Matt Lindblad, Eric Hartzell, Kyle Rau, Andreas Nodl, Jack Connolly and Dan Sexton are just a handful of the players who have made an impact on long-time coach Kevin Hartzell.
Last Updated on Thursday, 19 December 2013 11:30
By Kevin Hartzell
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
Being in Norway has given me time to reflect on occasion. I cannot be anything but grateful to have had the life I have had. Being a part of hockey teams as both a player and coach is one of the true joys I have had in my life. As the Christmas season approaches, I have spent some time reminiscing on the great coaches I have had, including Doug Woog and Herb Brooks. I have also been fortunate to work with some great coaches in Jerry Griffith, Paul Ostby, Kevin Ziegler, Andy Jones, Doug Schueller and Zach Sikich, to name a few.
Mostly I have thought about the great joy I have had as a coach and being a small part of the development of some young lads who I have had the privilege of mentoring. This got me to thinking of some of the highlights of working with some great young men.
One thing I have known for a long time is that in no case have I ever made a player. At my best, I simply helped bring out the God-given talents of the young people entrusted to me. In many cases, they brought out the best in me. Here are a few career highlights for me of some of the great young men I have had the great fortune to cross paths with.
Jay Cates – Folks in Stillwater may know Jay as a premium home builder. I first knew Jay as a very good hockey player, but a bit of an unguided soul. Jay came to the St. Paul Vulcans as a bored wintertime youth. He worked for his father in the summers as a carpenter in a higher-end family home construction company. Winters didn’t have the same work load, so hockey filled his time nicely.
His second year of junior hockey as a St. Paul Vulcan was my first year as a young head coach in junior hockey. I quickly came to realize he was our best player. When I told him how good he was, he seemed to not even understand it. He was as humble as they come. I looked at his high school grades. They were not good. He told me he was an unmotivated high school student as he already had a job and a career building houses. I asked him why he was playing for the Vulcans and he basically told me it was something to do in the winters when there wasn’t so much work to do with the family business. I asked him why he didn’t aspire to play college hockey and take his education to a level where he could better serve the family with great business knowledge … beyond being a carpenter.
To make a long story short, the more we talked, the more I sensed Jay was finding a new direction. Jay became a solid B student in college, became a captain of the Gopher hockey team and played a little pro hockey, too. As his Gopher coach Doug Woog once told me, “Jay is so good … the problem with coaching him is you just play him too much.” Yes, I know. He was a league MVP for us and led us to a USHL championship. I am proud of Jay. All I did was reaffirm who he was and maybe plant a seed for a future he might aspire for. He did all the rest!
Jake Bauer – Jake is from the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities. He left high school a year early to join our team that was going to be huge success in my first year in Sioux Falls. Eventually Jake was the first of a number of Stampede players to head east to attend Quinnipiac. Jake’s career was cut short due to a severe concussion.
The first year Jake played for us was an incredible experience for us all. We posted the league’s best record with some of the best leadership from young people I have ever been part of.
In Jake’s second year, we were able to win the Clark Cup, the playoff championship. In one of our early-season player meetings, we asked our players to answer several questions. One of them was, “How can the coaches better utilize your talents?” Jake’s answer to this question was something close to,“I think I could help a bit more on the power play with my passing and shot, but I will do anything you want me to do if it means giving my teammates the same great experience the guys helped me have last year.” He meant every word of it. Jake is the kind of young man that makes you want to keep coaching.
Matt Lindblad – Matt might be the best all-around forward I coached in Sioux Falls. Matt is from Chicago. Matt could do it all. He could skate, pass, shoot and had a great physique. I tell people that overall he might be a better player than Jack Connolly who won the Hobey Baker. Matt signed with the Boston Bruins last spring after his junior year at Dartmouth. Oh, did I mention he is smart, too?
Matt had only one issue. He was humble; sometimes too humble. I thought he needed to want to be more dominant and allow the spotlight to shine on him. I don’t think he wanted that spotlight to be shining on just him. Sometimes a good player has to allow for that.
One game halfway through the season against Tri-City, I gave a little more criticism to Matt than he might have been accustomed to. Jaden Schwartz, Tri-City’s star player, had out-played our team, almost singlehandedly tying the game late and then winning it in overtime. As I walked out of a dejected Stampede locker room, I looked at Matt and asked forcefully, “And where were you tonight? I saw Jaden Schwartz plenty.” Matt followed me out of the locker room as upset as I remember seeing him. He said he didn’t appreciate me calling him out in front of his teammates. I told him that once he wanted to dominate games like Schwartz, he would become a real player.
