Hockey player impressed club with his teamwork, skills
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 12/03/2007
Photo courtesy of Ted Ward
Andrew Jackson
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It wasn't long after Andrew Jackson stepped on the ice for tryouts that the Purdue men's hockey club had a new member.
As a freshman, Jackson could react to and work with teammates he'd never played with before, which was impressive to club president Ted Ward.
According to Ward, Jackson skated well and he made the right decisions. It was obvious to everyone that Jackson knew the game.
"You could tell that he had played competitive hockey before ... he was a (toddler) on skates, definitely," Ward said.
Jackson, of Chanhassen, Minn., was killed Saturday when the van he was riding in slid off the highway and flipped over. He was 18.
Jackson and the rest of the hockey club were on their way to Danville, Ill., for a 5 p.m. game against Holy Cross College.
Saturday was supposed to be the club's final game of the winter semester, Jackson's first stint with the club.
Jackson was a part of the club for no more than four months, but according to Ward, his devotion to his teammates and the sport was evident.
The engineering student typically brought homework with him on weekend road trips. Jackson would even do it on the way back sometimes, requiring that the van dome light remain on so he could work, Ward said.
"For most of us, our grades go down a little bit during hockey season," said Ward, a junior captain on the team. "He was one of the few that was on top of it."
According to Cameron Estes, the hockey club coach, Jackson was proud to be attending Purdue. That was one of the things the two spoke about during road trips when they'd pass the time by just talking.
There was something about Jackson that allowed him to get along with everyone, Estes said.
"I knew he was going to be a part of the team, the first time I saw him play," Estes said. "But then when I met him as a person, that's when the real 'Wow' factor sort of set in."
The hockey club will hold a vigil for Jackson today at the site of the accident, which occurred on S.R. 25, about five miles north of Wingate, Ind.