Meet the Press: Jake Brandt goes the extra miles to insure lasting UND connection

Uh, headphones?

Skates?

A two-billed hat that reads insurance agent by weekday and hockey analyst by weekend?

Jake Brandt never tires of the inevitable banter that comes with plastering his name on his own State Farm insurance office in Brainerd, Minn. In fact, he embraced the 2011 advent of the long-running ad campaign, concomitant with the time he established his office.

“I get a lot of ‘what are you wearing, Jake from State Farm’? questions,” he confessed between chuckles during an exclusive phone chat with Pucks and Recreation.

“I actually enjoy it. I have a lot of fun with it. I have some ‘Jake from State Farm’ T-shirts that I give to a lot of people, and a pair of khakis.

“It’s been something that I’ve used to get some free advertising. It’s great.”

Leave to a former college hockey goaltender to guzzle the nectar of a good-natured occupational jesting. Entering the fraternity of crease custodians has a way of preparing one for that.

It also let Brandt enter a spontaneous side gig at the Midco Sports Network with less anxiety than he might otherwise. A 2005 graduate of the University of North Dakota, he saw action in 60 games for the squadron formerly known as the Fighting Sioux. That included the majority of the workload as a sophomore, then a virtual 50-50 split with Jordan Parise the next season.

Yet despite majoring in communications as an undergraduate, he admits to having no formal broadcasting experience prior to the fall of 2015. His continued involvement in hockey as a Bantam AA coach one state over, not to mention his ties to the proud UND program, were the attraction when Midco needed a new color commentator.

A domino phenomenon in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks helped to precipitate the opportunity as well. When native son Tyler Palmiscno, who overlapped with Brandt at UND for three years, left his post as the East Grand Forks High School boys’ coach, fellow alumnus and EGF athletic director Scott Koberisnki filled his skates.

As it happened, Koberisnki had been complementing play-by-play voice Dan Hammer in the Midco booth. But with ample scheduling conflicts ahead, he unplugged that gig.

“So they kind of brainstormed at UND and thought, ‘Who could we get that would maybe me colorful or would maybe come and enjoy doing this?’” Brandt recalled.

Distance would be the ostensible obstacle to dangling the offer before Brandt. Per Google Maps, the shortest drive from Brandt’s Brainerd office to Ralph Engelstad Arena covers 219 miles and takes an estimated three hours and 34 minutes.

That notwithstanding, Brandt said, “I am very passionate and loyal UND fan, and I thought it would be a great way to get reconnected back in and go to a bunch of games.”

Adjustments and tradeoffs

On no less than a half-dozen occasions in each of the past two seasons, Brandt has abbreviated his Friday at his Brainerd office. Covering a two-game series in Grand Forks entails taking off between 11 and noon, ensuring one hour to kill and check into a neighboring hotel before entering “The Ralph” and full broadcaster’s mode.

Brandt credits the men’s hockey programs sports information contact, Jayson Hajdu, and Grand Forks Herald beat reporter Brad Schlossman with supplying ample information for him to hit his analyst’s pond sprinting. He also cultivates firsthand information through a phone chat with Fighting Hawks bench boss Brad Berry on the Wednesday or Thursday before a home series.

Working with first-year play-by-play announcer Alex Heinert, he proceeds to mold the material into a fast-paced session of on-the-fly puck talk.

“The greatest thing about it is, depending on what happens on the ice, we kind of get paid to talk and have fun with it,” he said.

But there is also a symbiotic dependency between the duo. Heinert, who stepped in when Hammer pursued other opportunities, needed a commentator of Brandt’s background for his first wave of exposure to the UND hockey community.

“I’m always taken aback at how he knows everyone we come across,” Heinert told Pucks and Rec. “Parents of players, old teammates, lifelong UND fans…Simply put, Jake knows everybody and everybody knows Jake, and in most cases, it’s not just on the surface level. To me, that level of investment in a place over nearly two decades is special.

“In terms of hockey sense, Jake’s brilliant. He breaks down what happens in a play, tells you why it happened and usually tells you what could’ve been done to prevent it.

“It’s only his second year in an analyst role, so he’s still working on telling that to the viewers in the most concise manner possible, but it’s still pretty impressive to hear him digest everything’s that happening on the ice and on the benches in real time.”

Brandt, in turn, admits that he is still grasping the finer protocols of live game telecasts.

“It’s way more difficult than I think people think just because when you watch someone, people that have been doing it on the networks make it look so easy because they’re so good at it,” he said.

“The hardest thing is when you have your headset on and they’re talking to you in your ear but you have to continue talking and that was a little bit of a learning curve, just because you’re taught not to talk when someone’s taking to you. You have to listen to what they’re saying, because they’re telling you how time until a commercial break, and not try to lose track of your thought process.”

