At first glance, many may think Rio Treharne’s story might be a simple one when they see his hometown listed as ‘Minneapolis’ on the roster for the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL. But the truth is that his story is much more complex than that.

Treharne was indeed born in Minnesota but he actually spent the first six or so years of his life in Australia. Yes - you read that right - Australia. He remembers a bit from his time living in Newcastle, a large city located about two hours north of Sydney, and participating in activities like surfing, but he didn’t become a hockey player until he moved back to Minneapolis, which is where is mom’s family is from.

Hockey wasn’t a sport that anyone in Rio’s family played so it wasn’t until his mom took him to an outdoor rink one day that he found an immediate love for the popular Minnesota pastime. The first-ever team that he joined was just for a recreational squad in Minneapolis before he would go on to join the Minneapolis Storm program. It became evident quite quickly that Treharne had a natural talent for hockey despite starting a little later than some others in Minnesota who start skating as soon as they can walk so he ended up joining the Minnesota Made program for a couple of years as a PeeWee and a Squirt.

For his first year of Bantams, Treharne rejoined the Storm. That’s around the same time when the forward really started to see that there was some legitimate potential for him in the sport if he kept putting in lots of hard work.

“That’s kind of when hockey started to get real for me,” the now 18-year-old told APX reporter Sydney Wolf. “I always had the dream (of becoming a highly successful hockey player), but that last year of PeeWees and going into the first year of Bantams were the years where it started to get real for me and I feel like that’s where the dream started to look more and more like it could maybe come true.”

Treharne then ended up switching over to the Eden Prairie Hockey Organization for his second year of Bantam competition and he eventually made the varsity roster as a sophomore at Eden Prairie High School. He felt great about his first season on varsity but played a limited role that year due to a deep roster for the Eagles in 2022-23 that included the likes of current Division I forwards Mason Moe (Minnesota - NJD draft pick) and Teddy Townsend (Minnesota) and Colorado College defender Ryan Koering, among plenty of other guys who are now finding success in junior hockey at the moment. Treharne still posted four points in that season as just a sophomore and showed a ton of promise during the minutes that he did have out on the ice.

“In Year 1 (on varsity), I was just so young and underdeveloped that I had trouble being a reliable player and there’s not many people that can step in as a 15-year-old and do damage so it was just kind of an awkward spot for me to be in,” Treharne said on what he learned about himself while going from his sophomore to junior season. “Every summer I just worked really, really hard in the gym and on the ice and I feel like my junior year I kind of got handed the keys to the castle and I just kind of took off.”

His junior year for the Eagles is where he really started to turn some heads. The 6-foot forward exploded for a whopping 39 points through 27 games played that season, which was just one point shy of the team lead in overall scoring (Mason Moe - 40pts). His 28 assists were the most on the entire roster though and this is where coaches and scouts really started to take note of the Minneapolis native. Eden Prairie posted a successful 17-9-1 record that season, eventually falling in the Section 2AA semifinals to Minnetonka (a team that had only one loss the entire year).

As a senior, Treharne again found a new level to his game and he got even better thanks to all of the hard work that he was putting in both on and off the ice that summer. He participated in the NAHL Showcase with the Wisconsin Windigo prior to the start of his final year of high school hockey at Eden Prairie, which got some more buzz going about him as a prospect, and then he exploded for an eye-popping 53 points in 26 games for the Eagles in 2024-25. In fact, those 53 points were 10 more than the next closest skater in overall scoring on the roster.

Eden Prairie posted a 17-7-3 overall record last year, which included a special victory over Hibbing/Chisholm during an outdoor game in Shakopee for Hockey Day Minnesota. The season for the Eagles unfortunately came to an end in a 5-2 loss to Holy Family in the section semifinals. Treharne says that his three years on varsity with Eden Prairie were some of the best years of his life and that one of his favorite memories was pulling off a big 6-2 victory over Holy Family in front of a packed home crowd during section play his junior season.

After high school competition was over, Treharne rejoined the Windigo of the NAHL and was then able to truly immerse himself in junior hockey. He loved his experience with the squad and says that he would not be the player that he is today without the time that he had in Wisconsin that spring. He wound up earning six points through 13 total NAHL games in 2024-25.