I really believe from that point on, the only better player in the whole USHL might have been Schwartz who later became a first round draft pick. Matt is a great young man, great player, intelligent and even good looking. Matt will do whatever he wants to do with his life. Note to Boston: Just remind this kid how good he is.
Kyle Rau – We (Sioux Falls) courted Kyle Rau after his high school junior year at Eden Prairie. We thought jumping to juniors could help his development. Kyle had an older brother who had made such a jump. We brought Kyle in to practice with us after his season so he could get a feel for how things might go. We asked him to commit before the USHL May draft so we could draft accordingly. He said he couldn’t make the commitment to play juniors and that he wanted to remain in high school.
Over the summer, we kept in touch. There was pressure put on me by one of our owners who felt strongly Kyle should join our team for both Kyle’s benefit and ours. The issue didn’t go away for Kyle either. People on both sides of the fence kept on Kyle. “You should go. You should stay. Your high school experience, your senior year with your friends and a possible Mr. Hockey award are once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Your development will accelerate in juniors.” The poor kid was told what everyone else wanted for him or thought was best for him. I was told we needed Kyle Rau.
Through it all, and I hope Kyle would agree with this, our relationship was good. I told him whatever he chose to do it had to be what “he” wanted. The pressure mounted on Kyle. Just before the high school season was to start, an announcement was made – he was coming to Sioux Falls. I was as shocked as anyone. I never believed he wanted to leave high school. Someone from somewhere – I think from within the University of Minnesota hockey program – convinced him (though I could be wrong on that). I know it wasn’t me as I never thought Sioux Falls and junior hockey was where he wanted to be.
Not a day or two later, we had a great talk. He told me, “I can’t come after all. It is really important to me to finish this high school journey with my high school teammates.” He thanked me for my understanding through it all. Kyle became Mr. Hockey. He led his team to a state championship and still joined us and played 15 regular season games and was a good player for us in a very good playoff run. My one owner told me I had failed. He said in essence I didn’t or couldn’t recruit. He actually said it “pissed him off” the lack of various things I had done and not done to get Kyle in to Sioux Falls. He was wrong. Never once throughout the process did Kyle say to me that he wanted to play juniors instead of high school. Getting someone to do something they don’t want to do (and I don’t mean something like cleaning their room or mowing the lawn) is not good for anyone.
Kyle was true to what was important to him. In spite of a lot of pressures, he remained true to his own convictions. I respect him for that. I really like that young man. He is a leader and knew what was important to him and followed his own compass. I think I supported him as I should have and needed to even though some in my own organization were critical of me. I believe he is one of the reasons Gopher hockey has rebounded the past couple of years.
Eric Hartzell – I have learned a lot from my son. Oh, don’t get me wrong, he is far from perfect and even a real pain in the back-side at times. Oh to be a parent. But when I went to him during his high school days and shared with him my view, “You have said for years your goal is to play in the NHL. If this is true, you have to leave high school early,” I believed strongly that this was right for him for a number of reasons, mostly that White Bear Lake was too strong a program. The goaltender was unimportant in most games and there really weren’t many games to begin with.
Unlike the story of Kyle Rau, Eric’s goals were not a high school championship or just staying home to enjoy the prom and all that a senior year in high school has to offer. With no more prodding, Eric was gone. Eric has always had a “what do I need to do” attitude with regard to getting to the NHL. Eric wants to be the best goalie in the world and isn’t afraid to articulate this goal! Eric played his senior year of high school in Dallas with the Dallas Stars Midget team and benefited from a solid goalie coach in Cam McDonald. Two years of juniors and four years of college at Quinnipiac and in 2013 Eric was a First Team All-American and USA Hockey’s American-Born College Player of the Year. Quite an honor!
Eric never stops showing me his true spirit and love for the game and attaining his goals. Just this year, after a very good start in the preseason – a no goals-against period in his only NHL exhibition appearance and almost a .920 save percentage in AHL exhibition – he pulled a muscle and missed the first 10 days of the season. Upon his recovery, he was sent from the AHL to the ECHL to get some of his first professional games in. He never thought he would be in the ECHL and in his first game there he gave up five goals. While this start was a small shock to his system, in his next four ECHL starts he stopped an impressive 94 percent of his shots and was called back to the AHL where he has played well thus far.