This season, there is at least no longer the nag of imminent commitments elsewhere. Weather conditions have tended to dictate how soon Brandt reverses his commute. If the forecast prompts caution, he may depart at 2 a.m. Sunday following the second installment of the series. Otherwise, the itinerary calls for a more leisurely return to reality.

He had more to consider, and less time to build up to the Saturday tilt the way one would on the Hockey Night In Canada crew, when he also wore the Brainerd Bantam AA coach’s cap. In 2015-16, he occasionally squeezed a morning game elsewhere in the state or across the border between Parts I and II of the UND weekend. He usually followed his hasty return to Grand Forks with another bolt to another Brainerd commitment before finally hustling home. 

Just like Koberinski the year before him, Brandt had to choose between the coach or commentator bill on his second-job lid.

Unlike Koberinski, he kept the latter. That choice, combined with the grueling commute it entailed, “speaks volumes of the place North Dakota hockey has in his life,” Heinert said.

Blue-paint patriotism

Brandt, originally from Roseau, Minn., still holds a pair of less consuming puck positions in his home state. He sits on the Let’s Play Hockey magazine’s Minnesota Minute Men club, which votes on the scholastic Mr. Hockey and Frank Brimsek Awards. In addition, he keeps his skates sharp for Monday night shifts as a goaltending instructor for various Brainerd teams.

If the Midco job underscores his devotion to his alma mater, the other rink-based gigs he retained for 2016-17 speak to his loyalty to the clan that every former and current goaltender comprises. The Brimsek Award is Minnesota interscholastic hockey’s answer to college hockey’s Mike Richter Award.

Both honors have, at one time, gone to Zane McIntyre (nee Gothberg), a Thief River Falls product and UND alumnus. Brandt had coached McIntyre in the Bantam ranks, but barely missed out on calling any of his college career. McIntyre inked a professional contract before what would have been his senior season in 2015-16, Brandt’s first in the Midco booth.

But that twist also allowed Brandt to witness a storyline that hit home. McIntyre’s exit left a vacancy to be filled by one of three successors who combined for a paltry 43 minutes and 19 seconds of prior collegiate experience.

All of those minutes and seconds belonged to Cam Johnson, but fresh off a draft selection by the Philadelphia Flyers, Matej Tomek was an eye-catching candidate. Lone upperclassman Matt Hrynkiw was raring to finally earn his stripes as well.

But Tomek’s preseason injury bumped Johnson from his presumptive backup post. He would need to shake off an October injury of his own to ultimately wrest the No. 1 job back from Hrynkiw.

By season’s end, after back-to-back Frozen Four semifinal losses failed to consummate McIntyre’s ornate tenure, Johnson was an NCAA champion backstop.

“That was the big question mark coming into last year,” Brandt said. “Zane had left, they needed goaltending and it turned out that with Cam Johnson, there was no falloff from when Zane left.”

He added, “Cam Johnson’s been brilliant this year in my eyes. (The team) just lost a lot (of skaters) from last year. Defensively, they lost a lot as well, so his job is a lot tougher.”

Brandt cited “not being a homer” as the toughest aspect of his current job at Engelstad Arena. While he was referring to the need to tame his built-in loyalty to his alma mater, he could just easily be talking about lifetime goaltender’s fraternity membership.

Putting it another way, he is as much a member of what the Twitterverse dubs #goalienation as he is a part of UND’s all-time roster.

Brandt believes those in UND’s annals got hooked on the hashtag through Karl Goehring, who backstopped the program’s previous national title in 2000 and now volunteers on Berry’s coaching staff. Both masked men, who missed overlapping at the school by one summer, regularly post original stick salutes to their successors or retweet comparable content.

“I think the goalie nation thing is one of those things where everyone is kind of obsessed with being on our own,” Brandt said.

On their own in body, yet unified in spirit. And it is not exclusive to the crest and colors on one’s jersey, either. Case in point: Atte Tolvanen’s recent bid to break Blaine Lacher’s NCAA shutout streak record.

The Northern Michigan contemporary matched one mark of five straight 60-minute goose eggs. But the former Lake Superior State standout’s run of 375:01 without a setback remained on top when Tolvanen’s streak ended at 339:05.

There was added excitement around Grand Forks when Johnson went on his own lengthy tear of perfection last winter. Johnson’s streak of 298:25 enveloped four straight shutouts between December 2015 and January 2016.

In both cases, ex-netminders were hanging on every second, as it meant positive publicity for the position.

 “We all want to see goaltenders succeed and do well and make us proud,” said Brandt. “So the fact that when you wear the pads and you’ve been a part of that, you can appreciate when you see a goaltender who is having success.

“You make sure to watch it just because you gravitate towards goaltenders and success. We pay attention to the success that they have. The goalie nation thing is just that, we are a little bit single out, people tease us and joke about us. We kind of embrace it a little bit. We’re a little different and a little odd because we take great pride in the position that we play.”

