UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Ben Copeland and Clayton Phillips met playing hockey in Minnesota when they were 8 years old.
Copeland lived in the Twin Cities suburb of Edina, while Phillips lived in Savage, about 15 minutes away. A couple years later, Phillips' family moved to Edina, in a house only two minutes away from the Copelands.
"We had a really close-knit team that was pretty much the same group for five years straight in the AAA days," Phillips said. "I would say a lot of our memories would probably come from that time period. And then the endless rounds of golf in the summers, and –
"– mini sticks," Copeland interrupted. "We would make our own mini sticks, and customize our mini sticks. Just play mini sticks in my basement all the time, so that was fun too."
"Lots of heated NHL match-ups, a few broken controllers," Phillips added.
"Yeah, yup. A lot of stuff like that," Copeland said. "We'd rollerblade a lot when we were growing up together, like everywhere. I don't know for how long, but pretty much all day. It was non-stop. Everyone probably thought we were losers."
Even though the two played on the same teams, Copeland was a school year ahead of Phillips. But, Phillips was closer to the kids in Copeland's grade than his own.
"Even like all the school dances and stuff, I'd just go with his grade," Phillips said.
"It felt like he was just in my grade, always," Copeland added.
While the two friends would go on to play for different USHL teams, and then separate colleges, before reuniting in Hockey Valley, they played for Edina High in their home state of Minnesota from 2014-16.
High school hockey in Minnesota is in a league of its own. The Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament attracts tens of thousands of fans every year.
In 2015, during Copeland and Phillips' second year playing high school hockey, 135,618 fans attended Class 1A and 2A sessions, breaking the previous attendance record.
"Our first year we lost in the semis," Phillips said. "That's a pretty special tournament, especially at that age. I don't think we made it the next year."
"We lost to Wayzata, who won it that year," Copeland said.
Despite spending a couple years apart, first in juniors, and then collegiately while Copeland played for Colorado College, the two never really felt the distance.
"In juniors we both left the same year out of high school in Edina," Copeland said. "Through our time in the USHL, I thought we pretty much communicated throughout the week. We weren't really going months without talking to each other… I think it was pretty easy to remain friends when we're that far away from each other."
When Phillips found out Copeland was going to transfer to Penn State this year, he was surprised. The two agree though that Copeland's entrance into the program has been seamless.
"I think it differs a bit from playing youth hockey together and high school hockey, college being a higher level or whatnot," Phillips said. "Obviously, as a team we're all usually together in pretty good-sized groups off the ice. We'll go and get food and all that stuff, so it's a lot of fun."
Copeland's transition to Penn State has been smooth, he said, in part because Phillips is in the program.
"We came out for a little over a month in the summer," Phillips said. "Everyone, including the freshmen, (got to) kind of meet everyone. I feel like everyone was relatively familiar with one another once the fall semester begun."
"I knew (Connor) McMenamin, obviously (Phillips), and I knew a few others just from playing against them, but not personally," Copeland said.
But, for Copeland and Phillips it's like they've spent no time apart.
"I've told (Phillips), I've told pretty much everyone, it feels like I've been here for four years," Copeland added. "It's just comfortable. I obviously know how he plays and he knows how I play. It feels like we've been playing together forever."