None of that surprises me. Eric is resilient. What did surprise me was this: About a week into his ECHL experience, we Skyped and I figured he might need to have his spirits supported by mom and dad. When we asked him how his ECHL experience was going, Eric said, “I love it.” I was more than surprised. He loves it? Did I just hear that right? He went on to tell mom and dad how much he enjoyed his coaches, how many new friends he was making on the team, how good the guys were off the ice and even went to lengths to tell us how great the sleeper bus was that they were traveling about in. Now he didn’t say the hockey itself was great and one can understand that as he had practiced at length with the NHL’s Penguins and started the year in the AHL. That said, he was doing what it is he has always wanted to do. It was part of the journey to the NHL and becoming the best goaltender in the world. His performance since that first game and the five goals against has been pretty good. He is on a mission.
Marcus Perrier – Marcus showed up at the Sioux Falls tryout at Ridder Arena from Thunder Bay. I cannot remember how we found him or how he found us. I was intrigued with him in tryouts. I found his dad, Ken, outside of Ridder Arena and asked him this simple question. If you son makes our team, how long do you see him playing junior hockey. Ken’s answer, “Well, as long as he can!” I think Ken was perplexed by my question. What a refreshing answer, I remember thinking.
With all due respect to most Minnesota kids and their parents, their answers to this same question would be more like, “Only as long as I have to … hopefully no more than a year.”
A Canadian kid looks up to junior hockey. It is what they want to do and they are in it for the long haul. Marcus played three years for us. I suspect he would have played four if we would have let him. He was one of the best teammates we ever had in Sioux Falls and one of the most popular players there ever. Marcus is currently playing hockey and getting his education at Bowling Green.
Andreas Nödl – In his first season of junior hockey in Sioux Falls, Nödl, an Austrian didn’t do much. Sixteen points and a minus-18. I got the Sioux Falls job and first saw Andy at the Sioux Falls tryout leading to his second year. I had a scouting report on Andy from the team’s previous director of player personnel. The report said that there was no future in Sioux Falls for Andy. After the first couple days of tryouts, I thought the same thing. Then a funny thing happened. I called all the teams returning players into a single room and told them their performance thus far in the June tryout camp was unacceptable. There seemed to be an attitude of “entitlement.” How could there be such an attitude with a bunch that didn’t even make the playoffs the previous year?
For whatever reason, Andy was good the rest of the tryout. In our exit interview I told him he was invited back to start the year but would start at the bottom and have to work his way up. I was tough on him. What he had done thus far in his junior career was not near good enough and he needed a change of attitude for the better.
Later, I talked with his housing family who spoke with Andy before he got on the plane and went back to Austria for the summer. They told me Andy was grateful for the talk and excited to come back. I said, “Grateful and excited? I chewed him out; if he is grateful for that, maybe he’s got a chance.” He came back and led our team in scoring. After a two-year career at St. Cloud State, Andy has since played the better part of four seasons in the NHL. I wasn’t ever sure he would be successful at the NHL level, but he sure was good for us.
Stu Bickel – Stu’s first go with a USHL team ended with him being sent to Owatanna in the NAHL. There he was converted to defense from forward. He was played by his juniors teams like a fighter first and a player second. That said, we liked what we saw out of him as a D-man. He was turning 20 and was having serious thoughts of just moving on with his life. When I called him, I recall this tough-minded young man saying, “I don’t want to be just a fighter.” I said, “Great. We want you to be a great D-man.”
He did fight when needed, but it wasn’t often. I turned Andy Jones on him. Andy is a great D coach, a great coach period. Stu helped us win a USHL championship and ended up playing multiple seasons with the New York Rangers. Like Perrier, Stu was the consummate teammate and when he did fight, it was never for himself but for the team or a teammate.
Jack Connolly – To know Jack Connolly is to love him; a great spirit for life and hockey. He’s typical of northern Minnesota kids in lots of ways. Kids like Drew Fisher from International Falls and Jack from Duluth bring that northern Minnesota spirit; a special enthusiasm and appreciation for the game of hockey that seems to me to be part of our northern Minnesota hockey heritage.
Jack was a treat to watch. All I ever said to him was that I wasn’t going to try and make him a defensive forward, but I needed to get him to the right position on defense and in the defensive zone. I told Jack if he was just standing in the right spot, he would compete for pucks and help us get the puck back so he could do what he loves to do: score goals and set up teammates for goals. His enthusiasm for the game was contagious. Jack was a wonderful player who eventually won the Hobey Baker. He and my son Eric were on the same team and together they won Best American-Born College Players in back-to-back years. Cool beans!
