North St. Paul native creating positive impacts through hockey, business and family efforts
Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 February 2015 16:37
By John Hamre
Let’s Play Hockey Guest Columnist
At the beginning of the 1997-98 hockey season, Bret Hedican skated with the USHL’s Twin Cities Vulcans in practices at the Bloomington Ice Gardens. He was an established NHL veteran of seven seasons, and getting extra ice time in preparation for the upcoming training camp with the Vancouver Canucks. Jim Johannson, now the Assistant Executive Director of Hockey Operations for USA Hockey and a 1992 Olympic teammate of Hedican’s, was then the Vulcans’ head coach and welcomed Hedican to the Vulcans’ practices. Thankful of the opportunity to work with Johannson and the Vulcans, I had the opportunity to meet Hedican while serving as a volunteer assistant coach amidst some graduate school work. Through this experience, Hedican made a couple distinct impressions.
First, Hedican was genuinely respectful and helpful towards the junior players with whom he was skating. He shared playing tips with the aspiring junior players, was respectful with all he interacted, and showed appreciation for the extra ice-time by how he carried himself. Secondly, his skating ability was truly amazing and world class. It seemed like he only needed a stride and a half to skate from the top of the circles at one end of the rink through the neutral zone to the top of the circles at the other end. His skating was powerful, effortless, fluid, efficient and inspirational to the Vulcans players and coaches he spent time with during the early fall of 1997.
Now living in northern California, Hedican serves as the color commentator/analyst on San Jose Sharks radio broadcasts for KFOX. He also does pre- and post-game Sharks television analysis for Comcast Sports California.
Hedican is busy with life and forward looking – as a husband, father broadcast analyst and entrepreneur. He is married to former figure skater and 1992 Olympic gold medalist, Kristi Yamaguchi. Hedican and Yamaguchi first met at the Opening Ceremonies of the 1992 Winter Olympics, both Olympians as members of Team USA, and again at the opening of GM Place in Vancouver in 1995, when he was a member of the Canucks. The couple married in 2000.
Clearly proud and respectful of his wife’s accomplishments as a figure skater Hedican shared with a smile, “When I got married, I became Mr. Yamaguchi. I thought that name would have gone away after winning the (2006) Stanley Cup.” Both Hedican and his wife have experienced the highest levels of athletic accomplishment, and thus both have given the most to training, preparation and sacrifice for their sports. They understand and have been mutually supportive of each other through athletic careers.
Together the couple are the proud parents of two daughters, and combine efforts personally and professionally to benefit many children through various business and foundation pursuits.
Hedican has many accolades credited to his resume, including being a two-time Olympian (1992, 2006), Stanley Cup Champion (2006), former collegiate hockey player with his jersey number retired at St. Cloud State and a retired NHL defenseman. Like then on the ice, today Hedican is a consummate professional. Now for the press box, his pregame preparation and broadcast notes are thorough and organized, color coded and teeming with many statistics and details ready for quick reference during his on-air commentary. He executes his responsibilities as a broadcaster with the same commitment, preparation and professionalism he gave to his hockey playing career. He remains passionate about hockey. “I love being around the game. It’s in my DNA.”
Profoundly, Hedican realizes his self-identity continues to be lived and built looking forward. “There’s always a transition with hockey players. There’s that day where you ask yourself what are you going to do after you’re done playing? You set goals. Hockey is over, now what? I don’t want to be defined as just a hockey player. I want to be a difference maker.”
Last Thursday, Bret Hedican was in St. Paul providing radio analysis as the San Jose Sharks played the Minnesota Wild. At the Xcel Energy Center, Hedican shared on the progression of his life, philosophical observations on multi-sport athletes, hockey safety, his entrepreneurial endeavors and his family. He is busy, passionate about what he is doing and pursuing, and understands what it takes to succeed and make a positive difference in the lives of those he interacts with. His life’s work now is as dynamic, graceful, fluid, impacting and successful as his hockey playing career and defining skating stride was on ice.
Recognizing and embracing the seeds of opportunities to come
Sometimes the destiny of success can be realized by embracing an opportunity – opportunity which may be presented wearing a disguise of perseverance, greater efforts or sacrifices required. The key is to recognize a pathway which will bear fruits of happiness and success in life ahead. Usually, happiness and success result from what is given along the way. Destiny and its success become the results of an honorable journey taken – the disguise of perseverance and greater efforts required are really the opportunity! Bret Hedican traveled this journey in his hockey career, and is continuing to find pathways of happiness and success for his family and himself by striving to positively make a difference.
Coming out of North St. Paul High School in 1988, Bret Hedican’s life was forever changed by Herb Brooks’ vision to create more NCAA Division I hockey opportunities in the state of Minnesota. At the time only the University of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota Duluth were established Division I hockey programs in Minnesota. Brooks felt more in-state Division I opportunities were needed for Minnesotan hockey players. Brooks became the head coach at St. Cloud State for one season – and in doing so put his NCAA Championship, Olympic gold medal and NHL coaching credibility behind his vision – in order to facilitate SCSU’s hockey program transition to Division I status.
