Kevin Hartzell-2015

Not long ago, Paul Giel became part of the final chapter to my long thought-about commentary I have written and rewritten many times, but only in my head, entitled, “What Has Happened to Gopher Hockey?” It has four and maybe five chapters now to it and would be one of the better and more provocative commentaries I have ever written.

Just over two years ago, my son Eric was USCHO College Player of the Year and a First Team All-American. It was an accomplishment beyond a dad’s wildest dreams. After his senior season at Quinnipiac, Eric signed a nice free agent contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Twenty games into his AHL career he was the No. 1 goalie in the AHL and a recipient of AHL Goalie of the Month honors.

To the many high school captains and assistant captains, congratulations on being named captain of your respective teams. Most, if not all of you, have been voted into this position by your teammates. It is quite the honor. You represent your team, your school  and even your community.

I have been fortunate this year already. I am working with two teams, the Twin City Steel of the NA3HL and the White Bear Lake High School girls’ hockey team. The Steel are having a great year so far and the girls just got started officially this week.

I have been fortunate in my career. I have coached many great young people, many of whom have gone on to play professional hockey. While I have spent only one year as a coach at the pro level, my experience in the industry as a whole and the relationships with many of my former players have shaped my views of the industry.

In case you missed it, and many good hockey folks especially in the Midwest may have, there is a new women’s professional hockey league and it just played its first ever games. The new league is the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL). Its smallish footprint is in the Northeast U.S.

I am past beginning to believe that we as a society are losing our focus. Just peruse the various news fronts on the web and see stories that must interest everyone. Stories that feature “Stars that Used to be Good Looking”or the “Kardashians are Having a Disagreement” (I made that one up but suspect something very near has been addressed),  or how about “Scandalous Lies told by Celebrities.” 

I am the father of millennials. Three of them. This summer I have had two of them living at home with my wife and I … both of them invited. Our hockey-playing son hadn’t been home in seven years and we thought it best to get him back to family and friends, and also to train in Minnesota. I plan to share more of his story in the near future. 

I have been lucky this summer to spend more time with more friends and family. It has been both the best of times, and unfortunately, also the worst of times, tolerable only because of the bonds shared by family and friends. Through it all, I have been afforded a variety of prisms to look through and time to reflect on what I have been seeing.

Are you journaling? If you are not, it is one of the very first things I suggest you consider as you begin your new season of self-improvement and development.

This is certainly one of my favorite times of the year sports wise. Spring brings with it the Masters Golf Tournament, one of the best tournaments of any kind in the world which also signals the start of the golf season for us up here in the north. 

Among the many people I ran into at the Let’s Play Hockey Expo a couple of weeks back was Pete Carlson, longtime Schwan Super Rink guru, if I can call him that. Pete is a good man. In catching up with Pete I learned he has been coaching his son’s Junior Gold team this year. 

High Schools and colleges have homecoming week. In Minnesota, we have the boys’ high school hockey tournament. No offense to the girls, whose game has grown beautifully, but the boys’ tournament is still our homecoming event.

It was certainly a great experience to attend the state tournament strictly as a fan and supporter. I have many highlights and impressions from the weekend.

I was lucky enough to get out and watch a bunch of hockey again this past week. Being home with no coaching duties has allowed me to sample a lot of hockey. And I find just about everything I see to be intriguing. I see players with confidence and players without. 

I have received a good amount of feedback from hockey professionals in our Minnesota area on my questions asked of USA Hockey and its National Team Development Program (NTDP) and the answers provided by Jim Johannson. 

This past week I went to see “American Sniper.” I recommend you go see it. It is the first time I have cried at a movie in a long time. On so many levels this movie affected me. The story of Chris Kyle, so well produced by Clint Eastwood, made me feel small, humble and unimportant … much in the same way a good church sermon does to me. 

As I travel about the arenas in Minnesota, I often get to hear what’s on the minds of many Minnesota hockey enthusiasts. This includes fans, coaches and scouts. One of the issues that is still hotly debated around our rinks is USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program (NTDP). 

I have to admit that I am now really starting to miss coaching. I know this because I am finding myself being more watchful, appreciating and even critical of the various hockey games I am watching. A few observations from the past couple of weeks include: