Only once has a Faribault boys high school team qualified for state-tournament play, that coming during the Minnesota State High School League’s brief and ill-fated Tier II tournament experiment in 1993 (the Faribault girls also have one state tournament appearance to their credit, in 2010).

Conversely, the Faribault-based Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep school has been competing in – and often winning – USA Hockey youth national championships since the 1960s. In fact, eight SSM hockey alumni participated in the XXII Olympic Winter Games, including Sidney Crosby (Canada), Zach Parise (United States) and the Lamoureux Twins (United States).

But all of these players were imports, merely stopping by Faribault’s famous finishing school. Grassroots hockey in the community never reached the same level of success, a reality that chaffed some of the citizenry.

Enter Dean Weasler, a former St. Cloud State University goaltender raised about 40 miles north of Faribault.

After parlaying his college career into two seasons of professional hockey, Weasler returned to Minnesota in 2004 and joined the corporate ranks. His passion for hockey remained, so he also coached at the high school level and helped guide his sons’ youth teams in the Twin Cities suburbs. Then, in the summer of 2012, Weasler accepted a dual offer to coach the Faribault High School boys’ team and become director of hockey operations for the youth association. His mission became aiming grassroots Faribault hockey toward a higher trajectory. Part of that process involved installing USA Hockey American Development Model principles.

“The response has been much more positive than negative, but whenever there’s change, in anything, there’s always going to be some resistance,” said Weasler. “And we’ve been accused of trying to operate ‘like a big association’ now. But we’re not trying to run ‘like a big association,’ we’re just trying to run it the right way.”

Without “big association” numbers, Faribault faces some small-association challenges. One of them is finding the right level of competition. An in-house mite league was built, which helped reduce costs of participation and travel, but it lacks in opponent diversity, since there are only enough players to roster three teams. Road trips, however, often yield opponents that are either identical or dramatically different, netting the same degree of skill development – or less – in exchange for greater costs. It’s a well-known obstacle to generations of Faribault hockey families.

Another challenge is Faribault’s limited pool of coaches. It’s not a huge city and not a hockey hotbed, so the number of volunteers willing and able to nurture kids’ on-ice talents from November through March is finite. Without the seemingly inexhaustible supply enjoyed by its suburban neighbors to the north, Faribault is at a disadvantage.

But Weasler, along with the association board, thinks the ADM can help Faribault overcome some of these challenges.

The association aided its coaches by increasing use of ADM practice plans and by developing a vision for putting more teams (and thereby more coaches) on the ice simultaneously in station-based practices. Cross-ice games have become the norm for mini-mites and an increasing standard for mites. The teams have also embraced USA Hockey-recommended practice-to-game ratios, which Faribault customized to include use of a smaller-sized “studio” rink at SSM for unstructured small-area games. The association also created a learn-to-skate program that better prepared kids to excel in mite hockey. One player, who began the season in learn-to-skate, graduated to mites at mid-season. He struggled a bit at first, but he continually improved, building his skills in the mite ADM practices. On the season’s final day, he scored his first-ever goal, giving everyone in the association a memorable success story.

“It’s new and it’s different, but our parents – especially our newest parents – love it,” said Weasler.

One of those parents is Cale Politoski, a former defenseman who helped win a conference championship at St. Norbert College in 1997. Today he’s a hockey dad and also the head coach of Shattuck-St. Mary’s Midget U16 team. His son, Andrew, plays mite hockey in Faribault.

“This past year for my son was awesome,” said Politoski. “And I completely give credit to the ADM for making this season as fun as it was. The kids were moving around, they were active and never once did my little guy say it was boring. This had to be one of our best-attended years of mite hockey (in Faribault). We never struggled with numbers. Our kids wanted to go to hockey.

“In terms of skill development, I can say confidently that every player took strides forward, from our best to our lower-level, and that was due to the kids being active, getting more puck touches and being put into ‘like-ability’ groups that prevented players from being overly dominating against weaker skaters. Plus, it created little rivalries that helped kids compete.”

Politoski was pleasantly surprised by the degree skill development he witnessed.

