The Law of Jante

 

By Kevin Hartzell
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
 

The hockey season is reaching its annual climax. The Minnesota High School Hockey tournament is now over. College hockey is in the heart of its playoff run to the crowning of a new national champion. It is a fun time of year with the NHL just weeks away from the greatest team tournament in sport: the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Here in Norway we too are in the middle of our playoffs. Last Monday, we won an exciting 2-1 nailbiter in game two of our best-of-seven semifinal playoff series here in Norway’s top professional league. The series is tied at one game apiece. We have been on an awesome run and in a position to reach the league finals for only the second time in the history of Lillehammer hockey. It sure has been a fun run thus far.

Speaking of runs, I went on a good run recently through beautiful Lillehammer. As I released a little nervous energy during my run, I was able to relax my mind a bit. Whenever I relax my mind, my brain starts to work a bit better, certainly freer to explore. I was thinking about the similarities of our Scandinavian culture in Minnesota to that of Norway. I also thought about Jante’s Law, hockey culture in my home state of Minnesota, Boston College’s Johnny Gaudreau and Minnesota’s Kyle Rau.

Let me first backtrack a bit. Not long ago, I was asked by a couple of folks in Minnesota what I thought about the seemingly neverending discussion regarding Minnesota high school players leaving their prep programs “early” for junior hockey. I understand at times this year it has been a topic of conversation in Minnesota ... again!

For me, I find the conversation to be old and a continual rehashing of the same arguments and opinions. People have their opinions and most are pretty set in their view of things. What I say is simply this: I could put together a long list of elite players who have decided to leave their high school programs early and an equally long list of elite players who have decided to stay and play out their high school eligibility. I believe that the vast majority of players who make up each list would tell us they made the right decision for them. To me, that is all that needs to be said. I thought that was my final thought on the subject, until I relaxed during a run and allowed my thinking to explore something new.

Next thought, Jante’s Law, or as it is also called, the Law of Jante. Jante’s Law is a belief in Scandinavian countries and in particular Norway and Denmark, that the individual should not put himself/herself above the group. It is not looked upon favorably to stand out from the crowd so to speak.

The idea of Jante’s Law was made popular in a Scandinavian novel in part about a Scandinavian town and its struggle to keep communal harmony and social stability. The idea of the Law of Jante is that group behavior exists in Scandinavian culture that is critical of individual achievement and success. It is through the efforts (peer pressure) of the larger group that keeps all members in-line, striving only for the “collective good” that in the end keeps the harmonious community!  Ummm ... sounds like the essence of socialism. 

There are 10 individual tenants of Jante’s Law. They encompass things like “you are not to think you are better than anyone else” or smarter than anyone else or anything else that separates or elevates one from the pack. I wasn’t sure if it was a real or an imagined tenant of Scandinavian culture ... until I thought I started to see it manifested in various parts of my experiences here.

One of the very reasons I wanted to explore Norway in the first place was because it is rated as the most socialist country in the world. I have in my short time here come to believe that Jante’s Law is indeed part of this socialist culture. More importantly, Norwegians themselves believe it is part of their culture. I have asked many a Norwegian adult and even a number of teenagers about Jante’s Law. I ask them if they believe Jante’s Law exists here in Norway or is it nothing more than a myth from a novel. One hundred percent of those I have asked say it exists, though not everyone can describe exactly how they see it. But they do believe it exists.

Now we take another turn and let’s look at Johnny Gaudreau and Kyle Rau. These two boys are two of my favorite players today in college hockey. Both are smaller in stature at 5-foot-8 inches. Rau is listed at 170 pounds. Gaudreau is likely not even 160 pounds. They both play the game with great passion. I have had the chance to coach Rau and the misfortune of coaching against Gaudreau. They both lead their respective college teams in scoring, Rau for the Gophers and Gaudreau for the Eagles of Boston College.

I have met Gaudreau and his parents. I love both these boys as people and players, but there is a difference. Gaudreau scored twice as much as Rau this year. Gaudreau scores more each year. Gaudreau was a Hobey Baker finalist last year and will in my opinion win the Hobey this year. As good as Rau is, Gaudreau is better; he is a freakishly better player, as Gretzky-like as I have seen since Gretzky.

Gaudreau grew up in New Jersey. Like many of today’s American hockey stars, he had to take a path uncommon to the path of his Minnesotan counterparts. He had to search for hockey “development.” He didn’t just play the high school or prep league in New Jersey; he went to Philadelphia to play with the Junior Flyers and Team Comcast. Then at age 17 it was off to the USHL and the Dubuque Fighting Saints.

His game was challenged and in spite of his lacking in size and I would argue even lacking in the skating ability of Rau, Gaudreau met every challenge – a challenge if too big can hurt a young person’s development. But a challenge that one is ready for opens one’s imagination to more. Johnny has imagination and creativity beyond most. He has sought challenge; he has met each along the way. He is amazing.

So I think about these two fine smallish players and I wonder what if their development paths were traded. What if they traded places and Gaudreau was the best 16-year-old player on his Minnesota high school team who stayed put with the Minnesota high school system? What if he followed the prevailing group pressures in Minnesota and stayed home to nurture his community for the betterment of his team and the Minnesota hockey way of doing things? And what if Kyle Rau took Gaudreau’s path in return, seeking a hockey challenge unlike the experiences he had already mastered early in his high school career?

What would the resulting differences in these two players? Would their gap in creatively and scoring be closer? Would Gaudreau still be double in points to that of Rau? Of course we will never know, but I have to believe there would be differences! It is an interesting question to ponder.

Which again brings me back to Jante’s Law. Is Jante’s Law what we have in our very Scandinavia Minnesota culture? Do we believe in benefit for the group over the excellence of the individual? Maybe that’s not what it is at all, but I have to admit I find the question interesting.

I find it strange that many in my home state have allowed themselves to believe at least in the words they articulate, that development can wait. Do they really believe that if Rau and Gaudreau indeed traded places that there just wouldn’t be any noticeable differences in their development? 

I have heard that argument over and again – a good player will be a good player and “he doesn’t need to rush it” is what they say. And some players do “rush it,” taking on challenges they are not yet ready for and that is not good either. There are benefits to staying home as well; we all know that. But to develop the hockey side of the equation, I think it is a hard to deny that there are benefits to a new challenge if the player/student is ready for the new challenge.

If one is to believe that mentorship, teaching, opening a young person’s eyes to a new challenge and stimulating their imagination is not helpful and beneficial to those ready to be challenged, well then those of us who believe in the power of a good teacher and a proper challenge have been wasting our collective lives we have so dedicated ourselves to. I will always believe in such challenges. It is the awakening of one’s imagination through mentorship and the world of challenges and competition that best promotes and bridges an understanding to the world of possibilities.

Do we in Minnesota really not believe in challenging the imagination and talents of our youths? Do we simply believe the benefits of staying home always through the high school years is better for our youth? Or is it Jante’s Law, a belief in the “collective good” that is alive and well in our home state of Scandinavian heritage. I don’t know the answers. I do know that pondering these questions made for an interesting run.

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 1983-89 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.