Last Updated on Thursday, 14 April 2016 09:36
By Kevin Hartzell
Let’s Play Hockey Columnist
• This was my first year ever working with girls. I cannot thank the White Bear Lake High School girls enough for allowing me to be a part of their journey. As a group, they were thoughtful, coachable and extremely smart. I am expecting big things from them in the nearer future, like a state tournament appearance. Our group of senior girls were among the best and most natural leaders I have been around. I had gone into the season wondering how the “non-college hockey- bound” girls would dedicate themselves to the mission. Some of our better and most dedicated players on our team were those girls not planning on playing college hockey. I learned more than a few things from these young women.
• I also was fortunate to work with the Twin City Steel. If you were to attend a Steel practice and compare the skill level of today versus the skill at this level of just 10 years ago or so, it has seen an amazing improvement. Same goes for Junior Gold. Both levels have seen a great increase in skill level. And while the refereeing is young and learning, games are under control with very little fighting. The Steel made it to the National Tournament, making it through the round robin portion before losing in the semifinals in overtime. My congrats to the entire Steel organization and especially coaches Jay Witta and Josh Shingler.
• If you saw any of the Big Ten Tournament at the Xcel Energy Center, it is hard to believe what has happened to attendance for a college tournament featuring the University of Minnesota in such a short period of time. To see so many open seats is sad for us locally, but certainly not a surprise. The loss of interest is due mostly, I believe, to the loss of the many local/regional rivalries. To our friends in North Dakota, I hope you know that many of us Minnesota alumni miss our rivalry. It is THE rivalry that stands clearly above any other. I also miss your proud name. It is a great thing to be Sioux (I have two nieces that are Sioux and while I don’t claim to know a lot about their culture, I know they are great people), and I think it is a great thing to be a fighter for those things that matter. I know not everyone shares my opinion on this subject. Bottom line, the rivalry is missed and congratulations to you on your national championship win.
• Last Thursday night, another of our alums from Sioux Falls played his first game in the NHL. That young man we are all so happy for is Charlie Lindgren of Lakeville. My first recollection of Charlie was the night I was asked by our head of scouting, John Rosso, to go to Lakeville and watch Brady Skjei. If I remember correctly, I met with Skjei’s parents who we so impressed with me, they sent their son to the U.S. National Team Development Program.
Anyway, as I am watching the game, Rosso asks me what I think of Skjei, and of course I liked him as a player, but I asked, “Who’s the goalie?” I think I have a better eye than most when it comes to goalies and I think my record verifies that. What I didn’t realize that night and for sometime afterward was that Charlie was the son of a goalie I coached by in my Vulcan days, Bob Lindgren.
Charlie’s father was from Minneapolis Roosevelt. He was a goaltender for us when the Vulcans visited communist Czechoslovakia. Bob played one of the greatest games never seen, when we faced their World Junior Team just a week or so before the World Juniors, giving them a taste of North American hockey. And we gave them more than a taste, losing that game only 4-3. Bob played great and so too did our team. I recall vividly our interpreter reading news reports from the World Tournament where the Czech team gave credit to their hard game with us for preparing them for the tournament and their eventual silver medal. Two years later when we were invited back, the same World Junior Team beat us by double digits!
I wanted to draft Charlie but the Chicago Steel beat us to it. We subsequently traded for Charlie and his tenure in Sioux Falls began. Charlie had and has plenty of ability. What to me is most remarkable about Charlie, is from day one, he carried himself with a “professional maturity” as I might define it. He knew how to approach his work. He is a great young man from a wonderful family. We are all happy for Charlie.
• As happy as I am for Charlie, at times I feel a bit for my own son, Eric. Eric is the most gifted goalie I have coached. Now, Eric has always had a little more growing up to do than most in his age group and certainly when compared to Charlie. But develop he has and continues. He loves to compete and win, and continues to work at his trade. Last year he ranked third in ECHL playoff save percentage. I had never seen a better version of Eric than during last year’s playoff series. This year, I see a better best version of him. He finished his last playoff series in Germany at .939 for what is not the best team in the league by a long shot. Just last week, he played maybe the finest game of his life in a 52-shot playoff overtime shutout, great by any standard in any league. But Eric chose to go to Europe to play and I suspect that he has been somewhat forgotten in NHL circles. I do think he is the best version of himself thus far, and that in itself is great. I hope he gets another chance with an NHL team as that has always been his dream.
• The NHL has been a great league for a long time. With that said, the league has never had the high quality of skill and goaltending that it does today. There are nights where I am simply amazed by the talent. However, I am not going to give the league credit for this. The Russians were first, way back in a day when they were emphasizing skill and athleticism. The Russians and Czechs were in a world by themselves when it came to skills. We here in North America had a great compete level. Over time, the two basic styles converged, in part because of great work by the sport’s governing bodies.
• The U.S. development model, which includes the longer development time college hockey has to offer, has caught up to big brother Canada, and with the enhanced development model (and skill focused refereeing standards), more kids are having fun and developing high levels of skill. The result is a highly-skilled NHL and with more Americans than ever before. I can’t wait for the Stanley Cup Playoffs … again!
• And by the way, what’s up with the seven Canadian based franchises not making the 2016 playoffs? I find that fact intriguing as I don’t know the reason for it. I have asked that very question to a friend I consider an expert. He says media and culture in Canada are at the source. I don’t have an educated opinion myself, but do find that fact interesting.
• I have been asked many times if I am going to coach again. I respond the same almost every time: “Where?” I would coach again, but I enjoy my life so much, someone would have to be willing to pay me for my expertise, and overall the coaching profession does not pay well. As it is now, I get to attend family functions, go to local sporting events, volunteer with and coach some great local kids, and because it is on a volunteer basis, I still get to go on wintertime vacations. I like the idea of coaching in the USHL again and taking on a personal challenge of becoming the first coach in the league’s history to win three championships with three different teams. I like the idea of Europe. But I just don’t see the right opportunity arising. So I will remain with this great life of mine and with no complaints and no regrets. Should this hold, I will look forward to working with a great bunch of White Bear Lake girls again.
Kevin Hartzell is the director of player development for the NA3HL’s Twin City Steel. 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. He was the head coach of Lillehammer in Norway’s GET-Ligaen from 2012-14. His columns have appeared in Let’s Play Hockey since the late 1980s. His book “Leading From the Ice” is available at amazon.com.
