Last Updated on Wednesday, 15 October 2014 14:36
By Kevin Hartzell
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
It was really fun to get out to the Elite League games on Saturday and see many familiar hockey faces. I haven’t had the opportunity to do so for a couple of years. I have a number of thoughts to share.
First, a thank you to the many of you who asked what exactly I am up to. So first, let me answer that question for you all. Last year’s experience in Lillehammer was outstanding. With the help of a good Norwegian nucleus and some outstanding imports, we were able to help their club have their best season in 20 years. Even with the great season, they just didn’t have the resources to bring any of us (coach and import players) back, so at this point, I am a free agent of sorts. I do have a book coming out – “Leading from the Ice” – which is now available at Amazon.com, both hard copy and e-book, so I will have plenty to do to get the word out and promote the book.
It was great to see some of the very best of hockey folks out at the Elite League games last weekend. Longtime scouts Ed Thomlinson, Ken Gernander and Craig Sarner, to name a few, are people I hold in very high regard. There are a bunch of younger generation folks I just love to see also, like Scott Bell, Doug Schueller and Brian Renfrew. It was fun to be around these good hockey people and many others again.
One of the new developments, at least to me, is the formation of a “young guns” team in the Elite League. This additional team, that does not compete every weekend, is made up of 10th and 11th graders who just missed making one of the regular teams.
They competed last weekend and it was fun watching them play. In general they are not as polished as the players who have made one of the six regular teams, but their desire to show they belong seems to elevate their game, which of course is a good thing. They certainly compete as well as the foreign teams that have been brought to the league in the past, so I think this is a good development.
All that good stuff said, it was apparent to me that some of the biggest deficiencies these younger players have can be seen in their own defensive zone. If I were an NHL team, I would have a “defensive zone grit quotient” that I would add to my player evaluations. While we mostly evaluate players based upon their skills and offensive abilities, the “defensive zone grit quotient” tells us all something about the character and will of players also.
But the story of the weekend was the domination by the U.S. Under-17 team. I expected better out of the Elite League teams. The Under-17 team is comprised of many of the better U17 players in America, including a handful of Minnesota natives. But to lose the two games played against the Under-17 team and by a combined score of 19-3 was not a good showing. I went to watch the Saturday game as Team Southeast, which is leading the Elite League standings, was going to be the best competition for the Under-17 team. I am not sure the game was truly as lopsided as the 8-2 score would indicate, but there is no question the Under-17 team was the better team.
We are all supportive of the Minnesota high school system. We want a good solid high school system for our players to develop. The Elite League was developed to give our high school players a solid supplement to the relatively short high school season. I don’t know the reasons for the lack of competitive games demonstrated this past weekend by our elite players, but I think it is obvious that somehow, we still have some work to do.
It also is important to note, that about 40 of our better high school aged players did leave the high school system this year, but that is my understanding that this is somewhat of a normal yearly number of high school players lost.
Lastly, congrats to the Wild on a great start. It is only two games and there is a long season ahead. But for two games anyway, the Wild look like a team that could contend with the Blackhawks and Blues for a conference championship. And hopefully more!
Kevin Hartzell was most recently 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 columns have appeared in Let’s Play Hockey since the late 1980s.
Kevin Hartzell’s new book – “Leading from the Ice” – is available now at amazon.com.
