With perfection in sight, Hoff takes aim

It’s a cold and damp day in late February of 2005, a slightly overweight, stocky and bearded young man stands firmly with feet planted into the ground, lacrosse stick and gloves in hand; he pounds a little white rubber ball against the brick of his chimney.  The focus in the motion and release of the ball, results in hitting the same individual brick twenty times over.  When he sees fit, he takes a rebound off the wall, turns ninety degrees to his right and rings a shot directly off the top left corner of his lacrosse goal.  “Dammit”, he says, “that’s gotta be down three inches”.

This kind of concentration and desire to perfect his shooting, carries over into every aspect of Hoff’s life.  Sometimes the goal is to beat his older brother Erik, while shooting pool, sometimes it’s playing his drums until he breaks all of the drumsticks in the house.  For Ryan Hoff, playing a game or exerting a skill is not just for fun, it’s to prove his talents and show others that could and would work harder than most.

In 2005, his senior year, Hoff’s competitiveness helped lead his Dulaney High School Lions to their fifth state championship in six years.  His dedication to perfection landed him the C. Markland Kelly Award for the state’s top public school player.  In this same year Hoff was also named first team All Metro, which was comprised almost entirely of private school players.  He was also named a 2005 High School All American as well as first team All County for Baltimore County.

He finished his career at Dulaney with 198 goals and 50 assists.  His father, Randy Hoff won’t take any credit for Ryan’s success, “I don’t know where it came from, but Ryan has always been able to finish, even as a kid playing soccer, he could always find the net.”

Ryan knows where it came from; all of those days outside, just the stick, the ball and the goal for hours at a time. 

“When I was in middle school I started to realize that I had a knack for scoring goals,” Hoff said, “I knew that I could be an asset if I kept scoring.”

Hoff is not the fastest or the quickest; he doesn’t even have a blistering shot.  When you watch a game you could miss a goal just by taking your eyes off the field for five seconds. 

“He has mastered the art of the catch and shoot”, said his high school coach Gary Shrieber.  “Ryan has some of the best hands, not only for a guy his size, but for any player that I’ve ever seen.” 

That’s quite a compliment coming from a Johns Hopkins All American himself, who has been around some of the best lacrosse in the country for the past 50 years.

It’s no surprise that in Hoff’s freshman year at Notre Dame, he was quickly called upon to provide a scoring boost for the Irish.  He started 12 of 15 games in 2006 and scored 21 goals. Most notably, he posted a hat trick in his first postseason game, a loss against then #1 Virginia.

In his sophomore season, Hoff took charge of the offense; scoring 40 goals and adding 4 assists.  The presence of freshman Will Yeatman, a blue chip recruit from San Diego, was a catalyst for Hoff’s scoring presence.  Notre Dame looked extremely dangerous heading in to the postseason of 2007.  The Irish would face Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field in Baltimore.  This was Hoff’s chance to dazzle a hometown crowd and to advance to the Final Four.  Hoff had one goal in the first half, and then another with nine seconds left in regulation to force overtime against the Blue Jays.  Hopkins scored two minutes into overtime, sending the Irish back to Indiana, anxious for next season.

Ryan managed to maintain his scoring prowess into his junior season, scoring 41 goals in 2008, while on his way to receiving First Team All Great Western and Honorable Mention All American Awards.  “Hoff’s junior year really solidified his place among elite scorers in the country,” said teammate Duncan Swezey.

During his senior season, Hoff tallied nine multi-goal games, including six in the Great Western Lacrosse League championship game against rivals Ohio State.  He finished his career at Notre Dame as the second all time goal scorer with 134 and made first team GWLL for the third time.

After graduating this past June with a degree in marketing, Hoff was selected with the 17^th overall pick in the Major League Lacrosse draft by the Chicago Machine.  This past Wednesday, Hoff was selected 34^th overall by the Rochester Knighthawks of the professional indoor lacrosse league or NLL.

Known nationally among coaches and peers as a dangerous scorer, Hoff yet again prepares for a new challenge.  “The guys are bigger, faster and better,” Hoff said, “As long as I work like I always have, there’s no doubt in my mind that I can compete.”