Providence freshman forward Mikael Hakkarainen has left the program to return to the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m disappointed in Mikael\u2019s decision to leave the program,\u201d Friars coach Nate Leaman said in a statement. “Mikael informed us that managing classes while playing hockey was not enjoyable for him. College hockey is academics and athletics and there is no bending to that.<\/p>\n
“It is a new challenge to all first-year student-athletes and with each new challenge, these students-athletes continue to grow. I feel that is a large reason why college hockey players continue to move on to the NHL in record-numbers. We wish Mikael the best of luck in his future endeavors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hakkarainen, who played one game for the Friars, was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the fifth round (139th overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Providence freshman forward Mikael Hakkarainen has left the program to return to the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":88265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[901],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n