Yale Athletics

The Yale men’s hockey team has alumni who play professionally worldwide, including in Germany, Sweden and New York.

Ryan Conroy ’24, Henry Wagner ’24 and Niklas Allain ’24 have made immediate impacts in their respective leagues. Conroy, who plays for the Adirondack Thunder ECHL in Glenn Falls, New York, leads his team in points by a defenseman. Wagner, the only American on German HEC Eisbären Heilbronn, leads the team in goals. Allain, playing in Sweden for Brödernas/Väsby, has scored three goals so far this season. 

“For me, it was never even really a question of if I was going to try and play after college,” Allain told the News. “The question was always where. It’s hard to stop doing something that’s really been a defining part of my life.”

Getting to the next level

When it came down to life after graduation, there was never any hesitation about what was next for Allain, Wagner and Conroy. A professional career had been a lifelong dream for all three, and after Yale, they were poised to make the jump. While all three had professional aspirations after the Bulldogs wrapped up their 2023-24 campaign, they each had their own unique paths to the pro ranks. 

Before his senior year, Allain inquired with a previous contact in the Yale network to organize the team’s preseason trip to Europe. That contact, who also works as a hockey agent, found a few teams that could use Allain’s size and speed up front after his graduation: one in Norway and two in Sweden. Allain turned to family history when deciding who to lace up his skates for. 

“The team I ended up choosing is actually the same team my dad played for after college in the ’80s and also where he met my mom,” said Allain. “So I think I kinda had my heart set on this team from the start and my agent helped make it happen.”

Wagner had a very similar experience to Allain. He utilized connections made throughout his collegiate career to find a team. For him, the possibility of continuing to play the game he loves and experiencing life in Europe was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. Plus, it gave him some time to earn more personal credentials and become a stronger candidate to break into the financial services industry once his playing days are over. 

Conroy, on the other hand, started receiving pro offers in late March, right after the Yale hockey season finished. Within hours of talking to an Adirondack Thunder representative, he was packed up and on his way to Glens Falls, New York. The Thunder put Conroy right to work, and he played the remainder of the regular season with them. He ended up being a big contributor getting points on the board throughout the team’s playoff run. 

‘Entirely different from being a student-athlete’: The lifestyle of a pro 

Afternoons at Bass Library have been replaced by extra workouts, recovery sessions and the chance to explore. For all three 2024 alums, their new day-to-day includes much-appreciated downtime, something they have all been taking advantage of after four years of the Ivy League student-athlete grind. 

In his free time, Conroy has been taking online classes and making sure his body is geared for peak performance with frequent sauna sessions. 

Meanwhile, Allain has been using the extra time to immerse himself in Sweden and its culture, via day trips to Stockholm and time spent with his mom’s side of the family in their hometown, where his team is located. Allain appreciates being able to spend so much time with a part of his family he hadn’t been able to see very often when growing up in the United States. 

Likewise, Wagner has been taking in the sights and sounds of Europe. He has visited Czechia, Italy and Ireland and “had a blast” during Oktoberfest. Playing in Germany — which has a more relaxed schedule than the North American leagues, he pointed out — has given him the opportunity to traverse the continent, and he’s hoping that fellow hockey alum, Ryan Stevens ’24, will join him on his upcoming travels. 

Looking back on Yale careers 

Reflecting on their four years in New Haven, all three shared the sentiment that their time at Yale shaped them into who they are now.  

“The greatest takeaway from it is now understanding the extent of what both myself and others are capable of, given an open mind, hard work and determination,” said Conroy. “Having the opportunity to both study and play at such an amazing institution pushed me to explore and excel in so many areas I would have never thought possible, had it not been for my time at Yale.” 

Their advice to the new crop of first years on the hockey team is to make the most out of every day. The four years will go by fast, they agreed, but each said they would love to play another game at The Whale. 

“It was a special experience to play for my dad,” Allain, whose father Keith Allain ’80 coaches the men’s hockey team, said. “There’s plenty of coach’s son jokes you can make, but me and my dad got to do what we love together every single day, which was a blessing.”

In 2013, Coach Allain led Yale to its first and only NCAA men’s ice hockey championship.