Jeff LoVecchio (with wife, Amy), Nick Dineen and Phil Paquet
Last Updated on Friday, 03 January 2014 12:06
By Kevin Hartzell
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
A year ago, I was happy to sit out a season of hockey. My wife, Marybeth, and I were able to travel, see friends and watch our sons compete in hockey and golf. Then as last summer approached, a number of coaching jobs came up. I interviewed for a couple but to be honest, the only one that really excited me was here in Lillehammer. It has been a great decision to come here on a number of levels.
The same type of decision was made by some of the players that are here as well. As a service to some of our young aspiring players in our region, I thought it would be interesting to hear from some of the players that are here in Lillehammer. What have been their career paths? What are other leagues and countries like? Why did they make the decision to be here in the land of the Norske? I think we can learn something from the following three, all of which played college/university hockey in the United States.
First up, Jeff LoVecchio. Jeff has had the most hockey experience at the most levels of the three. Jeff is a native of St. Louis. He played his junior hockey for the Omaha Lancers before moving on to Western Michigan University. After three years in college, Jeff signed with the Boston Bruins where he spent most of his time with their AHL team, the Providence Bruins. There he met his wife, Amy. After 160-plus AHL games and some in the ECHL as well and after a few injuries mixed in there, he made a decision to try Europe.
“I thought that with the injuries I had and the reputation for Europe being less physical hockey with less games, my career and money earning power would be extended,” he said referring to his rationale for trying Europe.
After several years of U.S.-based minor league hockey, Jeff and his new wife trekked off to Alleghe, Italy. There he found a small town that loved their hockey team. “Fans cheered various chants the whole game,” he said. The game was a bit more physical than he thought it would be, but all in all, very good. As his good play was recognized, he was sought out by Lillehammer in the Get Ligaen, the top league in Norway. Here the money was even better and certainly better than he could find back in the States in the ECHL.
When asked to compare all the leagues, Jeff said, “The AHL is fast with tight defensive play. There everyone is learning to be a great pro. It is very professional. The ECHL is tougher than most people think. You can have call-ups and can be left with only eight forwards for a particular game. It is not easy. Italy was awesome. The off-ice was awesome, too. Great food and things were inexpensive. Here in Norway, teams have solid structure, the games are very professional and life off the ice is great also.”
When our team has a few days off, Jeff and his wife Amy have traveled to Prague and Oslo. It is a nice lifestyle on top of the well-run league.
For Phil Paquet, he always wanted to give Europe a try. Phil is a native of Quebec and played his college hockey in the ECAC at Clarkson. Phil had spent a couple of years in the ECHL before heading to Europe. His first two seasons were mainly in Denmark with a short stint in Austria. To live just outside of the great city of Copenhagen, with good pay and the ability to travel throughout Europe, well, it is a life experience that goes beyond hockey. He said that Denmark is “beautiful.” He has also been to Austria, Paris and of course now throughout much of Norway.
Phil’s good offensive skills combined with a rugged style, make him a valuable commodity in the GET Ligaen. “I think here in Norway, defensemen are pretty good on the offensive side, but not quite so solid on the D side, so there is lots of scoring,” he told me. I agree and this is one reason we have such a solid team. Guys like Phil, Minnesota’s Matt Case and Norwegian stand-out Villiam Strom are all solid defenders with good size. He also thought that it was “more wide open in Denmark and Austria with more defined systems in Norway.” He also made another interesting point: “In each league it takes time for a player to figure out what you can do within the game, what the refs will call and won’t call and so on. Each league is always an adjustment.”
Nick Dineen is a native of Omaha. He played his junior hockey in Sioux Falls (USHL) and then four years at Colorado College. Nick played his first year of pro in Kouvola, Finland last year. The team’s name was Koo Koo; sounds like CoCo. They play in Finland’s second division. Because he did not have a solid AHL offer coming out of college, he thought Finland was a good starting point for his pro career and maybe a stepping stone to Finland’s first division and then the AHL. When I got the job here in Lillehammer, I knew I wanted Nick and am happy that he is here with us in Norway’s top professional league.
He told me, “First of all when you get to Europe, it is a life adjustment. My town of Kouvola is a small town, near Russia. It is a little dark in the winter. The people were quiet and shy but our fans were great. They chanted throughout the whole game.” He said the hockey was less physical with a real emphasis on making plays … even if there weren’t plays to make.
He also told me there is more structure to the teams in Norway and better balance here to the teams. “In Norway,” he said, “there are 7-8 teams that can really beat each other on a given night, in Finland; it was maybe only 3-4 teams that could.”
All the boys rate the life experience, the ability to travel as great reasons that any young elite player should consider Europe. On top of it all, the money is solid as compared to the pro teams back at home, especially as compared to the ECHL or CHL.
For players interested in trying such a career path after college, it helps to have an agent familiar with the European hockey scene. These agents have good relationships with the various teams and if good at what they do, find the right players for the right teams and leagues. It is an experience that goes beyond hockey. It is a life experience and a learning experience. To live in another country with different norms and languages is part of an education that is hard to obtain back at home.
Kevin Hartzell is 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 1983-84 with the St. Paul Vulcans and from 2005-12 with the Sioux Falls Stampede. His column have appeared in Let’s Play Hockey since the late 1980s.
