Comfort is important to Jordan Steinmetz.

It has helped the Chi-Hi graduate become a key cog for a team in the country's top junior hockey league. And it helped him make a decision on where he would be playing Division I college hockey next season.

Steinmetz made the step up this winter from the Tier II Janesville Jets of the North American Hockey League to the Tier I Sioux City Musketeers of the United States Hockey League. He’s been one of the most reliable players for a Musketeer team in the middle of a tight fight in a tough Western Conference.

Local hockey fans saw Steinmetz light up the lamp plenty during his standout career at Chi-Hi, where he left as the program’s career leading scorer. That talent has carried over to his junior hockey play. But it was more than that talent that helped him get on the radar of Luke Strand, coach of Sioux City as well as Steinmetz’s coach during his time with the Team Wisconsin traveling hockey team.