Only the best

Despite the experiential discrepancies between his past and present roles in “The Ralph,” Brandt insists that playing net “was a more stressful job.” But having now catered to a home arena mass and a home television audience for roughly the same number of games, he appreciates the sustained pleasure of catering to Fighting Hawks (nee Sioux) fanatics.

Brandt likens the scrutiny of the Grand Forks fans to those of the Montreal Canadiens in that they “expect nothing but the best, and if you’re not, they let you know a little bit about it.”

Given that Montreal’s Bell Centre boasts the largest seating capacity in the NHL, the comparison has credibility. Engelstad Arena is an anomalous mansion of a college hockey venue that accommodates 11,643 spectators.

Those who have a share of the power over what happens between the boards aim to sustain a high volume and positive tone for two-plus hours. If all goes according to their plan, they will literally set off fireworks at the final horn.

For those working the booth, the task is merely sustaining concentration and talking over the clamor. No worries about talking down to the viewer in this market.

“When we do our broadcasts, we know we’re going out to a lot of people just because of the fan base that UND does have,” Brandt said. “It’s not like we are telling the audience anything they don’t know because they are so knowledgeable, so there’s no way to go sugarcoat it when they’re playing poorly, because they know.”

Because of that, not unlike the skaters who service them, Hawks fans will pounce on any elevated challenge beyond their turf. Besides a slew of Frozen Four appearances in recent years, they have flocked to NCHC road games and regular-season neutral-site contests in other time zones.

Madison Square Garden hosted three games hosting a combined six college hockey programs this season. Of those six teams, North Dakota made the longest trip. Yet the crowd of 11,348 for its bout with Boston College eclipsed the 10,148 that took in New Hampshire-Cornell and dwarfed the 5,002 that turned out for Wisconsin-Ohio State.

Early this February, tickets went on sale for an Oct. 27, 2018 date with the Minnesota Gophers at Las Vegas’ Orleans Arena. With another 20 months left before that game, all 7,773 seats have already been claimed.

“Not many college programs can go out to New York and pack as many people in a Madison Square Garden venue and have it be a success like UND can,” Brandt said. “Not many people can go down to Vegas and literally sell out a 7,500-seat building in seconds on Ticketmaster, and that’s because of the Champions Club and the fan base.”

One’s objectivity is perfectly intact after one makes that statement. Still, as is relatively common among regional network color commentators, the inner ex-player is not always so inner.

Then again, that is what draws a man of Brandt’s ilk to a job of this nature. It will take more than a semimonthly seven-hour round trip to keep him away from Engelstad’s allure.

“We’re very proud at UND of what we put out on the ice as a product,” Brandt said. “We feel we have the best coaching staff in the country, we have the best facilities in the country, we have the best trainers in the country, we have the best sports information directors in the country, the best beat writers in our college area.”

“We gravitate toward the team,” he added. “We put a lot of pressure on the UND hockey team, but in saying that, we recruit guys that we feel can go in and have success at that level.

“I say ‘we’ (even though) I’m not a part of the team, but I’m a part of the past and tradition, and I’m one of the most loyal alums that there are, and there’s a lot of them out there.”

As far as Heinert is concerned, in the words of Prymaat Conehead, that assessment “sounds most appropriate.”

“Of course, if he wasn’t on the air, he’d be in Ralph Engelstad Arena for the majority of these games as a supporter,” Heinert said. “But we’re certainly happy with his choice to remain in the broadcast booth. He’s a great combination of a former player, proud alumnus, knowledgeable coach and passionate fan, and it shows in his call on game days.”

Life After Hockey: Karen Thatcher reaching delayed grad-ification in physical therapy

Karen Thatcher does not hesitate to initiate a change of course if she sees the need. She transferred from one Division I hockey program to another in both her playing and coaching endeavors. In between, she modified her preferred landing spot in the healthcare sphere on the fly.

So when, at age 26, the 2010 U.S. Olympian sensed that others were pushing her retirement clock too quickly, she took action.

The proverbial war of attrition that was the tune-up tour and culminating Vancouver tournament left Thatcher in need of spring back surgery. As she transitioned to her rehabilitation regimen that summer, a chance to upgrade her silver medal to gold in 2014 was the obvious beacon.

Obvious, that was, to her. Not so much to her first physical therapist.

“I like to say that he helped me rehab back to my mom’s life, but not to mine,” Thatcher told Pucks and Recreation. “I could have worked a desk job and walked around the block, but I was not prepared to play hockey. It was very frustrating and upsetting.”

With that, she effectively fired her therapist and found a replacement who agreed to collaborate with her strength and conditioning instructor. The move, not unlike the prolonged detour on the ice that precipitated her injury to begin with, cemented another new long-term aspiration.

