Forward Mack Diggins has gone from being a relatively unknown prospect during his days of high school hockey to becoming a skater that has multiple Division I colleges recruiting him in the span of just one calendar year.

The 18-year-old from Wisconsin had a successful varsity career for Eau Claire Memorial High School, but it wasn’t until he decided to forgo his senior year of eligibility to instead play in the North American Hockey League that scouts and coaches really started to take notice of him. There are plenty of great athletes in the ranks of Wisconsin high school hockey, but it wasn’t a league that was necessarily getting Diggins the exposure that he thought he would need to eventually get a chance to play at the collegiate level, so he took a chance on junior hockey and wound up finding a spot with Fairbanks of the NAHL.

The 6-foot forward seems to have a knack for quickly adjusting to higher levels of competition. As just a freshman, Diggins posted 28 points through 22 games played for the Old Abes varsity squad, which was tied for third-most in overall points scored on the entire roster that season in 2022-23.

“It definitely took me a couple of games to adjust, but after that things went pretty smoothly and I felt like I could compete pretty well,” the Eau Claire native said of his first few games up on the varsity roster.

Diggins then nearly doubled his total point output in 2023-24 as a sophomore and registered a whopping 18 goals and 27 assists through just 23 games for the Eau Claire public high school team. That was the most goals, assists and total points scored on the entire team that season, and Diggins was just 15-years-old that winter.

“I think that I definitely had a good offseason [of training in-between his freshman and sophomore years of high school], but it really just helped having that one year of experience, knowing what I was getting back into, and kind of just knowing the style that I had to play to succeed,” he said about being able to go from being one of the top guys on the team as a freshman to being the guy on the team as a sophomore.

His junior year with the Old Abes was by far the most impressive of his high school career though, by scoring an incredible 32 goals and 35 assists in just 24 games, and again leading the Purple and White in almost all categories. Diggins was also impressing at the triple-A level around that same time by tying for the lead in overall scoring for Team Wisconsin’s 16U squad that year, too.

One of his favorite memories from his time playing varsity hockey came during his junior season in 2024-25, when he was able to score a big-time goal against rival Chippewa Falls in the playoffs with just 30 seconds left on the clock to win the game and keep the season alive in front of a huge, sold-out crowd of fans.

Despite all of the fun and success that he was having at the high school level, Diggins had a feeling that he would have to take his game to the next level if he wanted to try and acheive a scholarship to eventually play Division I hockey. It wasn’t an easy choice to make to possibly forgo his senior year of high school eligibility, but it was one that he felt like he would have to make, since he wanted to push himself to try and play against the toughest competition possible.

Finding the right spot to play junior hockey and then making a roster was easier said than done though, and Diggins was an undrafted, untendered prospect at the time. He eventually wound up going to camp with Fairbanks of the North American Hockey League after a familiar connection helped lead the way to the Ice Dogs organization.

“One of my buddies [Nick Madsen] that I played high school with left for his senior year the year before I did and played up in Fairbanks, so Coach Dakota [Bell] just texted me one day and asked if I was interested in going to Main Camp, so I went to Main Camp as a free agent and then I made it out of camp,” Diggins said about eventually making it on to the Fairbanks roster as just a 17-year-old. “I was definitely a little bit nervous, for sure [to go out to Fairbanks], but I think I understood that if I wanted to make a big jump in my career, my hockey career, that it is the kind of path that I have to take if I wanted to push that along.”

It wasn’t easy to be moving so far away from home as just a senior in high school who had always lived in the Eau Claire area, but Diggins went up to Alaska and lived with billets and was able to find success quite quickly with the Ice Dogs. It wasn’t always easy for his family either to have him move so far away, and they were understandably a little bit nervous for him to move out to Alaska, but also excited for him to pursue this exciting new opportunity. It helped having a familiar face up in Fairbanks already in Madsen, his former high school teammate, and it was also nice that Diggins was able to finish his high school classes online through Eau Claire Memorial, and he eventually got to walk with his fellow classmates at graduation back home once the season was over.

