Last Updated on Thursday, 11 July 2013 11:27
By Kevin Hartzell
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
I am so excited to be heading to Norway to coach this year. I have been retained to coach in Norway’s top professional league, the GET Liagen. I will be with Lillehammer IK (IK=Ice hockey Klubb). It will be the first team I have ever been associated with that doesn’t have a team nickname.
Lillehammer is a town of less than 30,000 people. Lillehammer was host of the 1996 Winter Olympics. It is a winter sports mecca and a great small city. All the teams in the league are from Norway, so the travel is pretty minor as compared to what I am accustomed to. League play includes 45 regular season games, also less than what I am accustomed to.
I consulted with a number of fellow former Gophers who have played there. Former Gophers like Gino Guyer, Justin Bostrom and Kevin Wehrs all played in Lillehammer. They all told me they loved it and would recommend it 100 percent. Another former Gopher, Cory Laylin, was instrumental in recommending me for the job. Cory has coached overseas for a number of years and gets a number of calls when searches for coaches and players begin. Cory was first to recommend me and things worked out.
When I was first contacted, it was the one opportunity that got me excited. I have done the junior hockey thing long enough. While I have loved every minute of junior hockey, I think I took a good shift and now it’s time to move on from that. I have thought for some time that the best place for me was in professional hockey, either the AHL where young prospects have much to learn about becoming NHLers, or a league in Europe where again players want to excel and continue to move up in leagues.
In choosing Norway, I found attractive that there will be a great level of play, maybe a notch below the AHL or the top leagues in Russia, Sweden and Germany/Switzerland, but still a very good league. It is my first crack at professional hockey which I also find exciting.
Each team in the Get Liagen can have seven imports. When I signed recently, five of the seven had already been signed. I was able to influence the last couple of picks. I was really interested in a former captain of mine, Nick Dineen. We were able to sign him. Nick was a captain for us in Sioux Falls, a captain at Colorado College and last year was the leading scorer for his professional team in Finland’s second league. Lillehammer will provide a nice step up for him and I know Nick will provide us leadership and a player who consistently brings grit and determination to all aspects of the game. Nick is a winner who can play in every situation. I am very excited to be able to get him.
I was also hoping to get former Stampede player Robbie Vrolyk. Robbie has completed his career at Northeastern. Robbie might be the fastest player I have ever coached. It didn’t work out but will be looking to him in the future.
We were able to get three other Minnesota kids. Before I came on board, the team’s GM was able to sign goaltender Joe Fallon, a native of Bemidji. Joe played in the USHL before having an outstanding four-year collegiate career at Vermont. Joe has spent the past handful of years going between the AHL and ECHL. Everywhere he has gone, he has put up good numbers. Having a solid vet in goal like Joe will be a nice anchor for us.
Matt Case was also signed before I came on board. Matt is a native of Plymouth who played in both the NAHL (Alaska) and USHL (Green Bay). Matt had an outstanding four-year career at Ferris State and last year put up very nice numbers for a D-man in the ECHL.
Lastly we were able to acquire Ben Arnt of North St. Paul who has just finished a fine four-year career at Quinnipiac. Ben had back-to-back years for the USHL’s Omaha Lancers in which he scored over 20 goals, not easy to do in that league. I coached against him for three years and of course I watched him many times this past year at Quinnipiac and feel he is an underrated player. Like Nick Dineen, he has good dimension to his game, can play in many situations and I believed and it was often confirmed by my son Eric, who faced him daily in practice, that Ben is an excellent shooter. Ben will bring a lot to the Lillehammer team.
One of the better goalies in college hockey these past couple of years in my opinion has been Brady Hjelle of International Falls (Ohio State). He has also signed to play in the league; good for him but not so good for the rest of us who have to face him. I think very highly of Brady and look forward to the competition with him.
The journey starts August 1 with a flight to Oslo and a train to Lillehammer some two-plus hours away. I very much look forward to sharing with you our experiences about the hockey in the GET Liagan, the youth hockey development models, as well as life and the culture in Norway. It is a new and exciting journey for MaryBeth and I.
As I have been saying to many friends, Skol Vikings!