“The teamwork of care I received that finally helped me recover was inspiring, and quite literally changed my life,” said Thatcher, who had previously planned to pursue a career as an orthopedic surgeon before her big break with the national team.

“I vowed to study physical therapy so that I could help bridge this gap between athletic training, strength and conditioning and physical therapy to help all athletes recover and pursue their dreams to the best of their physical ability.”

Thatcher, who will turn 33 at the end of February, is now three months away from obtaining her doctorate at The Ohio State University. She intends to shuffle to a position in sports medicine next year while continuing to chase a Ph.D. in health and rehabilitation sciences at the same school.

With her dual degree, she hopes to take to her new field what she had brought to the rink earlier this decade. That is, the energy to practice and preach the game simultaneously.

Persistence produces new passion

Raised in Douglas, Mass., a suburb of Worcester, Thatcher tallied numbers and accrued accolades that inevitably exuded top-notch potential on the ice. In 2002, she finished her scholastic career at Noble and Greenough School with 222 points. That same year, the Boston Bruins bestowed the John Carlton Award on her as the region’s top girls’ player.

When she arrived at Brown University, the Digit Murphy-led program had just seen three of its four 1998 Nagano gold medalists return for the second women’s hockey Olympic tournament in Salt Lake City. The Bears were also coming off their first (and still only) NCAA tournament bid.

Thatcher would stick to the Ivy League institution for one season, retaining a 4.0 GPA all the while, before transferring crosstown to Providence College, which had produced an unmatched seven 1998 and four 2002 U.S. Olympians. As a junior, she posted a college career campaign with 58 points and piloted the Friars to their fourth consecutive conference postseason pennant.

She topped the team charts again as a senior in 2005-06, good for a share of Hockey East MVP honors and Patty Kazmaier consideration. Nonetheless, she presumed nothing in the way of a long-term international or lucrative professional playing gig.

With her eye still on a career in orthopedics, she joined the British Columbia Breakers semipro team with intent to fill a gap year before launching her graduate studies. But fortune broke a friendly grin that fall when she was placed on the national team.

“I decided to put my academic aspirations on hold while I pursued my athletic dreams, knowing that I could always return to school but I could only be an elite athlete for so long,” she said.

Three nomadic, back-and-forth seasons between the international ranks and the Western and Canadian Women’s Leagues culminated in regular action at the Vancouver Olympics. America’s 2-0 gold-medal loss to Canada, followed by the effects of her back ailment, only whet Thatcher’s appetite to rerun the four-year sequence.

“I felt very strongly that I could not retire while injured, because that would be giving up on myself,” she said.

In late May 2010, the Colgate Raiders brought Thatcher closer to home through an assistant coaching vacancy. She would last barely 12 weeks there before pouncing on an equivalent opening at her alma mater.

Between her return to Providence and the concurrent advent of the CWHL’s Boston Blades, Thatcher prolonged her formal involvement in the game for three more seasons. Serendipity had extended her playing days. It had allowed her to reunite with head coach Bob Deraney at PC and with her former Brown bench boss, Murphy, in the Hub.

And it laid the groundwork for her next change of heart.

Thatcher admitted that, over time, orthopedic surgery “felt too impersonal to me, and, more importantly, I discovered I don’t really care for the operating room.”

Conversely, she continued, “Through the many injuries sustained over a 25-year career in hockey, I discovered a love for physical therapy. I loved learning about how the human body moves and how to manipulate this movement to facilitate recovery.

“Each time I sustained an injury, it was always my physical therapist that helped me heal both physically and emotionally. I knew this was how I wanted to help others.”

New schools of thought

The last of Thatcher’s injuries aborted her bid for a passport to Sochi one year ahead of the 2014 Games. In a Blades road bout with the Calgary Inferno, she endured what she characterized as “the third time I had sustained a concussion where I lost consciousness.”

Two months later, the Olympic team began its first phase of preparation by assembling its candidates for 2013 summer tryouts. When Thatcher got the call that April, she reluctantly declined the offer.

“It’s been four years since that concussion, and I still notice lingering deficits,” she admitted. “While I never wanted to retire while injured, I didn’t feel that I could take that risk with my brain given the new information begin released regarding concussions and long-term consequences.”

Having procured more money as a personal trainer and as a nanny after leaving her two-year coaching stint at PC, Thatcher eased into the off-ice life she had resolutely resisted in 2010. By the time her ex-teammates were resetting after yet another Olympic heartbreak, she was answering her revised call to Columbus.

Eight years removed from leaving Providence with an undergraduate degree in biology and Summa Cum Laude distinctions, Thatcher chose OSU’s DPT/Ph.D. dual degree program as her next academic challenge. Students complete their clinical degree in a three-year period, then carry on with the longer road toward certification to teach the field at a university.

