Minnesota Gopher commit Tanner Ludtke has developed a pregame routine of his own. After many stretches, shots on net, and laps around his own defensive zone, he’ll remind himself of what’s most important: his faith.
“Every time before a game starts and the puck is about to drop, I say to myself, ‘Whatever happens in the next three hours, I’ll wake up tomorrow and Jesus Christ will be on the throne and that’s good enough for me,’” Tanner said.
Hockey players don’t often showcase their faith as openly as Tanner does, sharing his beliefs across social media. In other North American sports like the NFL, NBA, and MLB, faith is a more visible part of the game — players, coaches, and staff openly express it. That level of openness hasn’t fully made its way to hockey.
Related: Tanner Ludtke – 2023 NHL Draft Prospect Profile
More so in the NFL, it’s common to see players locking arms after games, praying at midfield. Quarterbacks routinely point to the sky after a touchdown. Soccer players commonly point to the sky after scoring a goal. And postgame interviews regularly include thanks to God.
This isn’t to say religion is absent from hockey. More than a dozen NHL teams have chaplains, and many college teams do, too. The stereotype that hockey and faith don’t mix doesn’t hold up, and Tanner’s faith journey is proof of that.
A Faith That Found Him
Tanner grew up in a Christian household with his parents, Marcus and Jordi, and his older brother, Griffin. The Ludtkes lived about 30 minutes south of Minneapolis in Elko, Minnesota, a small town of just over 5,000 people where everyone seemed to know each other.
“I grew up in a Christian household—both my mom and dad were believers,” Tanner said. “We went to church all the time, but it wasn’t really my faith. I remember my senior year, when I was playing juniors in Lincoln (Stars), I started going to church alone.”
After three years at Lakeville South High, Tanner moved on to the United States Hockey League, joining the Lincoln Stars. He spent a season and a half in Lincoln before making the jump to the NCAA.
In college, Tanner spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at Nebraska-Omaha. He posted an impressive 28 points as a true freshman, but despite the success on the ice, he still didn’t feel 100 percent mentally or spiritually.
“I can look back now and say Dec. 4, 2023, was the day I gave my life to Jesus,” Tanner said. “I was in my dorm room in Omaha during my freshman year. Since it had always been my parents’ faith growing up, I told myself, ‘If I’m going to give my life to this, I want to know it’s true.’ So I looked at both sides. I did the digging for myself.”
While digging for himself, Tanner had to not only trust himself but also take a leap of faith, trusting and seeing what those around him did.
“At the end of the day, it’s not just science—faith plays a role, too. You can have all the facts in the world, but ultimately, you still have to take a leap with whatever you choose to believe. I hadn’t spoken to a family member in about 10 weeks, and on Dec. 4, I called that person and just started bawling on the phone. I said, ‘I give my life to Jesus.’ It was a super emotional, special day—I remember it vividly. For me, it was important to be sure.”
His brother, Griffin, also plays at Nebraska-Omaha and is entering his senior season with the Mavericks. The two have always been inseparable, their bond stretching well beyond the rink.
“The big and little brother dynamic was pretty prototypical to start,” Griffin said. “We were always competing, always hanging around each other. We were pretty inseparable our whole upbringing. But I’d say that from big brother to little brother, that dynamic shifted into just being best friends.”
Even as their friendship stayed strong, Griffin noticed a change in Tanner as he began to take ownership of his faith and seek answers for himself.
“I think his hunger to know Jesus is so evident, like the questions he asks, whether it’s me or my dad or other mentors in his faith, like he’s hungry and he’s curious,” Griffin said. “I think that’s just evidence of a changed heart and mind and someone who’s really fixated on knowing Jesus, and growing with Jesus, and not only incorporating him in his first 30 minutes of his day, but really from when he wakes up and when he goes to bed and his interactions in his locker room.”
Not only has Tanner’s brother seen the difference in his younger brother, but his father, Marcus, also saw the change within Tanner both on and off the ice.
“Faith was always part of the hockey experience for us; it was always there,” Marcus said. “I think we were always conscious, even at a young age, to kind of teach both our boys that you don’t get your identity from hockey, regardless of how successful you are. We were always very much, ‘Hey, first and foremost, you’re a child of God, and that’s where you draw your identity.’ Everything that comes from that is a blessing and a gift.”
Tanner’s decision to give his life to Jesus in his dorm room might sound like a storybook moment, but living out that faith hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the Utah Mammoth prospect.
“The lie I was believing was that I had to be nice all the time, which took away from my love for the game,” Tanner said. “Realizing I didn’t have to be that way was really freeing.”
The Game Within the Game
Even after December 2023, when Tanner had cemented his faith in Jesus, he still didn’t feel fully present. Following Christmas break, the Omaha Mavericks traveled to Phoenix for the Desert Hockey Classic, the annual tournament hosted by Arizona State in Tempe.
