In Developing Story, a regular feature on collegehockeyinc.com, we highlight current college hockey players who have developed their skills during their careers – either on the ice or off – and in turn made a bigger impact on their team’s success.

The energy level ramps up this time of year across college hockey, but nowhere is that more true than Minnesota Duluth, as the defending national champions know exactly what rewards could lie ahead.

Senior center Travis Oleksuk is eager to return to the heights the Bulldogs enjoyed last year, when he assisted on the winning goal in overtime of the NCAA title game.

“We’re definitely getting energized,” he said, with a week remaining until the WCHA playoffs and three weeks ahead of the NCAA Tournament. “For college hockey it’s win or go home. We know what’s ahead, and everybody wants another one.”

While a significant contributor last year, Oleksuk’s role is even bigger as a senior, thanks to his steady and dramatic improvement since arriving on campus. Now the team’s top goal scorer, four years ago he was just establishing himself as a regular in the lineup, finishing his freshman season with no goals, five assists and 18 games played.

“That year showed me how hard everyone works at this level,” he recalled. “That translated to me working harder than I ever had before, starting in the offseason with off-ice training and continuing on the ice during the year.”

Often overshadowed by classmate and Hobey Baker candidate Jack Connolly, one could nevertheless make the argument that Oleksuk is among the nation’s top all-around players.

He usually centers two high-flying wingers – sophomore J.T. Brown and freshman Caleb Herbert – and with those two going to the net hard, the defensive responsibilities of a center can often be magnified. That side of his game is one that Oleksuk points to as a big area of improvement.

“I learned early on at this level,” he said, “that it’s not good enough to be near your check. You have to be on your check.”

Between learning on-ice techniques and building strength in off-ice training, Oleksuk has taken advantage of college hockey’s practice-to-game ratio to make those steady improvements. That’s a factor that the Thunder Bay, Ontario, native considered when he decided on the college path.

“It helped a lot because my dad (Bill) played both in the OHL and here at UMD,” Travis said. “That gave me a great perspective. He talked about how in junior you’re 20 and you have to make a decision of what to do next. We figured I would leave college as a 23- or 24-year-old, which would give you time to develop in practice and get a degree, which important to me.”

Now 23, Oleksuk hopes to delay the end of his college career as long as possible with another lengthy Bulldog playoff run. From there, the candidate for All-WCHA and perhaps even All-America honors has set himself up well to earn an NHL free agent contract, thanks to his efforts at UMD.