Last Updated on Thursday, 04 December 2014 10:02
Longtime strength and conditioning coach Kevin Ziegler teaches lessons beyond the physical
By Kevin Hartzell
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
This holiday season I want to talk about one of the finest hockey people I have ever known. He is also one of the finest people I have ever known. Kevin Ziegler played college football at Iowa State. He studied and trained to serve others in the service of personal well-being physically. Kevin also knew the weight room well. Back in the day, he along with a couple of partners, started a weight training facility – Youth Pro Training in Bloomington.
Their clientele back then included some of the Minnesota Twins baseball players during the winter months, and other athletes in the summer months. One of his first summer clients was a hockey player – Shjon Podein. Shjon’s love of work and life made a lasting impression on Kevin and further injected Kevin into the world of hockey.
Z has gone on to do great things in hockey. He has coached in some capacity for five different NHL teams. He continues to train many NHL players in the summer months for Octagon Sports and for other NHL players who want to take advantage of his expertise. There may be someone out there who trains and advises more NHL players today, but I don’t know who that someone is.
Back when Kevin was coaching with the Phoenix Coyotes, both his parents died in a pretty close time frame to one another. This was particularly hard on Kevin as he is an only child. His father had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was going to need some care. This weighed on Kevin as he was working in Phoenix and his father was back up in the Twin Cities. As fate would have it, it was his mother who unexpectedly died first. Tragic! Then as dad was getting towards the end of his life, he encouraged his son to pursue his dreams and not let others define what those dreams may be. Kevin had always dreamed of being a part of a family of brothers via the fire department. His new family became the Minneapolis Fire Department. He is still a part of that family today.
So Kevin retired from hockey to join his new fire department family … but not so fast. Octagon was in his future and it was there that Kevin inherited another family … a large family of current and future professional hockey players. As most firemen work 24-hour shifts, it also leaves a lot of days with other opportunities. Kevin had always enjoyed his training facilities and with Octagon, he had a large stable of elite players to look after. And he still does that today, too!
As players left his training facility for their winter teams, Z would remain in service to them but had more time on his hands. That left him with enough time in the winter to adopt a team. When I went to Sioux Falls, I had the good fortune of being the organization he was willing to adopt. And in Sioux Falls I had the pleasure to witness first-hand the effect a great coach can have on a team.
First of all, his enthusiasm is contagious. To see an individual work tirelessly and selflessly for his players as Kevin does motivates everyone around him to work harder. He demanded a smile in every situation and especially in the weight room. He would say, “They don’t buy tickets to watch you lift, so you better have fun in here!” Most importantly, he would say privately with his USHL staff, this man who had worked with NHL teams, “It doesn’t matter what I know or what we know, it matters what they learn.” Perfectly said.
I think we were successful in our pursuit of being a premier developmental program and I cannot point to a bigger factor in our success than Kevin. Our players learned lessons beyond the physical. There were lessons on how to behave like a pro. We wanted our players to leave our program knowing how to walk and talk and train and play. He was our greatest influencer in a program that I believe – when looking at our results of future NHL players, future NCAA players and NCAA captains as a measure – no one did it better.
He knows I am writing this and I don’t think he is happy about the attention. That said, I asked him to give the Let’s Play Hockey readership some advice. What does he think our young players ought to be thinking about?
That seemed an easy answer for him. “First and most important,’” he said, “players need to know their why. Why do they play? What motivates them? If they don’t know their why, they will experience a lot of difficulties when the going gets tough … and it usually does.
“Players need to have fun and work hard. Whatever level you get to really doesn’t matter … I know everyone thinks it does, but it doesn’t. What matters is how hard you work and how much fun you have while you work … then you’ll likely get to the level your talents so allow and be happy about it.”
I think that is 100 percent right on the money.
Kevin often talks about supportive parents that understand that in the end, it is all about the journey. It is all about work and enjoying the journey, helping to make their young players life more successful. After all, happiness is being happy with what you have in your life. That’s enjoying the journey. Too often, however, people around the player ruin the experience on a number of levels. Too involved, too much doing for the young player, too much complaining – we all know the issues. Play, work, have fun and see where it all leads. That is the love of life.
I asked Kevin also what he sees when he watches today’s NHL. He shared some wisdom again.
“I see tremendous size and skill. But what remains the same in the NHL and every level of play is still the most important: The teams that win are the teams that are willing to come together as a team.”
Of course that comes with an unselfish view of team, something Kevin epitomizes.
When Kevin greets his friends and professional acquaintances, there seems to be no one happier in the world than Kevin himself. And in all the time I have known him, this quality has never changed. He loves life, he loves his friends and he loves helping others. He lives the very words he shares with others.
If I was starting a team tomorrow, Kevin would be the first person I would call to join the team … no question! His expertise in his field is at the very top of the game. More importantly however, he never stops trying to learn himself. He listens. He supports. And in the end, he lives by the very mantras he exposes to others: Work hard, be willing to learn, love life and smile!
Kevin Hartzell was most recently the head coach of Lillehammer in Norway’s GET-Ligaen. A St. Paul native and forward for the University of Minnesota from 1978-82, Hartzell coached in the USHL from 1983-89 with the St. Paul Vulcans and from 2005-12 with the Sioux Falls Stampede. His columns have appeared in Let’s Play Hockey since the late 1980s. His new book “Leading From the Ice” is now available at amazon.com.
