Q&A with retired Union player Mike Ingoldsby

by Ryan Fay

I recently caught up with retired men's hockey defenseman Mike Ingoldsby.

The Ontario native, who would have been a junior on this year's team, saw his promising career get derailed and ultimately cut short after suffering multiple concussions in his freshman season. There was lingering hope Ingoldsby would return to action, but the blueliner eventually hung up the skates for good.

Ingoldsby remains enrolled at Union and is heavily involved in another extra-curricular activity, the Union Banner, the first political newsletter in the 218-year history of the school.

In this candid Q&A, Ingoldsby talks about the newsletter and what lies ahead for him. He also reflects on his hockey career, dealing with concussions, and the decision to be removed from the roster.
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UNION HOCKEY NEWS (UHN): At this point, how are you doing?

MIKE INGOLDSBY (MI): I am doing really well. As long as I make sure I get enough sleep each night and take care of myself I don't have any issues. I consider myself to be back to 100% now. I still have some lingering issues with my neck but they are progressively getting better.

UHN: How did the Union Banner get formed last year?

MI: The Union Banner was formed by a group of students who wanted to try and improve the political discourse on campus. Part of living in a democracy is the responsibility to be informed. The Union Banner is an attempt to foster more political awareness on campus with the hope of creating a discussion that engages the campus community.

UHN: What inspired you to get involved with the Banner?

MI: I have always been very interested in politics, however, when I was playing hockey I never really had time to explore other interests. As hard as it has been to give up hockey, one of the silver linings of no longer playing has been the free time I now have to do other things. I learned about the Banner last year from Zach Jonas, who is the President of the executive board for the Banner. He asked if I would want to be involved and I jumped at the chance.

UHN: Discuss a bit what your responsibilities are with the Banner?

MI: I am the communications director with the Banner. Currently, I am responsible for the Banner's outreach program on campus, whether it be advertising the Banner with posters on campus, or trying to recruit new writers. I also run our Twitter and Facebook pages, and am responsible for keeping our readers and contributing writers informed through e-mail. If anyone wants to follow the Banner on Twitter, our account is @UnionBanner, or you can check us out on Facebook.

UHN: What are you hoping to do after undergrad?

MI: I am still undecided about what I want to do. I would like to go home to Canada and get involved in politics there, maybe work as a staffer for a Master of Parliament on Parliament Hill. I think it would be a great way to learn the ropes and gain experience. I also plan on going to grad school eventually to get my masters in public policy.

UHN: Moving to hockey - discuss a bit what your recruiting experience was like with Union and what made you decide to come to Schenectady?

MI: I went through a long recruitment process with Union. I first started talking with coach Bennett in my 19 year old year of junior hockey. At the time he was finalizing a commitment with one of my teammates, Jeremy Welsh. By playoffs of that year, [former assistant] coach Ben Barr and [former head] coach Nate Leaman had also came to see me play. During that summer I came down and visited the school with my Dad and I loved the campus right away. It's such a great campus. I liked that it was small, and the small class sizes. 

Another thing was I knew Union was a very good academic school. That was important to me because if I ever got hurt playing, I would have my degree to fall back on. Low and behold, that turned out to be a great decision. Mostly though, Union was a good hockey program, and I wanted to go somewhere where I would have the chance to win. Knowing Welshy already made it a much more comfortable situation as well. The following year I committed early on in the season.

UHN: What other Division I schools expressed interest in you? 

MI: I had talked with a number of schools, but I eventually narrowed it down to Union, Clarkson, Brown and Merrimack.

Ingoldsby

UHN: What happened on the play that led to your initial injury freshman year? 

MI: I actually got hit in practice, and I banged my head on the glass. When it happened I felt alright and I didn't realize it was a concussion, but as time went on, I developed headaches and other symptoms.

UHN: You came back for a couple games later in your freshman season - 1/7/11 vs St. Lawrence and 1/8/11 vs Clarkson. You scored your first collegiate point (an assist) in the second contest. But those games were it for the rest of that season. What led to the decision to sit out the rest of that year? 

