LOWELL — To say Lancaster’s Jack Quinn took a circuitous route to Division I (D-1) college ice hockey would be an understatement.

Through hard work and perseverance, 22-year-old Quinn achieved his dream of playing D-1 hockey last year when he joined the team at Long Island University (LIU ).

The team is coached by Brett Riley.

LIU, formerly CW Post College, is located in Brookville, NY

Last Friday (Feb. 25), the LIU Sharks lost to Hockey East powerhouse UMass-Lowell, with Quinn, now in his sophomore year, earning several minutes of ice time at left wing.

In an earlier meeting between the two schools, Quinn scored the tying goal in a 3-3 decision.

LIU is in her second year at the DI level and has resisted the established programs. In addition to UMass-Lowell, the Sharks have been competitive against NCAA national champion UMass-Amherst, Northeastern, Quinnipiac, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Penn State, among others.

“I was introduced to Brett (Riley) when I was playing in the Foxboro (Mass.) Pro League,” Quinn said. “He contacted me and told me that he had a place in the team and that he wanted me to be part of the program.

“It was a great experience and I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” he said. “It’s truly an honor for Brett and the coaching staff, and what they’ve done in bringing in the right people to build a program.”

Riley, 31, the nation’s youngest DI hockey coach, said Quinn has lived up to all expectations and is a productive member of the team.

“I could go on and on about Jack,” Riley said. “He’s a person who leads by example, who does everything the right way, all the time. He’s a man of few words and lots of deeds, and a cultural engine for us.

“He’s kind of a retro kid, who’s the first to go and the last to go,” he said. “He is a coach’s dream, in terms of wanting to be coached, challenging himself and helping the team win more than anything.

“Among our non-seniors, he’s probably our best leader we’ve had undisputed,” Riley said.

Long trip

Quinn’s quest to play D-1 hockey began with local youth teams when he was a student at Lancaster Public Schools. As a freshman in high school, he played hockey at the old St. Peter-Marian, before transferring to Nashoba Regional, where he chose to play club hockey instead of playing for the then-Chieftains team. .

During his freshman year at Nashoba, Quinn decided, in order to achieve his DI hockey goal, that he needed to complete his high school years at Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH), which has one of the best programs in preparatory schools in the country.

After graduating from NMH, Quinn’s dream continued, with a year of junior hockey in Soldotna, Alaska, where he played for the Kenai River Brown Bears.

“I started playing DEK hockey when I was really young, then I went through a learn-to-skate program, and then things started to take off,” Quinn said. “I started with lower level hockey programs and then jumped into AAA or high level (youth) hockey, with the Worcester Crusaders.

“After my freshman year, I went to play with Chris O’Brien, who coached an Islanders Hockey (Club) U-16 team,” he said. “I thought it was in my interest to play for him to develop as a player. I wanted to maximize my potential.

“In college, it was always my dream to play prep school hockey,” Quinn said. “It’s always been something I’ve been passionate about, and I knew I could play hockey at a very high level and also get a great education.

“My grandfather (Phil Nolan) was a huge fan of BC (Boston College) and would take me to see (DI) hockey games there, and that introduced me to the kind of hockey that I wanted to play one day,” he added.

In 2019, Quinn helped lead NMH to all eight New England Prep School playoffs under coach Kevin Czepiel. Several prep school student-athletes went on to play DI hockey.

“We lost to Lawrence Academy in (the playoffs) in (double) overtime,” Quinn said. “It was a tough way to end your high school career, but it’s still a great experience.”

Czepiel was happy to have Quinn on the team.

“Jack came to me in 2017 and graduated in 2019,” Czepiel said. “He was on our second line in his junior year, then moved to the first line in his senior year and became one of the best players in prep hockey.

“With Jack on the team, he took us to the highest placing we’ve ever finished and ended up in all eight elite playoffs,” he said. “He was our second top scorer and was the engine that pushed this line forward.

“What separated Jack, who had a lot of skill, was his work ethic,” Czepiel added. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid come along who works as hard as Jack. He has just taken it to the next level.

“Jack is definitely a kid who’s earned everything he’s earned along the way,” he said. “He was an achievement for LIU.”

Quinn criss-crossed the country playing DI hockey, but one of his most unique experiences in the game came during the 2019-20 season when he spent the year in Alaska with the Brown Bears, who were coached by Kevin Murdoch.

According to its website, the Kenai River Brown Bears are a Tier II Junior A ice hockey team in the North American Hockey League. The team’s mission is to provide academic and athletic opportunities for student-athletes and to provide its players with all the resources possible to play hockey at the college level.

“It was really something,” Quinn said. “They held gun raffles during games on Friday and Saturday. It was totally different and I have never been to a place like it.

“In the spring there’s a big run of salmon in the Kenai River, and you don’t need anything on a hook, and you’ll catch a fish,” he said. “We were living with host (host) families and they looked after us very well.

“The competition was really good too,” Quinn said.

Murdoch, who now works at the University of Alaska in Anchorage, knew Quinn had the ability to make it to a DI program.

“I grew up in Florida and I guess I always wanted to work in a northern climate,” Murdoch said. “We had known Jack from his time at Northfield Mount Hermon, and he was great for us. The first week we had him, we had a 10-game winning streak.

“He was an experienced and mature guy who really contributed to the success of our team,” he said. “COVID cut it all short, but I remember him scoring a hat-trick in his last game.

“We flew all over the country, and Alaska is a different experience,” Murdoch said. “At the weekend, someone was going home with a gun, after a raffle. There would be moose in the rink parking lot and on the way back you might have to stop for a herd of caribou.

“It’s definitely a unique experience,” he said.

Jack Quinn’s brother, Joey Quinn, plays hockey for Nashoba. He also has two other brothers, Max and Sam, and a sister, Maggie.

He is the son of Steven and Johnna Quinn of Lancaster.