Despite the holiday season, Tanner was mired in a slump, going 10-plus games without a point. The Mavericks pulled out a 4-3 overtime win against UMass Lowell in the first game of the Desert Hockey Classic, but Tanner was held off the scoresheet again as the skid stretched into the new year.
“We got back from Christmas break at Arizona State University (ASU), and I didn’t score the first night. The next night, I was sitting on the bleachers with my team chaplain before the game, praying. I told Mike (Mike Gabinet), who is an idol in my life, ‘Man, I need to surrender this.’ So Mike and I sat on the bench at ASU, and I prayed, ‘God, if hockey ever gets bigger than you, I give you permission to take it away.’ Looking back, I don’t think I understood the power of that prayer. That’s a pretty big prayer, and God answers those—I kind of forgot he did.”
After the DHC, Tanner went on to lead the Mavericks in points and helped lead the team to a 23-13-4 record, placing them fifth in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) standings.
Flash forward to his sophomore season, and expectations were sky-high for the 19-year-old Minnesota native. He had led Omaha in points as a true freshman, but even after surrendering his life to Jesus, Tanner still wasn’t where he wanted to be mentally.
“Mentally, I was just so out of it,” Tanner said. “I did what John Eldredge (in Wild at Heart) talks about—going into the wilderness. I took a four-day retreat by myself and my best friend, no phones. We camped and went fishing. When I got back to Omaha to start the year, it helped, but it was a band-aid. I was still so torn.”
Going into the season, the Mavericks started strong, winning the 2024 Ice Breaker Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, beating both the University of Massachusetts and the University of Minnesota.
On Oct. 25, Tanner suffered a shoulder injury against Minnesota State that sidelined him for the rest of the 2024-25 regular season. He ended up playing just eight games in his highly anticipated sophomore year.
“Five games in, I had season-ending shoulder surgery,” Tanner said. “As hard as that was, I didn’t even think about the prayer I prayed. That led me to lead a small group at my church, about 10 juniors in high school. Three months after surgery, one of the guys asked, ‘Hey man, I love how you show up here, but you can be honest—are you mad God took hockey away from you?’ I said, ‘Oh my gosh, dude, you won’t believe this.’ I literally told God he could if hockey ever got bigger than him. Seeing him respond to those kinds of prayers, even when it hurts, shows how much he loves us because he wants a relationship with us.”
Called to Be Different
Despite a late surge in January and February, the Mavericks finished fourth in the NCHC standings and missed out on the PairWise rankings during Tanner’s sophomore campaign that saw him sidelined. Shortly after the season, Tanner entered the transfer portal, starting the next chapter of his career.
With several schools on the table, the decision came while Tanner sat in the backseat of his parents’ car, just before they were about to catch a flight to Madison, Wisconsin.
“Then they (University of Minnesota) got me on a plane,” Tanner said. “I flew in, and I loved it. The next day, we were driving home because I had a flight to Madison, Wisconsin. My mom asked, ‘Do you even want to go?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t. I don’t know what it is, but God’s telling me to go to Minnesota. I know I’m meant to be here.’ So we turned the car around, drove back to the rink, and I told the head coach I was in. I never felt like a huge voice was telling me to get out of Omaha. I just took that step and then felt completely, ‘Hey, I want you here at Minnesota.’ That was probably when I felt him the most through the process.”
Tanner will now play under legendary Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko, entering his ninth season as head coach of the Gophers. The transfer also means Tanner will leave behind his brother Griffin, who is set to play his senior season without his younger brother by his side. The two have been teammates since their high school days.
“He felt like he was being called home, like home is the word that kept coming up,” Griffin said. “Transferring isn’t easy, especially when you have a lot of ties to a city or a community or to people, and when you impact lives like Tanner has in Omaha, and when he’s been impacted by so many people there too, it’s not easy to transfer. I think some people get that mixed up. I’m super happy for him.”
While Griffin stays more than 300 miles away, their parents will be just a 30-minute drive from Tanner’s games — a convenience they didn’t have when Tanner (and Griffin) played in Omaha.
“We’re fired up about it, and we were super happy with the decision, and just kind of how it happened organically,” Marcus said. “He definitely wasn’t convinced of going anywhere, he was going to let the process play out. But he loved the idea of coming home and just playing here in Minnesota.”
Amid a busy offseason full of change, Tanner stays focused on what matters most, keeping his priorities clear no matter the obstacles.
“I was reading in John 15 yesterday, and it talks about how he’s the vine, we’re the branches, and God is the gardener. Jesus says, ‘Just remain in my love.’ So I think that’s one of the biggest things right now for me — just remaining in his love. Not so much about doing all these things, but just being in him.”
