It’s nice to have options at this time of the year for a graduating high school senior. For Wyoming Seminary’s Jagar MacDonald, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but what he accomplished for the Blue Knights during his four years in the program set him up nicely.
MacDonald can either attend the University of Tampa or pursue his dream of getting to a major college hockey program and playing junior hockey for the remainder of the summer.
While not committed, MacDonald anticipates he will play junior hockey.
“It’s definitely an option to play on a junior team,” McDonald said. “They usually don’t pick their rosters until late in the summer.”
Should he decide to attend the University of Tampa, the opportunity to play on the club team is there. As far as playing junior hockey, his goal would be to get to a Tier 2 team that has leagues all over the United States, as well as Canada.
“There are a lot of good club hockey teams, it’s like playing Division I hockey,” MacDonald said. “One of the club hockey teams, UNLV, beat the University of Denver this year in a shootout.”
MacDonald’s hockey career at Wyoming Seminary brought him to some pretty neat places and some nice arenas. MacDonald played in Chicago, at Clarkson University, Boston and Quebec City. All places he referred to as “some big-time atmospheres.”
A center, MacDonald averaged nearly a point per game for the Blue Knights in his senior season. He was selected by the coaches of the Midwest Prep Hockey League to its all-star game held in Buffalo after finishing the season with seven goals and nine assists.
“Getting the chance to play at Wyoming Seminary was something special. Every year, it seemed there was a different team with different players. I was able to get to meet kids from across the United States, Canada and the Czech Republic,” said MacDonald, the son of former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins captain Jason MacDonald, who also spent some time in the NHL with the New York Rangers. “Things like that help you grow as a player, as well as a person. Getting to know different kids from different areas, teaching me about other places, that was the favorite part for me.”