WOLFPACK BITES featuring former Jr. Wolfpack player Luke Curadi. Luke is now playing Div I hockey in the ECAC for the RPI Engineers. Luke was one of the best defenseman to ever put on the Jr. Wolfpack uniform.

What was your experience playing for the Jr Wolfpack and the AJHL:

- Playing for the Jr Wolfpack was the exact stepping stone and intro to junior hockey that I was expecting it to be. Playing for a great coach in Chris Cerrella on a top organization in the AJ was perfect for my development. It was my first year of “real hockey” and I couldn’t have been happier with the decision to play for the Pack instead of high school school hockey. Some of my closest friends today are guys from that team, so my year with the Jr Wolfpack will always have a special place in my heart.

What was your experience playing for Dubuque and the USHL:

- Playing in USHL was great. It is the best Jr A league in the world and every night you learned to come prepared for a battle. Also, it is a very professionally run league, the players are treated very well and its no wonder the league is so good. But what was even more special was playing in the city of Dubuque. It is a true hockey town; with the amount of passion the fans had, you would think you are playing in Canada.

So far what is the big difference between the preparation for juniors and the Div1 hockey season:

- Preparing for college hockey has been very different then past years. The preseason training program is very demanding but in a good way. There is a ton of hard work that is put in even before your first team practice. All the guys on my team are strong, competitive men, and so learning from them on how things go is important for the future.

What is your over all goal as you head into a 4 year hockey/academic career at RPI:

-My goal is to obviously win a championship, and I believe in the men in our locker room that we can accomplish that. Personally, I want to develop into a strong, physical, reliable 2 way D-man. I am certainly looking forward to the next four years. Off the ice, obviously academics are very important, especially at a school like RPI, so getting a degree is crucial.

What was your most memorable experience throughout your young hockey career:

- This past year my Dubuque team won the USHL Clark Cup, so I would have to say that whole series against Green Bay was the best part of my young career. The 4 games we played were wars, and after the series there was a large amount of mutual respect for GB. But the exact moment that stood out to me was looking up in the stands at my parents while holding the Clark Cup above my head. That was pretty neat.

Do you have any advice to young inspiring student athletes on how to be successful at the junior level in order to prepare for the college level

- My advice would be, work hard and never set your goals low. Shoot for the moon and never let anything or anyone one deter you from getting to where you want to be. Working hard is an overused cliche at times but it is the truth. Everywhere there are kids with skill who never make anything of themselves because they did not work for it, and then there are the guys with little skill who worked for what they wanted to achieve and made it happen. Embrace the hard work and the hardships you go through, because it makes the success and the good times that much better.