“It was great for our mites,” he said. “In terms of player development, we need to stay with this model. We need to keep enforcing the necessary skills to play the game: skating, shooting, passing. There’s no need to rush teaching systems or any of that stuff. Repetition is good. Being active is good. Tons of puck touches are good. We’re building our players’ confidence, and as a result, their success will continue as they move up to squirts, peewees, bantams and beyond.

“Let’s face it. None of these kids are running the power play for the Minnesota Wild tomorrow. It’s important that we and the other parents understand that. But by continuing to focus on skill mastery now, well, who knows? We may one day see a Faribault player indeed running the power play for the Wild. But let’s continue to focus on the now, on skill development, instead of focusing on 15 years down the road.”

The post Faribault Embracing Youth Hockey Renaissance appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Featured Image:
Eric Hatzell playing for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL.
(Photo courtesy of USA Hockey / KDP Photgraphy)

As a teenager, Eric Hartzell played baseball in the summer, football in the fall and hockey when the mud froze on his spikes. He was an outfielder, a quarterback and a hybrid, raised in the Twin Cities suburb of White Bear Lake, Minn.

“It was almost like playing two hockey sports at the same time,” said Hartzell. “We had organized youth hockey at the arena, where I was playing goalie as a peewee, then we’d go home to play on the pond in my backyard.”

Away from the arena, on pond ice, Hartzell was a skater, not a stopper. He credits his well-rounded youth sports experience for making him the player he is today, which is to say one of the American Hockey League’s top goaltenders.

“Skating out, and being a multi-sport athlete, made me quicker, stronger and faster,” he said. “It helped for sure. When you’re playing all those sports, it all correlates, but as a kid, you’re not thinking about that. You’re just playing. But it’s making your feet quicker, your hand-eye coordination better – things that go hand-in-hand with other sports.”

Now a rookie with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins – and the AHL’s reigning Goaltender of the Month – Hartzell is an archetype of overall athleticism in goal. He’s big, too – 6-foot-4, 200 pounds – giving the Quinnipiac University product a powerful combination of agility and net coverage. It’s a package that began developing at a young age, when all that really mattered was fun.

“My youth hockey days were the best days of my life,” said Hartzell. “Just growing up and playing hockey with your best friends, in your town, sharing great moments – it was terrific.”

One component of his youth hockey experience – the cross-ice game – remains a valuable piece of his professional preparation today.

“In my opinion, 3-on-3 cross-ice is amazing for everyone,” he said. “Everything happens quick, so you get opportunities to develop skills without even thinking about it. And that goes for goalies, too. Pucks are moving faster, there’s no lull in the game, and that helps you stay on your toes and develop your skills. When the time comes in a game, you’re more ready because of those small-area games.”

Looking back now on the games that followed him from his youth, Hartzell is even more aware of the role they played in his development. He also salutes the coaches, including his dad, who helped him grow. As for what makes the ideal youth coach, Hartzell says the most important thing is finding a coach who cares.

“At the youth ages, Xs and Os don’t matter,” he said. “It’s all about the energy and preparation that the coaches put in. My coaches did a great job preparing kids, and I can’t thank them enough.”

The post Hybrid Hartzell Climbing to New Heights with Penguins appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

For example, greater St. Cloud, a community of about 80,000 in Central Minnesota, didn’t even have an indoor ice arena until November 1972. Now there are six indoor sheets and more kids playing than ever before, but growth and retention didn’t come easy, and it still doesn’t, even in this rather large Minnesota city. Fortunately, parents and volunteers from the St. Cloud Youth Hockey Association are all-in. Their concerted effort to make youth hockey more inclusive and more fun is paying dividends.

“We’ve been proactive,” said Mike Petroske, president of the SCYHA. “We were early adopters of the American Development Model, and even before USA Hockey formally introduced the ADM, we were playing cross-ice hockey.”

In the early days, acceptance wasn’t universal. When the SCYHA adopted station-based youth practices, some parents grumbled, but most of those dissenters quickly became advocates. A new mite program built on fun and frequent puck-touches proved especially persuasive.