The latter will be Thatcher’s primary focus after she finishes the former in May. As the department’s website explains, “It requires you to conceive and successfully complete an original investigation to develop original knowledge in your field. At the completion of the Ph.D., you write a dissertation, which may be the equivalent of a few published research articles. Hence, the Ph.D. prepares you to become an independent scientific investigator in your field of study. In our program, it also prepares you to become a leader and effective teacher in your profession.”

Critical thoughts are already brewing in what will soon be a patient-turned-therapist and student-turned-master’s head. A more assertive pitch for the profession is at the forefront of her agenda. Behind it, she hopes to help unearth more methods of healing that can substitute for surgery.

“As Americans, we tend to want the quickest and ‘best’ fix, and we have come to believe as a society that for many musculoskeletal injuries, this must be a surgical procedure,” Thatcher said.

“However, I’ve learned over the past three years that surgery isn’t always the answer. An appropriately administered course of physical therapy can often help individuals avoid surgery. I’ve come to really value the ability of physical therapy prior to surgical interventions to alleviate pain, correct abnormal movement mechanics and potentially avoid surgery.”

‘…an incomparable preparation…’

The what-ifs from the journey to Russia that never was still roam around Thatcher’s quarters like a pocket-size pachyderm. The unfulfilled mystery loiters, but she values the existing gains as they apply to her new ambitions.

“After the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, I felt I had more hockey in me,” she said. “I knew I wasn’t done yet. It was my dream to complete my hockey career in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, and it is still disappointing that my concussion in 2013 kept me from competing for that opportunity.

“While I will never know whether or not I would have made that Olympic team, I am able to look back and know that I did everything I could and that I gave all that I had. This means everything to me. To be able to move forward in my life with no regrets, knowing that I gave everything within me to work toward my dreams.”

To that point, other IIHF jamborees in China, Finland and Sweden sandwiched her 2010 Olympic excursion. She credits those opportunities with prolonging the pleasure of full-fledged hockey involvement while expanding her interpersonal horizons, which she will value in her next occupation.

Ditto the knowhow on how to handle “working in a fast-faced team environment” and “the intangible characteristics of determination, hard work and enthusiasm which high-level sport cultivates.”

She added, “Couple all of this with an intense appreciation for physical activity and the capabilities of the human body, and my career in hockey provided an incomparable preparation for my career in physical therapy."

The 2011 and 2012 Four Nations Cup, where the Americans took first place in Scandinavia, proved to be Thatcher’s last go-around in the Star-Spangled Sweater. But they were also part of the extension on her playing days she had proactively ensured by changing the personnel on her rehab regime post-Vancouver.

As she nears her clinical certification, she is itching to return a favor to the next athletic generation. When she relives the restoration scenario on the other side of the partnership, she aims to get the objective right the first time.

“It is imperative that patients trust their physical therapist,” she said. “With my background as an athlete, I am able to empathize with my patients, which helps them trust that I truly do understand how they may be feeling and thus trust my treatment a bit more.”

Lee Stecklein maxes the meaning of the word 'champion'

Lee Stecklein has stood in awe on a field flanked by a seating bowl hovering around a 50,000-spectator capacity. Far from the proverbial fish out of water, she savored the occasion in the company of fellow elite pucksters and members of other communities deviating the daily norm and enjoying one another’s company.

And she did it while absorbing an event whose brevity in duration masks the lengthy, painstaking toil that goes into perfecting its presentation.

The venue: What is Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi?

The occasion: What were the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2014 Winter Games?

Were he furnishing the clue, Alex Trebek would have to technically accept those as correct responses. But the fresher, more frequent two-part answer is the HopeDay Festival at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

Sure, that gap year between her freshman and sophomore campaign at the University of Minnesota let Stecklein absorb a few tear-jerking beauties overseas. The active effort to animate the concept of global harmony around an assortment of athletic affairs was anything but old to the youngest member of the 2014 U.S. women’s team.

But barely 18 months later, her return to reality yielded its own fields of fulfillment. Her HopeDay experiences have let her witness local pediatric hospital patients in their own escape from everyday life.

“There was kind of a dance party at my team’s station,” Stecklein recalled in a phone interview with Pucks and Recreation. “So we kind of joined the dance party, and to see all of the kids kind of ignore their troubles and dance away, it made a few of my teammates cry just watching it.”

The spontaneous rave reached a new level when Stecklein and company watched as a wheelchair user “just took over the dance floor.”

In that display, Stecklein saw a grateful beneficiary accepting a spotlight she had devoted the better part of her summer to illuminating.

The Gophers senior blueliner admits she entered college with little community service to speak of. She had a foundation for working with children, chiefly by way of hockey instructional clinics.

Those experiences, along with visiting children’s hospitals, made her service segue way. Beyond that, outreach beyond the rink remained largely uncharted territory.

Still, by the time she was crossing into the university’s upperclassmen range, she was raring to set a tone in the athletic department’s signature philanthropy program.

