NPHL Media

By Garrett Fabris

 

As junior hockey leagues continue to progress players to higher divisions of hockey within the United States, what happens after those players’ playing careers are over? Well, the Northern Pacific Hockey League has given former players career opportunities within the league. The NPHL has continued this with one of its newest assistant coaches, Brent Seidel.

 

As Seidel started his last year of Midget hockey in 2004 – 2005, he was given the opportunity to play for Team Washington in the Chicago showcase. During this showcase, Seidel was able to catch the eye of a, at the time, first year NPHL team. That’s right, he caught the eye of the Eugene Generals, who sent Seidel a letter asking for him to come and try out for the team.

 

After tryouts, Seidel preformed well enough to make the team. During his time with the Generals, Seidel, “loved it. It was one of those experiences that changed my whole life path. If I had made the Spokane Braves, then I would have never left home, lived with a Billet family or met the people I did while I played in Eugene.”

 

Seidel was given the opportunity to play in a junior hockey league and develop his skills even further as a player, but it was more than that. Seidel says, “my time with the Generals is also the same time I started coaching. The team put on skills clinics for the youth programs where I would come out and help coach the goalies. This is when I first started to coach and developed a love and passion for it.”

 

During the summer after Seidel’s first year of junior hockey, he started getting recruited by collegiate programs. Seidel says, “Eastern Washington University (EWU) was recruiting me during the summer, so I hopped on the college train and made the jump to collegiate hockey. I couldn’t have imagined making the jump straight from Midgets to college hockey. The NPHL helped tremendously with my development because of the experiences and coaching I received while in Eugene.”

 

While at EWU, Seidel played hockey for all four years as he attended school fulltime. Once Seidel neared closer to his graduation date from EWU, the Generals extended him an opportunity to begin his coaching career by allowing him to conduct dry land practices, and whatever else was needed to help the team.

 

During this time, Seidel was “bumped up to assistant coach to help the organization transition between head coaches. From that point, I was more than just an intern. I was apart of the organization.”

 

As time progressed and “after this first year of coaching, I was still unsure about what I wanted to do. I did have to return to EWU to take one more class in order to finish my degree in community health,” said Seidel.

 

Seidel completed that class and then his career took a complete 180-degree turn from hockey. He ended up making the police department in Saint Maries, Idaho. But, he still wasn’t happy with what he was doing, so Seidel reached out to Chuck Kennedy and Flint Doungchak about returning to work in the NPHL. So, he went back to Eugene to coach again for another year.

 

Once the season concluded, Seidel found himself back at home in Spokane, Washington, applying for a master’s degree in Sport and Athletic Administration at Gonzaga University. After he was accepted into the program, Seidel “called the head coach of the Spokane Braves, who are in the KIJHL, and asked if [he] could come out as an intern.” The Braves accepted Seidel as a team intern while he was completing his degree at Gonzaga University.

 

A year into his internship and masters degree program, Seidel found himself applying for a job in Colorado for a position as a hockey and skating coordinator. With the help of Gonzaga University and the head coach of the Braves, he received and accepted the job in Greeley, Colorado. As Seidel continued to pioneer his own future, he also became the first test pilot, and graduate, of Gonzaga’s online master’s degree program in Sports and Athletic Administration.

 

As Seidel graduated from Gonzaga University, and continued his career in Colorado, he then caught wind of a job opening in Bremerton, Washington. Seidel soon found himself, “contemplating about everything [he] did and wanted to do, which was directing [him] towards being a hockey director and to help run a rink.”

 

So, Seidel flew out to interview for the job opening. “After the interview, it was a couple weeks before I heard back from the West Sound Warriors extending me an offer for the hockey director position,” said Seidel.

 

Once he was offered the job, he took it, and moved from Colorado back to Washington. Now, Seidel holds the title of hockey director for the youth organization in Bremerton, assistant coach for the West Sound Warriors and he also helps run the Bremerton Ice Center.

 

Seidel took quite the journey to end back in the NPHL, but, “because of these experiences, it’s a place that holds near and dear to my heart for all the opportunities the NPHL, the Generals, and the Warriors have provided me throughout my time within the league.”

 

To have fantastic people at the foundation of the league, it allows the NPHL to stay true to the league’s values. 

 

For updates from around the league, check in on the NPHL’s website.