At the conclusion of the season, Treharne wasn’t quite sure of what the next steps for his career would be. After seeing previous success in the NAHL it seemed like he could easily return to play in that league but he actually wound up being drafted to the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL in the 3rd Round of the USHL Entry Draft. Obviously, being drafted by a team doesn’t mean too much because you still have to make the final roster, but this opened up a new door of opportunities for the Minneapolis native.

Treharne attended camp with the Black Hawks that summer and felt confident about how he showcased himself at the event. He ended up eventually making the official roster for the USHL squad and has been in Waterloo ever since.

Just a few games after the junior hockey season started this fall, Treharne’s hard work and grit paid off and he decided to commit to play Division I hockey at Northern Michigan University, a total dream come true for the forward.

“I just feel like the staff at Northern Michigan is second to none,” he said about why he settled on the Wildcats for his hockey future. “It just seemed like a picture perfect fit for me and my family and it’s a great spot.”

The university is located in Marquette, the largest city in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and the men’s hockey program recently hired alum Dave Shyiak to replace former head coach Grant Potulny in the summer of 2024. Shyiak and his staff have been recruiting a new era of prospects and have hopes to bring the team back up to greatness after a few disappointing seasons in the CCHA in the years prior.

“There’s a lot of history at Northern Michigan and the new coaching staff is just super amped up to bring them back to what they used to be with Frozen Fours and winning championships and stuff,” said Treharne. The Minnesota skater also took a visit out to Marquette and said that he immediately fell in love with the campus that is located on the banks of Lake Superior.

There will be at least one familiar face when Treharne gets out to Northern Michigan in the future as well as one of his current teammates in Waterloo, defender Avery Laliberte, is also committed to the Wildcats. The forward from Minnesota isn’t currently sure on what he’ll study once he gets out to college but is considering something possibly related to business.

With Treharne currently being just 18-years-old, it isn’t set in stone yet on when he’ll join the roster at Northern Michigan. For now, he is finding a lot of success in his rookie year in the USHL and currently owns a goal and nine assists through 18 total games played so far in Waterloo.

“I think things are going pretty well and Waterloo is a great spot, I love it, there’s nothing bad I could say about it,” he said about his time with the Black Hawks this fall. “I feel like it’s been great. I definitely had a little bit of a transition period but I feel like I’m adjusting well so far (to the level of competition in the USHL).”

Waterloo currently sits in seventh place out of eight teams in the USHL Western Conference standings with 13 points but the team has also played the least games out of all the other teams in the league - aside from the NTDP - so they have plenty of time to pick up a couple more points and improve on their current position in the standings.

“We had four returning players (to the roster in ‘25-26) and a new head coach so obviously with that and having so few returners there’s going to be a little bit of a rocky start, but I totally have faith in our team,” Treharne said about the season so far for Waterloo and what fans can expect from the team going forward. “We get better every weekend and I feel like it’s really starting to come together for us.”

At the time of this story being written, Waterloo is coming off of a split against the Fargo Force and will play a home and home series against Cedar Rapids on Nov. 27 (at home) and Nov. 29 (away).

For any Northern Michigan fans who haven’t yet had a chance to watch Treharne play, he likes to describe his game as being a high-octane, offensive forward who can make quick, smart decisions with the puck. He also battles hard and plays a full 200-foot game.

Treharne was recently given the weekly Hardest Worker award by Waterloo for his performances on Nov. 21 and 22, which included a two-point game on Friday. This isn’t surprising to those who know Rio as he is a complete team player and will do anything to help his squad win a game.

“He has tremendous offensive abilities and offensive IQ and can make plays,” said Treharne’s advisor Hunter Warner, who has been working with him since his junior year of high school. “He honestly has a very rare, incredibly rare, desire to get better and be great … He’s not entitled and he doesn’t need to be catered to because he wants to get better and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to become better and to be able to execute at high levels.”

For now, Treharne will play the rest of the 2025-26 season in Waterloo and will eventually suit up for Northern Michigan for his hockey future in the years to come.

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