“We created a fun atmosphere with a Saturday-morning in-house mite concept with four teams of 10 which played half-ice games against each other for six weeks,” said Petroske. “We had two games happening at once, each team playing in the jerseys of four college teams. It was a carnival atmosphere. We’d announce goal-scorers over the public address system and really build it up. That’s when we got people to start buying in.”

The program began as a free offering, which helped encourage parents, and when the SCYHA offered it for a second time, enrollment maxed out in minutes. Now the initial graduates of the program are ascending the ranks and impressing observers.

“Last year, our squirts were really strong and I credit it largely to adopting the ADM,” said Petroske. “And since we launched that in-house mite program, we’ve had almost no complaints.”

Focus on Fun

Jaime O’Hara, SCYHA mite coordinator, joined the association in 2011 and looked to amplify the fun factor. It was her son’s second year of organized hockey.

“It is not about getting the players to perfect every station, have the perfect stride, the perfect shot, et cetera,” she said. “It’s about fun, period. Adopting the ADM added to the fun factor, and not just for the players and the coaches, but also for me as the coordinator. It’s an easy job with the ADM plans, so I get to have more fun and enjoy watching the kids’ enjoyment at the rink. The players doing the stations don’t realize the skills they are learning. They just think they are on the ice playing games with the coaches, when all the while, they’re improving skating skills, puck handling, building muscles, and listening and working together – to have fun.”

O’Hara also credits the coaches for being eager and excited about the ADM mission.

“It’s been more fun and enjoyable for them too, because everything is drawn up for them, there is no planning, scheduling or drawing up practices,” she said. “The ADM practice plans are printed and labeled with practice dates. Coaches get to the rink, grab the tools they need for the practice, and it’s easy as that. Then they have more time to learn who players are and pump up the excitement about practice.”

From the stands, parents see smiles, energy, organization and skill development.

“In Minnesota, with the changing seasons, there are so many athletic choices for kids, so most of the parents have seen practices from several different sports,” explained O’Hara. “But when they watch their first hockey practice with us, they can’t believe how well-organized it is and how well the time is managed. They love the eagerness and excitement the players show about going to practice, and they love that their kids burn a lot of energy while on the ice and then rest well after a practice.”

Bring on the Girls

Recognizing an opportunity, the SCYHA launched a new girls-only version of the introductory mite program this past Saturday. They hope it causes an enrollment increase similar to what occurred in the boys ranks, which would further strengthen the association’s growing foundation of young talent.

Saturday’s festivities began with a station-based practice led by members of the St. Cloud State University women’s hockey team. Afterward, the girls received a guided tour of the Huskies’ locker room followed by a feast of donuts, juice and yogurt. Needless to say, they were all smiles, which is truly the secret sauce in St. Cloud’s recent success.

“Our association growth, both for girls and boys players, has come naturally, from kids and parents talking to friends and other parents,” said O’Hara. “They can’t help but mention the fun time they had at hockey. And really, don’t we all want to be involved in fun?”

It may be a simple philosophy for growth, but it’s also undeniably effective.

“Our players have such energy when they talk about the good times they’re having at the rink,” said O’Hara.

“And the love of the game all starts by having fun first.”

The post Focus on Fun Builds Believers in St. Cloud appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Featured Image:
Alexandria’s rink rookies huddle for a quick chat. The association’s intro-to-hockey offerings have generated unprecedented local interest. (Photo by Joe Korkowski)

There was a time when coaching involved searches for good sloughs with clean ice. Some folks in Alexandria can still remember those days, when west-central Minnesota housed only a handful of hockey players. Today, thanks to a passionate commitment to its youth hockey, and two sheets of cattail-free indoor ice, Alexandria has become something of a hockey hotbed.

Andrew Shriver has lived 15 years of that evolution, having launched Alexandria’s girls hockey program in the late 1990s. Today he serves as director of hockey operations for the Alexandria Area Hockey Association, and also as coach-in-chief for Minnesota Hockey’s District 15.