At the same time Brooks was leading the transition of SCSU men’s ice hockey from Division III to Division I, Hedican was finishing a multi-sport career at North St. Paul High School. Besides being an outstanding prep hockey player, Hedican also played football, soccer and golf. Interestingly, Hedican played football as a freshman, switched to playing soccer as a sophomore and junior (“I never played soccer before that,” he said), and returned to playing football after growing seven inches before his senior year (“I just loved playing football,” he reflected).
Graduating from North St. Paul, Hedican did not have many college hockey options. In fact, SCSU was the only program to offer him even a partial hockey scholarship. Hedican accepted Brooks’ offer to play hockey at SCSU. On the ice, he developed into one of SCSU’s most celebrated players, and used the opportunity, disguised as a partial scholarship offer from the newly established Division I program, to become an Olympian and Stanley Cup champion – and difference maker.
“There was one school that gave me a chance and I took it,” Hedican said. “My freshman year we were the No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament as the independent team seed. It was a great opportunity. Herb Brooks had the vision to provide more opportunities for kids (in Minnesota). What if he hadn’t? I’m so proud of St. Cloud State and what they have done – the facility (Herb Brooks National Hockey Center), play in the NCAA’s last year and recently, their patience in building a (consistently strong) program.”
Hedican went on from SCSU to play for two U.S. Olympic Hockey Teams. He won the Stanley Cup in 2006 as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes. He played in 1,147 NHL regular season and playoff games during a career that spanned from 1991 through 2009, and included stops with the St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks, Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes and Anaheim Ducks.
On being an entrepreneur, foundation work and creating a ‘product with purpose’
Hedican is also passionate about helping kids. He works towards this mission through both his and his wife’s businesses and foundation. Through his business, RosterBot, Hedican works to help kids by providing youth team coaches a tool for team management – to help keep great coaches working with kids. “I’m passionate about team,” Hedican said. “The life lessons of camaraderie, teamwork, friendship, trust, accountability, failure and success. These tools you learn in sports, you can’t replace.”
RosterBot (RosterBot.com) is Hedican’s primary entrepreneurial venture which he is involved in with several partners. RosterBot is a powerful and effective team management tool, using a smartphone app platform to provide functions such as event scheduling, notifications, RSVPs, general communications, Google mapping, team payment services and other team administrative tasks.
“My daughter’s soccer coach is amazing.” Hedican said, “but a couple years ago that soccer coach had quit because he didn’t (have time) to deal with the organizational elements required to coach the team. RosterBot can make a difference in kids’ lives. That’s what I love about team building and helping kids.”
He approaches his marketing and business growth work with RosterBot from the perspective of making administrative tasks of the coaches and adults working with kids easier so they can focus their efforts on positively impacting and mentoring youth in their charge.
RosterBot was founded in 2008 and has progressively grown since then in technology and users. Its headquarters are in Vancouver, and also has offices in the high-tech area of Oakland, Calif., where Hedican works. Recently, Hedican and his business partner, Ian Bell, appeared on the television show “Dragon’s Den” (Canada’s version of “Shark Tank”); four of the five investors on the show invested in RosterBot.
Yamaguchi also has a foundation and a business, which together Hedican works with and supports. Yamaguchi’s Always Dream Foundation and her apparel business (TSUYABrand.com) both help to positively impact children, with a goal of and developing childhood literacy. The Always Dream Foundation works to ensure childhood literacy by the pivotal third grade level.
The foundation started working with one school in the San Francisco Bay area, and has now expanded to working with 16 schools in California, Arizona and Hawaii. The foundation works to provide low income families and students with books, technologies and reading tools.
TSUYABrand.com is Yamaguchi’s clothing line and apparel brand. Hedican explained that its business model includes giving a portion of all sales back to the Always Dream Foundation. “Its product with purpose,” Hedican said.
On multi-sport athletes and hockey today
Given Hedican’s commitment to his own children, his positive efforts to impact children through his business and foundation work together with his wife, and his own background as a multi-sport high school athlete, he was asked to comment on his philosophies for developing youth athletes today. Hedican discussed the phenomenon currently observed within many youth hockey players’ lives – a year-round focus on on-ice hockey training.
“In running, your foot makes contact with the ground, your hamstring pulls and your quad muscles push. In hockey, you skate on an thin steel blade on ice. Your hamstring is disengaged because there is no friction. You rely on your quads- and glute- muscles. Why would you want your kid to play one sport year-round that disengages your hamstring? I will make sure my kids will always be three-sport athletes.”
To the question, “If there was one thing you wanted to change in hockey today, what would it be?” Hedican took pause before answering. “I hate the hitting from behind. It’s a dangerous play. A look-up line. If we can save one kid from a (catastrophic) injury, then we will have succeeded. When you are on the warning track, to look up, to prevent injury. Perhaps more kids would play, parents would let more kids play hockey.”
Hockey is a great sport, with exemplary persons and leaders like Bret Hedican in the game. In hockey, conversations can begin 15 to 20 years ago and be picked up again. Like a break in a practice drill with a conversation by the boards, it was great to speak with Bret again during a break in his day. Clearly, he is making a difference and creating positive impacts upon the lives of many children and persons through his work and shared efforts with his wife.
During a 22-year coaching career, John Hamre has coached PeeWee, Bantam, high school, NCAA Division I, Junior A and minor professional hockey. He was the video coach for the 1994 USA Men’s Olympic Team, coached within the USA Hockey NTDP, and at many USA Hockey festivals. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
