Tanner Johnson '16 Recruiting Profile

When I was 5, I started playing goalie position in the Jackson, Wyoming, hockey league - a position I have played ever since. I made Team Wyoming my bantam year and played for them every year I was in WY.  My second year of bantams, we made nationals and took 5th.  During my bantam year, I then played for a AAA team in Colorado called the Renegades and competed across the country.

First and second year bantams, and my freshman year, I was selected to attend the Northern Plains District Development camp, in Bismark, ND.   

By the age of 12, I aspired to play at the college level. I made a serious commitment to pursue this dream at the end of my freshman year in high school. With my family’s support, at the age of 15, I moved to Minnesota to live with a host family and play for the South St. Paul Minnesota hockey team my sophomore and junior years.  

We competed in the south suburban conference against teams like St. Thomas and Hill Murray on a regular basis. During my sophomore year at SSP, we went 3 games above .500 and I split time with the junior goaltender. My junior year, I played 70% of the games; we made it to the semi-finals, losing to Mahtomedi.  

Both summers, while in MN, I trained with MAP (the Minn. Advancement Program) in the Prep Tier. In the summer of my junior year, I played in the MN Elite Development league. My team won the league that year. At the end of that league season, I was invited to move up to play in the Elite league.

I believe I would make a good goalie for your team because of my commitment to the sport from an early age, and my personal sacrifice to train with Minnesota coaches.

I came back home to WY for my senior year in order to participate in the qualification for the WY scholarships that would enable me to afford to go to college. I did not have much guidance from my coaches or counselors regarding how to get recruited by colleges, other than being told recruiters would come to games and then approach players directly.

Although hockey has been a huge success for me throughout my life, academics have also played a major role. I have always had exceptionally good grades and have held a steady 3.8 GPA throughout high school, having received only a couple of B's and one singular C (in AP English, junior year).

My freshman year (in WY), my history project was selected to go to Washington DC with 13 other history students to compete in National History Day, a nationwide competition in which teams create presentations on an assigned topic. It is a year-long commitment and one of the best experiences I have ever had, academically.

I have just been selected this year (2015-senior year) to compete in the “We the People” competition that is being held in Casper, WY, where I hope to be selected to travel to the national convention in DC.