“In the early 2000s, our overall numbers had plateaued, so we started doing beginner clinics for girls as a way to drum up interest,” said Shriver. “As those evolved, we started seeing more and more young players. Then our high school girls won the state championship in 2007-08, and that, coming on the heels of women’s hockey in the Winter Olympics, did a great job of increasing the numbers.”

Next on the agenda was building better practices, while at the same time accommodating the influx of additional players, both girls and boys. USA Hockey’s American Development Model was taking flight at the same time, providing a blueprint for Shriver and his cohorts.

“There were so many great things that had been going on for years in Alexandria – we were doing a lot of ADM-type things already – but it was somewhat hit-and-miss,” said Shriver. “As we dove in deeper, we found out how easy it was to set up station-based practices just by going to the USA Hockey website and printing out plans. Our coaches did a phenomenal job.”

One of the challenges they faced was the mental hurdle of combining age-appropriate fun, skill development and competitiveness.

“We were doing a great job channeling our inner Sponge Bob instead of our inner Herb Brooks with six-year olds, but we worried about whether it was ‘hockey’ enough, rigorous enough to teach kids what they need, so that when they flip the switch to competitive hockey, it was time well spent,” said Shriver. “And that’s another thing the ADM does really well, is help us weave the technical pieces in so that we’re not missing that component just because the kids are smiling. We’re not boring them with five-minute dissertations on the merits of an inside edge, but they’re still being taught inside edges, and they’re working inside edges and they’re able to implement them into their game mostly because of how engaged they are and how much fun they’re having in practice.”

Soon a full-blown overhaul of the mite program was underway. Among the priorities was providing an inclusive program that didn’t force parents to drive hundreds of miles in search of skill development.

“If the only people we’re catering to are the people who are interested in and can afford that travel hockey experience from beginning to end, then we’re shrinking the talent pool even more, especially in a community like this one with a population of about 12,000,” said Shriver. “So, working with USA Hockey, we reinstated our mite in-house league and dressed up our cross-ice games to make them such fun events that parents don’t feel like all we do is practice. We focused hard on making our cross-ice game nights something exciting, without abandoning the core ADM principles.”

Shriver calls it counterintuitive to some, but in Alexandria they discovered that by focusing on in-house mite and squirt hockey, the peewee and bantam traveling teams became even stronger.

“More kids are interested, more kids are staying in hockey and more parents are receptive to hockey,” he said. “As a result, in the big picture, our travel teams improve because they have that in-house culture of all those kids playing together because they loved meeting at our rink.”

But a dynamic in-house program needs players to succeed, so Alexandria expanded its beginner clinics with a boys offering last month.

“We realized we were missing an opportunity by only offering it to girls,” said Shriver, who hoped to draw more of the area’s best athletes. The response was fantastic. Sixty new boys enrolled for the six-session program, the last of which included a cross-ice game, and the total cost to each player was $25, a fee that included equipment costs. Afterward, Alexandria’s mite enrollment swelled.

“The kids loved it and the parents were blown away (by the ADM practices),” said Shriver. “It was amazing to see how the stations worked perfectly, even with kids who’ve never played before. By the third session, 60 kids that had never played hockey before were moving smoothly through a station-based practice.”

Mites to bantams, Alexandria’s hockey enrollment now exceeds 300 players for only the third time in history. Retention rates have also spiked, with potential for an unprecedented four squirt teams and three peewee teams on the horizon.

“The depth that we have is great, and it’s depth not just in numbers, but also in talent, so that’s an indication (of the ADM impact),” said Shriver. “When people see how the ADM is playing out at our mite, squirt and peewee level, there’s buy-in because they can see the benefits. The more people learn, the more they embrace what the ADM offers.”

[youtube id=”_iQyZaxgo94″ width=”620″ height=”360″]

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For more on this story, check out Joe Korkowski’s coverage at the Voice of Alexandria.

The post Alexandria coaches ‘channeling inner Sponge Bob’ appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

One year earlier, the Beavers dealt St. Cloud what was to be its only defeat of the season, a 4-1 setback in the second game of a Saturday doubleheader in Bemidji, and now the Huskies hoped to serve revenge cold, on their home ice, amidst the snow sculptures and pageantry of their annual winter carnival.

