The U.S. Air Force Academy appears to like the Minnesota Wilderness.
Wilderness defenseman Ren Morque this week announced he will play his college hockey with the Air Force Falcons. He becomes the third member of this year’s squad to commit to the Colorado Springs, CO, based service academy.
Morque, a 20-year-old from Grand Rapids, MN, returned to the Wilderness earlier this season after leaving in the middle of the 2022-23 campaign to play in the USHL with the Sioux City Musketeers. He has played 46 games with the Wilderness over three seasons posting six goals and 24 assists for 30 points. With the Musketeers, Morque recorded four goals and five assists for nine points over 35 regular season games at the end of last season and beginning of 2023-24. He also skated in two post-season games for Sioux City in the 2023 Clark Cup playoffs.
“Very proud and excited for Ren,” said Wilderness head coach Colten St. Clair, who also coached Morque during his time last season with Sioux City, where St. Clair was serving as associate head coach.
St. Clair added, “It’s always rewarding and great to see someone from our Wilderness family get the opportunity to take the next step in their journey. He is a true competitor, and it has been a privilege to coach him for part of last year and this year. He has gone through some adversity the last couple of seasons and I couldn’t be happier to see him battle through it and get rewarded. The best is yet to come for Ren and his future!”
The 6’1”, 190 lb Morque has missed the last six games during due to injury. He re-joined the team on Nov. 3 and has played in five contests with Minnesota this season.
Morque joins defenseman Beau Janzig and forward Joe Cesario as other members of this year’s Wilderness to give a verbal commitment to Air Force. A Wilderness alum, Nate Horn, is currently in his fourth season with the Falcons, who compete in the Atlantic Hockey Association.