Even though the path through junior hockey is never completely smooth or without a few minor bumps in the road, Diggins seemed to adjust extremely well to the next level and he definitely ended up enjoying his time within the Ice Dogs organization. The 6-foot forward scored 16 goals and 31 assists, for 47 total points in 58 games played as a rookie in the NAHL, which is extremely impressive, given that he was playing against guys that could’ve been up to 21-years-old and with multiple years of experience already in the league. Diggins was fourth in overall scoring for a talented Fairbanks squad that finished second in the Midwest Division standings, behind the top-ranked Minnesota Wilderness, in 2025-26.

“It took a couple of games to really, fully adjust [to the level of play in the NAHL] but I was pretty excited to just be playing in a junior league, so I think that helped me a lot and it kind of took the nerves away a bit since I didn’t have too high of expectations of myself going in to it,” he said about his mindset going into Year 1 of junior hockey. He didn’t set himself up with too high of expectations from the get go, which can be a common mistake for many rookies. “I played with a bunch of great guys and it was definitely nice that we were able to win a lot of our games and didn’t really have any bad streaks throughout the year.”

The Fairbanks squad did really well out on the ice that season, which was great, but Diggins also loved some of the unique experiences that Alaska brings to its junior hockey players like getting to go fishing or Ptarmigan hunting every once in a while. He also said that playing at the Big Dipper Ice Arena in front of the Ice Dogs fans was a great experience and that the fans are very passionate about the program and are amazing to play for.

Although Diggins was a relatively unknown prospect coming into his time in Fairbanks, he started to get calls from collegiate programs about a quarter of the way into the season in 2025-26. Once he showed that he could quite easily adapt to the next level of hockey, college teams quickly took notice of that and started to make some phone calls. One team that eventually reached out a little later on was the University of Minnesota Duluth. He eventually went out on a visit to the campus and enjoyed everything about it.

“I am proud and honored to announce my commitment to further my education and play Division I college hockey at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Thanks to my family, friends, teammates, coaches and everyone who has supported me along the way. #godogs,” Diggins posted to his social media pages on July 16, 2026. “I’m super excited to get there in the future and I think just their culture [is what stood out, in particular], I think I fit it well, and I really agree with what it is.”

Minnesota Duluth won’t be too far away from home either, as the campus is about a two-and-a-half hour drive north from Eau Claire. He’ll have some familiar faces on the team once he eventually joins the roster in the future as well since he already knows fellow recruit Jackson Marthaler (Superior, WI), from their days playing on Team Wisconsin together, as both are 2008 birth year skaters.

“Mack made an immediate impact in our lineup from day one,” said Fairbanks Head Coach Dakota Bell in a press release from the team. “He quickly earned the trust of his teammates and coaches, helping him succeed in the NAHL despite being one of the league’s youngest players. Mack does whatever is asked of him and can contribute anywhere in the lineup. We trusted him in every situation, and he delivered several memorable moments throughout the season. Every time he stepped on the ice, we knew he would give us his best because he holds himself to such a high standard. Minnesota Duluth is getting an outstanding person and a great hockey player. We are thrilled for Mack and his family and wish him continued success as his hard work keeps paying off!”

Diggins is planning on playing another season of junior hockey in 2026-27 before eventually joining the Bulldogs roster in the future. He was originally signed to play with Owen Sound of the OHL for the upcoming season but it is now very likely that he’ll be in the USHL as he plans on signing with a team soon. Details will be announced to the public when they are ready.

Once he gets out to college, he is considering majoring in something like finance or business, but he isn’t for sure set on anything quite yet.

Diggins is a member of the APX family and has worked with APX Advisors Jack Skille and Sean Toomey.

Learn more about our APX Advising team today, and find someone to help you achieve your goals both on and off the ice.

MORE FROM APX NEWS: