Kurt Davis (Plymouth, Minn.) is in his second season with the Stavanger (Norway) Oilers.
Last Updated on Thursday, 03 October 2013 12:00
By Kevin Hartzell
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
Kurt Davis grew up in Plymouth in a hockey family. His father was a many-year high school coach in the state of Minnesota. For such a great hockey upbringing and background in hockey, Kurt felt he had almost never had the success in hockey many dream of – winning at a higher level of hockey. His journey to play on a winning team led him to Stavanger, Norway.
Kurt, after a solid high school career, did what many elite players do in Minnesota – he headed off to the USHL. After a very brief stint in Waterloo, Kurt played the better part of two seasons with the Green Bay Gamblers. Like most USHL teams, there were a number of wins and successes along the way, but Kurt did not consider either year to be “winning” seasons.
After his two-year stint in the USHL, Kurt joined the newer Division 1 program in Minnesota State. The program was in its relative infancy at the D-1 level and winning games didn’t come easy. Building a new program takes time. Kurt’s time at Minnesota State saw more losing than winning but it allowed him to play a lot and for his game to develop. I recall watching him play a college game and thinking that he had taken his game to a new level.
After college, he headed off to Sweden to play for Allsvenskan. His year in Allsvenskan was good for him but resulted in another season of what he would describe as “another season of not winning.” After his Swedish season was over, Stavanger of the Norwegian GET Liagen called looking to upgrade their team with an offensive defenseman. Kurt was their guy.
Stavanger is the third largest city in Norway. It is located on the west coast of Norway, looking out west to the North Sea/Norwegian Sea. It is about 60 degrees northern latitude, about the same latitude of Anchorage, Alaska and the northern reaches of Alberta and Manitoba. Stavanger is an oil rich city in an oil rich country. In recent years, Norway has been rated as high as the second leading oil exporter in the world. Stavanger is the hub of this oil activity with many worldwide oil companies having offices there. Stavanger is also a major port for cruise ships which explore the incredibly beautiful Norwegian fjords. Needless to say, Stavanger is an affluent and progressive city.
A couple of years back, the city of Stavanger wanted to upgrade their hockey franchise and resulting entertainment opportunity, and built the team and city a brand new state-of-the-art hockey arena. The naming rights went to the biggest national bank, DNB. There are luxury boxes and a fine dining buffet upstairs, stocked full with adult beverages and all the niceties we have come to expect in America. There are large scoreboards and video replay.
DNB Arena is the new home of the Norwegian GET Liagen’s Stavanger Oilers.
I caught up with Kurt in the lobby of his new team’s home, DNB Arena. It was a couple of hours before game time. Our Lillehammer team was in town to take on his Oilers. We had not defeated the Oilers in their great city for a long time. I think the streak was 10 games or close to that number. Kurt was dressed in a classy sport suit worn by all team members as they entered the arena. We talked for about 10 minutes in their beautiful arena front lobby.
“This franchise has delivered everything they said they would when I was considering coming here,” Kurt said. “It is operated with class in every part of their organization. We have everything you would want and need to be successful.”
When I asked Kurt what brought him to Stavanger, he said it was the “opportunity to play on a winning team.” And in that regard the franchise has delivered, and Kurt has done his part to help them continue their winning ways. Kurt is their main quarterback D-man on the power play. Last year he played in all 45 regular season games, recording seven goals and 27 assists for 34 points, and was a plus-30 in helping the franchise to their second consecutive Get Liagen Championship. Stavanger is also the favorite to win the league championship again this year, though we all know a three-peat is not often accomplished.
Kurt told me he was a little nervous at first joining a team that had just won a championship. “I wondered how I would fit into an already successful organization,” Kurt said, “But with the stability of the franchise and low turnover of players, all I had to do was come in and play my game. Winning is a lot of fun and it sure seems to make any issues you do have seem pretty small.”
The opportunity to play in a great city, with a new arena and franchise that is doing everything right is working out great for Kurt. His path to being a part of a winner has been a long and winding one, but seems to have been well worth the wait. Kurt smiles when he talks and you can sense a genuine happiness with where he is at. It was very nice to see a young man who seems truly happy.
This night in Stavanger, our Lillehammer team would end a long drought of losing in Stavanger. We left with a 2-1 overtime victory, a big win for us. In the loss, Kurt would have their lone goal and continue to log important minutes for his team and captain the power play. Kurt has finally found his winning formula.