Nick Dineen – I had the privilege to coach Nick for three years in Sioux Falls. After a four-year career at Colorado College and a year of pro hockey in Finland, Nick and I are again together here in Lillehammer. Nick had a labrum tear in his shoulder in his last season with us in Sioux Falls. The shoulder began to pop out just by taking a faceoff. Docs told him that it wouldn’t get worse, but if he didn’t opt for immediate surgery and forgo our playoff run, he would miss the beginning of his career at Colorado College. Season over, or so we thought. After thinking about it, Nick came back and said, “How can I give up on the team that has been my home for the past three years? I’m playing! CC will have to wait an extra month for me to be ready next year.” Not many U.S. kids would do that. Integrity!
Steve Woog – Son of Gopher coach Doug Woog, Steve wanted to play for our Vulcan team but wasn’t going to leave high school early to do so. I wasn’t for allowing players to play for us in a before/after their high school type situation. We decided to try it with Steve. We waited for his South St. Paul season to end and as planned he joined our team – and was doing well. I got a call during this time from his dad who I suspect was getting a lot of pressure to support the new Maroon/Gold High School All-Star series. Part of that pressure was having his own son play in it. Coach Woog wanted me to allow Steve to again leave our Vulcan team and join the Maroon/Gold Series. I said I would cooperate in the name of hockey in Minnesota. Steve found out about his dad’s call and came into my office and told me in no uncertain terms that his father would be making no such decision on his behalf. Steve knew of my original reluctance to accommodate him in this before/after experiment. He also knew that we had held a roster spot for him. Thus, he was intending to honor his commitment. He told me in no uncertain terms he would NOT be leaving our team for the Maroon and Gold Series. Like Nick Dineen, integrity plus!
Dan Sexton – Danny was cut from a couple of USHL teams. The same owner who pressured me to bring in Kyle Rau questioned me on having Sexton on the team. The owner wasn’t totally wrong. Danny had been cut a couple of times by other teams and wasn’t doing much for us early on. That said, we knew we had a player with good skills and maybe most importantly, he had very good hockey sense. Somewhere near Christmas time, Danny caught fire. For half a year, he couldn’t have played better or scored bigger goals at bigger moments in leading us to the Clark Cup Championship. While our goaltender Matt Lundin won the playoff MVP and was deserving of the award, Danny may have been our MVP of the entire second half of the season. After two years at Bowling Green, Dan had a nice run with Anaheim, all in an undersized body frame. The kid never quit!
Kyle Okposo – I have to mention a lad I didn’t coach from my hometown of St. Paul. Our Sioux Falls team had to face his Des Moines team in the finals of the USHL Clark Cup finals. Kyle is such an honest player. In meeting his dad on a couple of occasions, I came to suspect the whole family is awesome and equally honest. His honest, hard-working approach never waned during his season or during our playoff series. I admired his work ethic and what I would call his hockey integrity – his honest play. He seemed to be on the ice every other shift. I figured he might tire as the playoff series went along. He never did. He won the play-off MVP award and he deserved it. I am a big fan of the Islanders just because of him. He showed me what an impact an individual can have on a team effort.
I could on and on with many more young men but I have to end somewhere but cannot end without talking about the following two.
Nate Prosser and Ben Holmstrom – For me I cannot talk about one without the other. Nate is currently a defenseman with the Minnesota Wild and Benny a forward, has been up and down with the Philadelphia Flyers and their minor league affiliate for the past several years. At one point Benny was the youngest captain in the AHL. I am not surprised. Nate is from Elk River, Minn., and Benny is from Colorado Springs.
These two through hockey found themselves on the same Sioux Falls Stampede roster. They impacted me greatly. Together and with an uncommon team of individuals, they provided our Sioux Falls team with the best leadership I have ever experienced. My gratefulness to them is not based solely on what they did for their team or the integrity they permeated our organization with, but it is that they have motivated me to make leadership development the next of my life’s missions. I am about done with a book on leadership and have begun putting on leadership clinics that I absolutely find to be the best experiences in my world of coaching and mentorship.
I have a whole chapter in my book about Nate, Benny and that particular Stampede hockey team. It is a team that both Nate and Benny told me as I prepared to write the book, that is also their favorite team of their respective careers. Coaching Nate and Benny made me want to nurture leadership and not take it for granted. I think most organizations are either lucky to have it or not. Leadership is often left to chance or at least to the one or two leaders that happen to be in the room. With Nate and Benny I was lucky! From that point on with Nate and Benny, I made it my mission to nurture leadership within our teams. Over time, our Sioux Falls franchise was the link to more collegiate captains than any other organization by a multiple of three to four times.
I will make it my life’s mission to help teach and nurture leadership. Our American industry needs it, our marriages need it, our political culture needs it and of course, hockey not only needs it, but is a great training ground for it. Nate and Benny are part of my motivation. You can read all about it in the book.
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.
