Scott Taylor, Winnipeg Sun
Sep 27, 2025
After two solid years in Moose Jaw, he returned to Manitoba to have two sensational seasons with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Steinbach Pistons.
Story: Scott Taylor, Winnipeg Sun
Photo: Kristal Burgess
Grady Hoffman’s hockey life has been one adventure after another.
When he was 14, he left home in Yorkton, Sask., and moved to the big city to play hockey at Winnipeg’s RINK Hockey Academy. Then, after one great year and one COVID-shortened year, he went to Moose Jaw to play AAA U18.
After two solid years in Moose Jaw, he returned to Manitoba to have two sensational seasons with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Steinbach Pistons. In 2023-24, he not only made the MJHL’s All-Rookie team but was also named the league’s Rookie of the Year. He also helped the Pistons reach the MJHL final.
Interestingly, he credits Winnipeg’s RINK for much of his development, even though he spent one full season there and another virtually shuttered due to the pandemic.
“I loved it there,” he said bluntly. “I owe a lot of my success these past couple of years to what I learned and how I developed at the RINK. They just put so much thought and detail into everything they do. I honestly miss it. It was it was so great. I’m not going to lie, I went there for two years and loved every single day.”
Thanks to a recommendation from Rob Smith, the U18 coach at the RINK (a coach Hoffman never actually played for), Grady ended up in Steinbach with Paul Dyck, a coach with a reputation for steering his players toward the NCAA.
Last year, while scoring 19 goals and 43 points in 38 games in Steinbach, Hoffman got an extremely interesting offer. He received a call from former Toronto Marlies assistant coach, Duanté Abercrombie. Abercrombie had been hired in early 2024 to become the first head coach in the history of Tennessee State University. The TSU Tigers were about to become the first Historically Black College & University (HBCU) to boast an NCAA Division 1 ice hockey team and Abercrombie wondered if Hoffman might be interested in a little scholarship money and a spot on the first team in the school’s history. Hoffman’s answer was an easy one.
“I’m really excited,” said Hoffman, whose family advisor is Winnipegger Hayden Yaremko of the Argonaut Hockey Group. “I remember when I got that first call with Duanté and he told me that Tennessee State was planning on starting a hockey program and that immediately interested me because you don’t get a chance to be a part of history very often. There has never been an HBCU with a D-1 program and to be asked to become one of the first players on the first team, really seemed important at the time and I still feel that way.
“And, I mean, it’s in Nashville, too. All my buddies who have gone there just say it’s so much fun and a lot of the guys I’ve talked to that are also committed there, are pretty hyped up.”
The NHL’s Nashville Predators have partnered with TSU to create this program, and it was supposed to begin this coming season. But according to the TSU Department of Athletics, “a lack of proper facilities and some fundraising shortcomings,” forced the school to postpone its inaugural season until 2026-27.
The announcement to start the 2026-27 season came on the heels of a $250,000 grant from the NHL/NHL Players Association Industry Growth Fund. When the Tigers begin play, they will be an NCAA Independent. The University of Alaska, Alaska-Anchorage, Long Island University, Lindenwood and Stonehill are the current D-1 Independents.
Hoffman, meanwhile, was one of the first five players to commit to TSU and as he waits to start his university career, he’ll play the 2025-26 season with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in the British Columbia Junior Hockey League.
“The BCHL is pretty good league,” Hoffman said. “It’s a pretty fast paced game. One of my buddies from Steinbach played there and filled me in on what to expect.”
As he gets ready for his big step in 2026, Hoffman will play his third game with the Silverbacks in Blackfalds, Alta., tonight. It won’t be long, however, before the RINK Academy grad and Steinbach Pistons all-star will start his adventure of a lifetime.
“It’s going be a lot different than playing in Canada, I know that,” said Hoffman, who wouldn’t have this incredible opportunity without his time at the RINK and in the MJHL. “I haven’t visited the campus yet, but coming from the prairies and going to the southern United States, there will probably be some culture shock, but I’m pretty ecstatic about this opportunity.
“I feel that in my conversations with Duanté, he is a detail-oriented guy and sounds like a great motivator and he has a great sense of humour. He seems to me like the type of person you would want coaching a first-year program. He’s really motivated and seems like he wants to get this thing rolling. So, just to see him care that much, it’s pretty special.”
Link to Story: https://winnipegsun.com/sports/taylor-grady-hoffman-adventure-of-a-lifetime