Bemidji came to the Granite City with eight Canadians on its roster including Paul Lafond, a senior center from Rainy River, Ontario, who paced the team in scoring for three straight seasons. St. Cloud countered with a Minnesota-made roster. Ed Noble, a senior wing from Minneapolis, and Henry “Skeeter” Hawkinson, a sophomore center from Wayzata, were the headliners, along with goaltender Rod Pickett, a junior from Baudette.

Now on opposite sides of the Bemidji-St. Cloud rivalry, only the Rainy River separated Lafond and Pickett during their schoolboy days. In fact, they played high school hockey together, in Baudette, due to Lafond moving in with his aunt and uncle south of the border. Then they went west together, enrolling at the University of North Dakota and skating with the Fighting Sioux freshmen. The prairie proved an ill fit for both, with Lafond packing for Bemidji and Pickett thinking about the Army after a single year in Grand Forks. Pickett’s sister, who lived just outside the St. Cloud city limits, suggested a less drastic alternative.

“She talked me into coming (to St. Cloud State),” said Pickett. “Her and Bill Fritsinger.”

A former high school teammate from Baudette, Fritsinger was already skating with the Huskies when the long-distance call came from North Dakota. He told Pickett to pack his pads and enroll. Changing schools, and hockey programs, was less bureaucratic in the early 1960s. Three days later, Pickett was starting in goal for the Huskies.

He soon discovered that many of his teammates were also refugees of a sort. Pickett became the fifth of St. Cloud’s front-line standouts to transfer in after a year of freshman hockey at the University of Minnesota or North Dakota. Others had served Army stints. Almost all of them were in their early 20s and most of them were looking for a fresh start.

“There was a group of us who realized, ‘geez, we need to get serious and graduate at some point,’” recalled Nobel, who would serve as the Huskies captain. “The University of Minnesota was big – there were so many students – so it was impossible to get the classes you needed. It wasn’t conducive to graduating. St. Cloud State was a smaller school, it was affordable, we could get our degrees and we could play hockey. That made it attractive for us.”

Phil Gens, another Minneapolis product, joined Nobel in St. Cloud. He remembered paying something like $50 for a quarter’s worth of credits and having enough gas money left over to play weeknight senior hockey games back in the Twin Cities. For him – and for so many of the Huskies – it was a perfect fit at the perfect time.

Sno Days Showdown

Temperatures hovered near zero, which made the still-falling snow crunch stiffly under the boots of St. Cloud students who lined the wooden boards. Among them was King Bruce Bauer and Queen Alma Shay, the newly minted Sno Days royalty, who joined the frozen festivities. The Sno Ball was still to come – maybe a cold beer and a warm slow dance too – but it would all be sweeter with an afternoon triumph over Bemidji.

St. Cloud entered the game undefeated in five contests, having bested Hamline University, Carleton College (twice), Northland College and the University of St. Thomas. Bemidji was 4-1, with its only loss coming at St. Thomas. The Huskies and Beavers were not only combatants for statewide small-school superiority, but on a more personal level as well.

St. Cloud’s Baudette trio – Pickett, Fritsinger and Jim Humeniuk, a defenseman – was raised 100 miles north of Bemidji and just across the border from some of the Beavers’ Canadian imports, stoking back-home rivalries that were friendly, but much more pleasant for the winning side.

“We had to beat Bemidji during the winter because we had to live with them during the summer,” said Pickett. “Any time we beat Bemidji, it was special for the three of us from Baudette because we could pour it on those guys all summer long.”

But before they could battle for bragging rights, the St. Cloud contingent had to clean the ice. There was no Zamboni and no arena crew to help. If the Huskies wanted to skate, they had to flood and scrape themselves – before, after and during the games.

“Our season didn’t start until winter quarter and that was always somewhere around the first week in January,” recalled Pickett. “Many of us would come back early from Christmas break to help build the ice. The maintenance crew would put up the boards and the rest was left up to us. On game days, we flooded and prepared the ice before the game and we scraped the ice between periods while our opponents rested. If it happened to be snowing that day, the official would stop play during the period and we would be responsible to remove the snow.”

