNIVERSITY CLASS ACT

Forward is juggling university studies, playoff run, By Chris O’Leary, edmontonjournal.com April 23, 2012

MOOSE JAW, SASK – For most players in the Western Hockey League, thoughts in late April are consumed by the playoffs. Rhett Rachinski has had to split his thoughts between playoff opponents and the study of human individuality, personality and social psychological processes.

Over the last three and a half years, the Edmonton Oil Kings forward has plugged away at courses at the University of Alberta. Now 20, he has taken seven classes — close to a complete first year of general studies.

Rachinski had a three-point weekend (1 goal, 2 assists), helping the Oil Kings to a 2-0 series lead over the Moose Jaw Warriors in the WHL’s Eastern Conference final. After the game, he had to put hockey on the shelf for the night to get ready for a final exam.

He wrote his Psychology 105 final at 9 a.m. Monday and then hopped in a car with Oil Kings communications manager Ryan Ohashi to join his teammates in Moose Jaw. Game 3 of the series goes Tuesday at 7 p.m.

The Oil Kings played 36 road games in the regular-season and have been out of town just about every other week since the playoffs started in March. Rachinski said the juggling act between hockey and school is a tough one.

“It’s hard to focus when you’ve only got one class and you know you’re missing a lot of classes,” Rachinski said.

“You’ve got to go in (to class) when you get back from the road. It’s tough, but my mom’s a teacher and she kind of influenced me pretty early. She said, ‘You’re going to school.’ I’m sure it’ll pay off if I do end up going to school, and it takes my mind off of hockey a bit.”

Playing in his final season of junior hockey and chasing a league title, Rachinski admitted that his thoughts are more with his team than with school at the moment.

“Right now school is kind of taking a back seat, which isn’t really doing great for my grades,” he said. “But at the same time, it teaches you that when you’re at the rink you dedicate your time to hockey and when you’re in school you dedicate your time to school. You’ve got to teach yourself to turn your mind on and off as to what you’re focusing on.”

Post-junior-hockey opportunities will likely determine what’s next for Rachinski. He said that if he were to go to school (the WHL offers a year-for-year scholarship to its players), he’d likely choose business as a major. That decision came through a trial-and-error process of the previous classes he’s taken.

“I’m leaning toward business. I wouldn’t be interested in sciences and I could do an arts kind of thing, but business opens a lot of doors and that’s what I figured I would start with,” he said.

“I’ve taken calculus, a couple of economics classes. The English class was the worst one,” he said. “Stats wasn’t fun. Psychology is interesting because you’re learning about how people think, which is pretty interesting stuff sometimes, but school is school and I kind of do it to keep it in my pocket.”