The result: HopeDay’s first installment to take place entirely at the campus football venue, with Stecklein as one of the select student-athletes spearheading the operation. Opposite tennis player Tereza Brichacova and rower Vanessa Johnston, she had interned with the university athletic department’s MAGIC (Maroon and Gold Impacting the Community) program the preceding summer.

Each autumn since 2006, MAGIC has conducted the annual HopeDay carnival for Twin Cities-area children facing cancer and other adverse health problems. Its 10th installment — conducted on Sept. 14, 2015 — cracked a new plateau by hosting more than 1,000 visitors and by setting up all of its stations at the stadium.

For Stecklein, size tells all in both that breakthrough edition and its follow-up earlier this academic year.

“To have it at TCF Bank Stadium for the first time allowed it to be the biggest event ever,” she said, “and I’m glad it’s going to be there from now on.” 

‘…feel like a very normal person’

The way Merriam-Webster prioritizes its definitions of “champion” make a ladder of Stecklein’s growth from sheer sports celebrity to community collaborator. At No. 4 out of four, the dictionary offers, “a winner of first prize or first place in competition” and “one who shows marked superiority.”

The South St. Paul native caught Gopher bench boss Brad Frost’s attention by fitting those descriptions well enough. She keyed Roseville Area High School to a state playoff crown in 2010, then a close bid for another title in 2012. In between, her emergence as a two-way connoisseur earned her a host of USA Hockey action within her age group at the time.

Crossing the Mississippi River and entering the state’s signature campus elicited — albeit in the most metaphorical terms — what Merriam-Webster may dub Stecklein’s inner “one that does battle for another’s rights” (ranked third on the definition scroll) and “militant advocate or defender” (second).

“I think just being a D-I athlete, you get exposed to a lot of great causes,” she mused.

Stecklein’s college trophy case and list of favorite charitable causes mismatch with her unsatisfied, unassuming demeanor. She has won an NCAA title in each of her first three seasons with the Gophers, then cherried each of those runs by helping Team USA to gold at the IIHF World Championship.

If Minnesota three-peats as the national champions this March, Stecklein will be the first U.S. college hockey player of either gender to garner four rings. Per her public LinkedIn profile, she already has a quartet of philanthropic interests in animal welfare, children, the environment and human rights.

The latter is a testament to her all-around evolution since coming to Frost’s capstone class with intent to build on a winning tradition. Through the MAGIC initiative, she found another guru to emulate in student-athlete development director Anissa Lightner.

Lightner is a 17-year veteran of the university, specializing in preparing all Gophers for life beyond sports and overseeing every community service endeavor. Stecklein proclaims her “one of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet.”

In an August 2010 YouTube spot, Lightner underscored her personal principle of exemplary leadership, stating, “I try to give back in my own personal life through volunteering and different opportunities, and sometimes I’ll see our athletes and they’re, like, ‘What are you doing out here?’ And I’m, like, ‘It’s really hard for me to encourage you to give back if I’m not giving back myself.’”

Stecklein saw that paradigm up close on a daily basis through her internship in the summer of 2015. The definition of that year’s internship corresponded with the ambition and grind that went into mutating HopeDay as everyone knew it.

For the interns, it instilled the same sort of realization a latter-day George Plimpton might reach upon joining a full-fledged workout with Stecklein’s skating sorority. But Stecklein proved to be no mere for-a-day Plimptonian in MAGIC. A craving for self-rewarding virtue took sway and refreshed itself each time she looked at Lightner after a full work day.

“It’s amazing that she has the energy to still have a smile on her face,” Stecklein observed. “It really opened my eyes to that. You feel like a very normal person.”

New goals, new places

Delving into her final semester at Minnesota, Stecklein is staring at an unprecedented long-term venture outside of the Twin Cities. The NWHL’s Buffalo Beauts made her their top draft choice last spring, and she is a viable candidate for the 2017-18 national team leading up to next February’s Olympics.

Save for the 2013-14 tour in preparation for Sochi, she has only experienced fleeting glimpses of other localities for hockey. But as part of her studies in the university’s Carlson School, where she is majoring in entrepreneurial management, she selected Australia for her required journey abroad.

After hanging up her second variety pack of an NCAA trophy and IIHF gold medal, she joined two teammates on a two-week, strictly academic excursion in May 2015.

“Just to see another country that way and thinking about getting involved abroad with a cause is something I would definitely consider in the future,” she said.

Her travel bag has also accrued stickers from Canada, the Czech Republic, Sweden and, most recently, Finland. All of those were the sites of short-term tournaments, including America’s victory at this past November’s Four Nations Cup.

But not unlike the glowering gold-medal Olympic omission, Stecklein’s itch to size up her outside interests in other nations remains unattended.