Most of St. Cloud’s players came from the Twin Cities, where even the high school games were played inside, so the transition back to the elements was harsh, but not necessarily unpleasant.

“There was definitely some culture shock going from playing at the Minneapolis Arena, the St. Paul Auditorium or Williams Arena to playing outside, but that kind of added to the whole program at St. Cloud,” said Harry Stanius, a sophomore defenseman on the 1961-62 squad.

It was common to find a handful of Huskies, dimly lit by a frigid mid-winter moon, dousing the ice at midnight. On those late nights, covered in wool, leather and frozen slush, the St. Cloud boys forged a sturdy bond.

“We’d go to class, go to practice, go home to get something to eat, then come back to the rink to shovel and flood,” recalled Pickett. “It was a helluva effort, but we did it because we wanted to play. That was part of the reason our team had such great camaraderie – all that extra work we did together to take care of the rink.”

The Sno Days showdown against Bemidji was aptly named, with a steady snow falling throughout. That meant St. Cloud would have to beat the Beavers and the elements. With the festive crowd shuffling to stay warm, Gary Thorp, a junior center from Minneapolis, gave them reason to cheer with an early goal for St. Cloud. Bemidji tied it late in the first period, but St. Cloud struck twice in the second period with goals from Denny Songle and Les Etienne. The Beavers closed the margin to 3-2 late in the second, but as he so often did, Hawkinson put the game out of reach with a third-period goal.

A mid-1950s prep standout at Minnetonka High School, Hawkinson paired with Francis Rapley to lead the Skippers to their first taste of major success when, as seniors, they posted a 14-4-1 record in 1956. Both eventually found their way to the college hockey ranks – Hawkinson after an Army stint – becoming the first Minnetonka players to do so. Hawkinson starred in St. Cloud, while Rapley played for the Huskies’ bitter rival to the west, St. John’s University.

“Skeeter was the heart and soul of our team,” said Noble, who skated alongside him and Gens on the Huskies’ top line. “Some athletes are skilled, some have a head for the game and a love for the game, and some are fiercely competitive. Skeeter was all of this, along with having the speed to take the game to its highest level. He was someone special.”

Hawkinson’s goal gave St. Cloud a two-goal margin, which proved to be just enough as the Beavers scored late in the third, but couldn’t produce an equalizer.

The post Frozen Perfection: The 1962 St. Cloud State Huskies appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Jack Connolly
Photo: Färjestad BK hockey club

Menu limitations aside, Jack Connolly has adapted well to living and playing in Sweden.

Jack Connolly wants you to know that things are good in Sweden. Except the food. He’s been there for several months now and the food still isn’t good. But everything else is good and he’s looking forward to coming back to Minnesota when his European hockey adventure is done.

In the meantime, the recipient of last year’s Hobey Baker Memorial Award is skating for Farjestad BK in the Swedish Elite League, making plays and frequenting a very small American food section at his local grocery store.

He lives in a team-furnished apartment mere minutes from the rink. His town is Karlstad, which is a bit like Duluth, with 85,000 people and a big lake. Most of the residents speak some English and his longtime girlfriend is there with him, so the transition has been fairly smooth.

“It does remind me of home a little bit,” said Connolly, a Duluthian who skated at The Marshall School and with the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede before leading the University of Minnesota Duluth to a national championship. “It’s a great town and a great fit for us, because we’ve never really been big-city people. But the food is definitely different.”

So here we are, back to the food again.

“We found a couple of places that have a decent steak, but not too many,” he said. “They’re big on seafood here. Lots of fish. I like a white fish here or there, or maybe some walleye, but seafood isn’t my first choice. Sometimes they’ll even have that kind of stuff for a pre-game meal. I’m used to my normal pasta and chicken; they’ll come out with salmon and potatoes and schnitzel’s big over here too.

“I’m getting used to it a little, but I definitely miss the food from back home.”

