Former Humboldt Bronco, Michael Clarke, was on the verge of completing his first year with the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns, as he carved out a collegiate career close to his home in Medicine Hat.

It's not often that a player is forced to make a drastic change, but that was the case for Clarke and other hockey hopefuls like him. Clarke was one of 52 student-athletes to hear that the men's and women's hockey programs at the University of Lethbridge were being discontinued due to budget cuts.

"I thought it was a joke at first," said Clarke. "We basically found out by an email a couple of Mondays ago. Other than that, we didn't have any warning. The coaches weren't notified until about half an hour before the players found out, so I was just in disbelief."

Disbelief turned into determination to find a new hockey home, and a new place to continue his education.

"Basically I just restarted the whole recruiting process all over again. It came super quick and I wasn't really prepared or anything like that. I just kind of fielded my offers and once I had them all I sat down with family and started to pick one out from there."

In the end, due to the high standard held for its Business program, Clarke's major, as well as the elite level of hockey, Clarke found a new school that was eager to acquire his talents at the University of British Columbia.

"Playing CIS, your main goal is education. UBC ranks for the business program itself, one of the tops in Canada every year, and very high in the world. That was a big decision for me. I wanted to go somewhere to better my education. Then with the hockey decision, they (UBC) beat out U of A (Alberta) last year which is a pretty good feat, and they had a pretty young team. Moving forward I'm hoping I can slide in there and it will be an easy transition for me, knowing how good they're gonna be."

It's still up in the air when Clake will make the trip out to BC amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but when he does, he'll have some familiarity. Logan Foster, who led the Humboldt Broncos in points this past year, one year after Clarke accomplished the same feat, also committed to UBC. Clarke mentioned that the two will be rooming together as they embark on the next chapter of their hockey career.