“It’s hard,” she conceded. “When we are traveling, we see a very small part of each country; not a lot of time for sightseeing. I would like to go to those countries to get a broader perspective.”

Barring an unexpected twist, Stecklein has a passport to Pyeongchang in the works for February 2018. That would add South Korea to her list of first-hand glimpses at other countries while delaying her arrival in Buffalo by a year.

“I’m not quite sure where I’ll end up or what I’ll end up doing,” she said. “But wherever I am, my time at ‘the U’ has made me realize how important it is to get involved in my community.”

For Cornell’s Beau Starrett, hockey is a family affair

(Photo courtesy of Cornell Athletics)

 

Fans of NHL players can easily point out that some superstars were just born to play hockey. In other cases, family history can be a harbinger of success, or at least an indicator of potential.

For Cornell Big Red sophomore forward Beau Starrett, it is a mixture of both.

Starrett has ties across all of college hockey in his immediate family. As the youngest of four brothers, he benefited from growing up in a household where a trip to a rink was routine.

“Having three brothers play hockey is pretty rare,” Starrett admitted in an interview with Pucks and Recreation.  “It was always something big in our family, whether it was hockey clinics or games. It was always good to have brothers to look up to and push me to do better.”

Starrett’s siblings can write quite an interesting hockey story. His oldest brother, Pete, played at Harvard from 2008 to 2012, while Troy, the second-oldest, was a captain at Babson College’s Division III program. Shane Starrett is currently a sophomore goaltender playing for the Air Force Academy.

“It is funny, because we always have a little friendly competition between each other to help us perform,” laughed Beau. “We almost have a full line of hockey players with two forwards, a defenseman and a goalie.”

Beyond the friendly competition, Starrett had multiple family members he could model his game after.

“Growing up, I remember attending my older brothers’ games,” said Starrett. “I remember going to Harvard-versus-Cornell and feeling the electric atmosphere during that game. I knew that Cornell had a great program and it has been a good journey getting to this point.”

 

Starrett, who battled back from two long-term injuries in as many seasons in 2014-15 and 2015-16: “I just remember who and what motivates me to do better.” (Photo courtesy of Cornell Athletics)

 

Finding his own way

That journey has not always been easy. You could say that being the youngest sibling in a hockey family imposes immense pressure to perform, but Beau has had to face many challenges in his playing career, the most significant of which have been injuries.

One ailment limited him to just seven games in his final season with the South Shore Kings of the USPHL. Another one early last season only allowed him to play 15 games for Cornell.

“I view the injuries as a speed bump,” said Starrett. “They have motivated me to do whatever it takes to overcome challenges.”

Starrett’s desire to push past these injuries and focus on hockey has helped enable the Cornell team to get off to a quick start this season. With a goal in this past Friday’s victory over Miami, Starrett helped the Big Red push a winning streak to four games.

Starrett credits his hockey family for his ability to supersede any future challenges that come his way.

“I just remember who and what motivates me to do better,” said Starrett, who hopes to play for the Chicago Blackhawks after they selected him in the 2014 NHL Draft. He knows that he could be presented with a possibility that could be even rarer than having three older hockey-playing brothers who play hockey, and that is a playing career in the professional ranks.

“Peter works as a financial consultant and Troy works in wealth management,” said Starrett about his brothers’ success outside the rink. “However, I would like to keep playing for as long as possible. It is tough to get away from the hockey world.”

 

- John Morton

A new chapter in the Riley family hockey story

What do you want to want to be when you grow up?

This question was one that we all heard throughout our younger years. For most, the answer was something generic. A firefighter, a police officer or maybe a pilot.

For Jack and Brendan Riley, the answer was more specific: Division I hockey player.

The Riley family is well known throughout the college hockey world. Jack and Brendan's grandfather John (Jack) Riley, played hockey at Dartmouth and coached at Army West Point for 36 years. Of his five children, one son played at Harvard, two at Boston College, one at Brown and his daughter played at St. Lawrence.

After he stopped coaching at Army, his son, Rob, took over, and was eventually joined by his brother — Jack and Brendan's father, Brian — who assisted. In 2004, Brian took over as head coach, and now enters his 13th season and the 67th consecutive year with a Riley as the Black Knights bench boss.

Jack and Brendan are two of Brian's three children, with daughter Dani being the middle child. As a Division I hockey head coach, it is easy to understand how his children all grew up to be athletes. Jack plays hockey at Mercyhurst University, where he is a redshirt junior. Dani played four years of lacrosse at Merrimack, while Brendan is joining his brother as a freshman for the Lakers this season.

'On skates at an early age'

Raising children while being a Division I hockey coach could make it difficult to balance time between home and work. However, it also allows for an opportunity to expose one's children to the game at a young age. Brian Riley shared his memories of how his sons got into hockey with Pucks and Recreation.

