{"id":137100,"date":"2022-11-18T05:36:17","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T11:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/?p=137100"},"modified":"2022-11-18T05:41:47","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T11:41:47","slug":"bethels-justin-kelley-back-in-familiar-territory-and-playing-great-hockey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/11\/18\/bethels-justin-kelley-back-in-familiar-territory-and-playing-great-hockey\/","title":{"rendered":"Bethel\u2019s Kelley back in familiar territory, playing great hockey"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Justin Kelley is off to a good start in his first season with the Bethel Royals. (Photo Credit: Bethel Athletics)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Justin Kelley is back in the MIAC, where he spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career when St. Thomas was still a member of it before the program transitioned to Division I.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, he\u2019s playing for the Bethel Royals and having success. Kelley is glad to to back.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really cool,\u201d Kelley said. \u201cI have familiarity with the team and the coach, and other teammates I\u2019ve played with in the past. It just felt like I fit right in. The guys have been great. It\u2019s been awesome.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kelley has made an immediate impact. He ranks second on the team in goals (3) and points (6), and has also dished out six assists for a Bethel team that is off to a 4-2 start.<\/span><\/p>\n

He credits his teammates for helping him become the best player he can be so far this season.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have such a good team and that has helped me play better,\u201d Kelley said. \u201cIt pushes me every day because we have a lot of great players, and it makes me want to do better every time I go out there on the ice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For Kelley, the new environment has been a difference maker as well. Last year with St. Thomas during the Tommies\u2019 first season in Division I, it presented challenges and added pressure.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not restricting myself this year. I\u2019m playing more free,\u201d Kelley said. \u201cI almost felt like last year I was playing just to survive rather than going out there and having fun and playing free. This year, I\u2019m doing that. I\u2019m not worried about the next shift. I\u2019m focused on the right now and having success.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

His familiarity with some of his teammates hasn\u2019t hurt either. One of the senior forward\u2019s teammates, Jarrett Cammarata, who leads the Royals with four goals and four assists, has been someone Kelley has known long before he ever stepped onto the ice at Bethel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve played with Jarrett pretty much my whole life. It\u2019s a lot of fun to play with him again,\u201d Kelley said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool for us to be on the same team again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Growing up in Minnesota, Kelly started playing hockey when he was just 4 years old. Hockey has always kind of been a family affair for him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad played and my older brother played, so I watched him a lot, and now my younger brother players, too,\u201d Kelley said.<\/span><\/p>\n

His love for the game is unmatched.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe game is awesome and has been my passion,\u201d Kelley said. \u201cNo matter what is going on off the ice, when I step onto the ice I have no worries. All of the worries go away. And being around my teammates, some of my best memories are with them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

More memories are still yet to be made.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bethel is coming off a huge win over then No. 15 UW-Eau Claire, beating the Blugolds 4-3 in overtime, and the Royals gained a lot from that win.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big confidence boost. We didn\u2019t play our best the night before against Superior, and had lost two in a row at home, and just weren\u2019t playing our best game. But we found it against Eau Claire. To beat them at home was awesome. We can build on what we did well and keep moving forward.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Kelley said the Royals have been able to play fast and physical, and that has been instrumental to their success in the early going of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n

They understand nothing will come easy in the MIAC, though, night in and night out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery team is good. You can\u2019t overlook anyone,\u201d Kelley said. \u201cYou have to earn everything you get every night.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And when it\u2019s all said and done this season, Bethel hopes to be in the hunt for a conference title.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to be right there at the end,\u201d Kelley said. \u201cWhat is helping us is our focus. We know every game is an opportunity to get better and we want to be playing our best at the end of the year, but what we do right now factors into that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justin Kelley is back in the MIAC, where he spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career when St. Thomas was still a member of it before the program transitioned to Division I. Now, he\u2019s playing for the Bethel Royals and having success. Kelley is glad to to back. \u201cIt\u2019s been really cool,\u201d Kelley […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":137101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[820],"coauthors":[821],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBethel\u2019s Kelley back in familiar territory, playing great hockey - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Justin Kelley is back in the MIAC, where he spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career when St. Thomas was still a member of it before the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137100\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bethel\u2019s Kelley back in familiar territory, playing great hockey - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Justin Kelley is back in the MIAC, where he spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career when St. Thomas was still a member of it before the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137100\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-18T11:36:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-18T11:41:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Justin-Kelley-2-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brian Lester\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brian Lester\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/11\/18\/bethels-justin-kelley-back-in-familiar-territory-and-playing-great-hockey\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/11\/18\/bethels-justin-kelley-back-in-familiar-territory-and-playing-great-hockey\/\",\"name\":\"Bethel\u2019s Kelley back in familiar territory, playing great hockey - College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/11\/18\/bethels-justin-kelley-back-in-familiar-territory-and-playing-great-hockey\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/11\/18\/bethels-justin-kelley-back-in-familiar-territory-and-playing-great-hockey\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Justin-Kelley-2-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-18T11:36:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-18T11:41:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e4f8b63db8eb234f6bf20426e8e69119\"},\"description\":\"Justin Kelley is back in the MIAC, where he spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career when St. Thomas was still a member of it before the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/11\/18\/bethels-justin-kelley-back-in-familiar-territory-and-playing-great-hockey\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/11\/18\/bethels-justin-kelley-back-in-familiar-territory-and-playing-great-hockey\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2022\/11\/18\/bethels-justin-kelley-back-in-familiar-territory-and-playing-great-hockey\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Justin-Kelley-2-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Justin-Kelley-2-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Justin Kelley is off to a good start in his first season with the Bethel Royals. 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