MI: After getting cleared by the doctor, I came back for those two games against St. Lawrence and Clarkson. On my first shift back on the Friday night, I got blindsided and the guy connected with my head. Afterwards, I knew I didn't feel quite right. After the weekend, I was sent back to the doctor by the team trainers, and the doctor told me I had another concussion. I had very bad headaches and I was having trouble even focusing in class, so the doctors made the decision to send me home. They thought if I went home and got away from campus it might help my recovery. 

However, the headaches continued throughout the year and the doctors wouldn't let me return to school until I was symptom free. It was always the doctors who made the decisions. There was a perception by some people that I decided to sit out the rest of the year. What people don't understand is that it was not my decision. I was still experiencing very bad symptoms, so the doctors wouldn't let me play.

UHN: You were reportedly going to be out for the first half of your sophomore season but you never made it back. What happened there?

MI: There was never a set time table for when I would return. I know it was reported that I would miss the first half of the year, but that was simply because the doctors said I wasn't healthy enough to return to school in the fall. I was still having bad headaches and wasn't even able to read or watch TV for more than a half hour without aggravating my headaches. Finally, my head got better in November of 2011, and then I was cleared to return to school. However, I was never given clearance to return to hockey, just to return to school. At that point I hadn't even worked out in over a year.

UHN: During the last offseason, you were removed from the roster. Whose decision was that and what were the reasons behind it?

MI: The decision was mine. Once I got back to school, I had difficulties handling it. I slowly got used to school again, and built up my brain stamina again. At that point I hadn't played in over a year, and I had spent the worst year of my life mostly at home, basically doing nothing, just trying to recover. When I first got home, I spent almost two months just laying in a dark room, lights bothered me, noise bothered me. As the symptoms dragged on, my focus changed from returning to the team, to simply getting my life back and feeling "normal" again.

When I got to school, I basically had my mind made up. I have had a number of concussions throughout my hockey career, and I decided that, even though I love the game, I didn't want to risk my health to keep playing. I want to be able to function and have a good quality of life in 30 years. You know, you can replace anything else, knees, shoulders, wrist, but when you go through what I did, it's a really scary thing. 

And there is no way to understand it unless you have gone through it. I knew even if I did come back and play, it wouldn't be fun because I would always be worried about getting another concussion. So I sat down with coach Bennett, and I explained that I wasn't going to be coming back to play, and that I was retiring. Coach was very good about it, and I really appreciated that. He completely respected my decision and I can't thank the coaching staff and the training staff for how good they were to me throughout the whole ordeal.

UHN: What are a couple of the things you miss most about playing?

MI: You know, you always hear guys who have played in the NHL and are now retired say this, and it is absolutely true: the thing I miss most is the guys. I miss being around the guys day in and day out. There is nothing better than that camaraderie. I miss the little things, just things like hanging out in the room before and after practice, or getting ready for games, taping sticks, warming up, skating out for introductions and warmups. There is nothing quite like the feeling of every single guy being in it together, and willing to do whatever it takes for the guy next to them.

UHN: Do you have any interest in getting back into the game down the road in a non-playing capacity (i.e coaching, scouting, broadcasting, etc) ?

MI: I have thought about it. Coach Bennett offered to let me get involved with the team, and I am sure down the road I will come back to the game and want to coach because I still love the game. But right now, I am really just enjoying having a chance to explore my other interests. Over the last six or eight years, hockey was everything. I was training and skating in the summers, and then when the season came around I had no free time at all. It has been nice to get away form the game for a bit. 

Right now I am enjoying getting involved on campus with things like the Banner. I am interning in a U.S Senator's office, and in the spring I am going to Washington, D.C as part of the school's "term in D.C" intern program. Of course, I am still the team's biggest fan, and I am enjoying going to all the games and cheering them on.