His older brother, Chris, is also stationed in Europe, but he’s in Finland with Tappara of the SM-liiga. The food in Tampere is about the same and they speak less English there, which leaves the former Boston University standout feeling just as hungry but even more isolated.

The brothers use Skype often, comparing their experiences and swapping stories. In an unusual twist, they may be reunited as rivals in late December at the annual battle for European Trophy supremacy. Competition began in September, before European league play, and continued periodically through the fall. It will culminate this year in Bratislava and Vienna where Farjestad BK and Tappara could meet as a reward for finishing atop their respective divisions.

“It’s not for league points, but people still take it seriously,” said the younger Connolly, 23, who enjoyed a quick start in European Trophy play with three goals and eight assists in seven games. “It basically determines the top team in Europe, excluding Russia.”

Buoyed by his European Trophy success, Connolly turned heads quickly in Karlstad. Head coach Lief Carlsson paired him in various combinations with Christian Berglund, Patrik Lundh, Max Gortz and Marcus Paulsson, all of which rendered fairly positive results in his first tastes of the professional game.

“I feel like I’ve acclimated pretty well,” said Connolly. “I think the hockey suits me well. But I’ve still got some things to learn. The game over here issomuch different than the college game. You’ve got to have a really good mind to play well over here. The guys are so smart; so skilled with the puck. They’ll make plays that you don’t really think of – a lot of regroups and circling through the neutral zone – and with the bigger sheet, they’ve got more time and space, so you have to be good positionally. The pace is quick. It’s definitely great hockey.”

But despite the extra space and pace, it’s still a tight game, according to Connolly.

“It’s less grinding than the WCHA, but it’s still pretty defensive,” he said. “They aren’t big, bruising defensemen, but they’re very, very good positionally. You get in the corners and maybe try to spin off a guy, but they’re still right there. And there’s a lot of stick-on-stick so you can’t get shots off.”

In the locker room, Connolly sits beside Chris Lee, a Canadian defenseman and the only other North American player on the squad.

“He’s a great guy,” said Connolly. “He’s played professionally for a little while. It’s nice to have a more experienced guy that has been through pro hockey both in the U.S. and Europe. I’ve bounced a few questions off him, not just hockey questions, but random living things – like getting paid, setting up bank accounts – little details like that and he’s been helpful.”

Connolly also found out – in the most awkward way possible – that he had family nearby.

“On my mom’s side, I’m part Swedish, so the local media decided to dig a little deeper into the ancestry museum archives here. They ended up finding my seventh and eighth cousins, who lived within an hour or two of Karlstad. So they came to the arena and I got to meet them. They had this book on our ancestors in Sweden dating back to the 1400s, which was pretty incredible.”

So far, Connolly’s only real European mishap occurred not in his mingling with foreign culture, but in the relatively familiar surroundings of a hockey arena. He tweaked his groin early in the season and kept playing for a month before finally succumbing to it in late October. After skating in 166 straight games at UMD, a trip to the disabled list was truly foreign for Connolly, but it became a necessity nonetheless. He was back at practice in late November, though, eager for a return to the lineup.

“It was tough to watch the team play and not be able to contribute,” he said. “But we’ve been playing well and there are still a lot of games to play. We’re in a good position.”

Moving through the one-week national team break, Farjestad BK was firmly in the upper half of the 12-team Eliteserien. The top eight teams qualify for the postseason, which plays out in three best-of-seven rounds. The Le Mat Trophy is the ultimate goal – “they’re really serious about winning the gold, which is what they call it over here,” said Connolly – and no team has done it more often than Farjestad BK.

“They take that very seriously,” he said.

So it’s yet another championship pursuit for Connolly, this time on foreign soil, and he’s savoring the experience.

“I’m glad I made the choice to come over here,” he said. “I’m happy to be experiencing it. It took a little time to settle in and for this to start feeling like home, but now that we’re past that, it’s starting to feel good.”

About the author: Jayson Hron is a Minnesota-based freelance writer and hockey historian whose work can also be found on his blog, Historically Inclined.

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