Last Updated on Wednesday, 02 December 2015 16:05
Greg Gamache has built a burgeoning girls’ hockey power in Hudson, Wis.
By Andrew Vitalis
Life is full of twists and turns – just ask Greg Gamache. Sure, he’s always been guided by skates, but his journey to Hudson, Wis., even catches him off guard from time to time. Cemented in the boys’ hockey scene in northern Minnesota, Gamache remembers being at a crossroads after being a casualty of the business world when his company he worked for downsized. Like he had done so many times before, Gamache turned to the hockey community for support. Several “suggestions” later, Gamache found himself heading south to River Falls where a teaching degree was waiting.
With a book in one hand, Gamache held onto his coaching whistle with the other; never forgetting where he had come from and where he wanted to go. Fast-forward to 2015, now with 25 years (and going strong) behind the bench, every once in awhile Gamache himself laughs about his journey that once seemed so uncertain, but now clearly shows it was meant to be.
To put it simply, Gamache has enjoyed the ride and feels the best is yet to come. Now in his third season as the head coach of the Hudson High School girls’ hockey team, he has seen the program transform right in front of his eyes. Sure, the program has experienced success in the past (state championships in 2000 and 2001), but it’s more than the results; it’s the surge of talent that his team has started to display on a night in, night out basis.
It’s the fact that Hudson is one of only five teams in the entire state with a junior varsity program. It’s the fact that the Raiders are one of three teams in the entire state who field a program on their own (not a part of a co-op). Throw in two sheets of ice to practice on, a Division I prospect (Anna Wilgren) and a former Olympian (Karyn Bye-Dietz) helping as a volunteer coach in the summer, and you begin to fully understand why Gamache feels that way.
“Hudson has all the tools,” Gamache said. “We have a summer program where we skate 22 times. We scrimmage 15 times. We put a AAA team together. We’re doing everything here that is happening in Minnesota.”
The comparison to Minnesota is important to Gamache. Not only has Hudson lost players in the past to Twin Cities schools, but Gamache has also used a model for success that he has seen from other coaches who have turned around programs. The formula is simple, yet not always easy. The better opponents you play, the better you will become. In other words, for another season, Hudson will battle several teams from across the border with the overall goal of pushing the program to the highest level.
“I was very lucky to have been an assistant coach under Terry Cassano (Engstrom) at Rosemount and Don Erdall at Apple Valley,” Gamache said. “They both turned around programs and showed me the blueprint to success that I am applying at Hudson. I feel our location and connections with Minnesota coaches allow us to build one of the strongest schedules in the state of Wisconsin. We get the best of both worlds.
“When I came here, what I kept hearing from the parents is that we want to compete and not just in Wisconsin, we want to be able to play a good Minnesota team and be able to get up and down the ice with them. I think this will be a good marriage for us; I have contacts over there and once they realize that we can play with them, the word starts to travel quickly. We hope the end result for us is being a better team at the end of the season.”
One thing is for sure; they will need the game experience early and often. Extremely young, yet talented, the Raiders will skate into the season with just five seniors on the roster. When looking at Hudson’s top nine forwards, only one is a senior while four are freshmen. There is little doubt that the backbone of the team will be their sophomore class, led by Wilgren who finished third in the state in goals last season with 48 and fifth in the state in scoring with 67 points; which was also a Hudson school record. Also returning and expected to help with the scoring responsibility will be junior Katie Meierotto. Throw in Lexie Nelson (moved to Hudson from Oakdale), sophomore Natalie Miller and freshmen Sydney and Kennedy Hendricks and Dani robson, and it becomes clear the Raiders have the tools to light the lamp.
On defense, in addition to Wilgren, seniors Taylor Beckman and Julia Pettee, junior Destynee Willert, sophomore Molly Schuett, freshman Hana Hellmers and netminders Julia Joseph and Cassie Schultz give Gamache’s team the balance he has come to expect with the recent surge of talent within the program. Still, there is no getting around the conversation piece that the overall youth of the team will be the biggest hurdle early against an extremely difficult list of stiff opponents.
“We have one senior and one junior in our top nine,” Gamache said. “They are great players and very veteran savvy, but four of our top nine will be freshmen who will be playing in their first varsity games. It’s really the sophomore group that is carrying the team. We will be inconsistent and make mistakes early in the season. We cannot dwell on the errors. We will need to stay positive, put the mistakes aside and keep growing and focus on getting better at practice every day. We have some young talented players but we will need to play as a team and keep a team-first attitude in order to have consistent success.”
And there it is, two words that Gamache reverts to time and time again – ”consistent success.” Achieving that means more than just wins and losses for Gamache and his Raiders; it goes much deeper than that. It’s not just about the present, but the future as well. Every season, as the talent level rises on the rink, a different opponent lurks into hockey palaces across Western Wisconsin. Temptation. You can almost go from one program to the next learning about talented players who have left programs for greener pastures (or shinier rinks) in Minnesota, and Hudson is no different. Gamache has seen it happen and feels he is close to breaking that trend.
“The youth program here in Hudson has always done a really good job developing players,” Gamches said. “I have been told more than once that all you need to do is keep players here and you will see the benefits. We are trying to show these players that there is no advantage to going to Minnesota and playing. What we’re starting to do is show our players that it’s appealing to stay here. The upper-end girls are saying, ‘Hey, I can have my cake and eat it, too. I can play really good teams in Minnesota. I can do all of the skating and develop and get to a college level, and I can play with my friends.’ We are starting to show that so those girls are sticking around now instead of heading west.”
The strategy seems to be working. The hockey community has been put on notice.
Andrew Vitalis writes column in LPH geared towards Wisconsin hockey. He can be reached at lphprep@yahoo.com.