"It's kind of funny, Jack was on skates when he was one, just kind of walking around the rink on his skates," he said. "They were both on skates at an early age, but with me being a coach and being up here at the rink and them coming up to see me at the office and watch games.

"It's just a sport that they really fell in love with, and being around the rink as much as they were really drew them to the sport."

Jack and Brendan both have numerous memories of being around their dad at work growing up. This lifestyle naturally influenced their interest in hockey, though whether they would each sustain that passion all the way to the NCAA level was not always certain at the start.

"Growing up, and I'm sure my dad would tell you the same thing, everyone didn't know if I was actually going to be a hockey player," Brendan admitted to P&R. "He would always tell me 'You know, Brendan, you don't have to play hockey if you don't want.' But being around the program and being around such a good hockey mind helped me learn the game."

Perhaps those initial doubts came as a result of one of Brendan's early hockey experiences.

"It's a pretty funny story," he said, "I was playing mini-mites or something. I was playing a game, and I got my first penalty. I think I two-handed a guy who took the puck from me and I was crying in the box, so that's pretty much the first thing I remember: Sobbing."

That notwithstanding, the two brothers would develop dreams of growing up to play Division I college hockey, but achieving that is much easier said than done. They both had to work hard, go to prep school and play in juniors to eventually live the dream.

"It was at an early age that I saw that he (Jack) really did have good hockey sense," Brian said, "and that's something that you can't teach as you get older. That gave him a solid foundation and he worked on the other parts of his game, just getting bigger and stronger.

"He also has an unbelievable trait: He loves to play but he wants to win, and you can see that when he's out on the ice.

"Brendan, on the other hand, is a different player than Jack. Good size, skates well, and really was kind of a late bloomer. He went away Kimball Union in New Hampshire prep school for two years and had success there. I think watching him over those two years, his skating ability and knowing that he's getting bigger that there's a good chance that he would have an opportunity to play Division I college hockey."

Off to Mercyhurst

Their play in prep school and juniors got the brothers onto the recruiting radar. When it came time for Jack to decide where to go, familiarity played a big role. He shared the factors in his college decision with P&R.

"I grew up watching the (Atlantic Hockey) league play, so I had seen Mercyhurst multiple times," Jack said. "They've always been one of the good teams in the league; they are at the top of the league every year. When it came time to choose colleges, the assistant coach (at the time) Bobby Ferraris called me and he said they were interested, so I came here to visit and I just fell in love with the campus.

"I grew up knowing Coach (Rick) Gotkin, too, and he's always been a good guy and a good coach in the league, so when it came to choose I felt like Mercyhurst would be a good spot."

Jack is now entering his fourth year at Mercyhurst. However, unlike the previous three, a new chapter begins, as he will no longer be the only Riley on campus. Besides his new teammate in Brendan, his sister Dani is joining the Laker community as a graduate assistant lacrosse coach.

It may seem somewhat improbable for three children from the east side of New York State to end up at a small school in Erie, Pa. However, the development did not really surprise Brian.

"They are a close-knit bunch, and they like the feel of a small school," he said. "Jack has really enjoyed his experience, so that kind of drew Brendan there. When Dani was looking at grad school, she had the idea of 'Wow, maybe I can go to Mercyhurst and be there with Jack and Brendan.' It's really kind of neat how it worked out."

Not only will the three be attending the same school, but this season will be the first time Jack and Brendan are on the same team in competitive hockey. With both being forwards, it is also possible that they could see time on the same line.

"We've played in summer leagues together, like men's leagues and stuff like that," said Jack. "I always joke and tell people that it's going to be hard not to yell at him on the ice because normally I yell at him to do this and do that because he's my brother, so it's easy.

"I think it would be fun playing with him. Just from the aspect that he's my brother and that I've never been able to play with him. I know what type of player he is, we actually kind of fit together. He's got the speed and the body type I wish I had. I definitely think it would be a cool experience, and if it were ever to happen against my dad's team that would be even more crazy."

Brendan had similar thoughts in terms of the idea of playing with Jack. Not only would it be an opportunity to play with his brother, but as a freshman playing with an established upperclassman, it would be a valuable learning experience as he looks to establish himself. He also envisioned being on the receiving end of some passes from his brother.

"I'm sure he'd set me up for a few backdoor tap-ins," he expressed.

'Army's basically been my favorite team'

Playing against the team they grew up rooting for (Army) is certainly a unique aspect of playing at an Atlantic Hockey rival. To go along with that, playing against Army of course means playing against a team coached by their father.

Jack has experienced this already in his career. He certainly rose to the occasion during one of the meetings with his father's team. On Dec. 6, 2014 Jack scored two goals and added two assists en route to a 6-3 victory over the Black Knights in West Point.

But for Brendan, that first encounter will come on Jan. 13, in the rink he practically grew up in.

"I always tell everyone that it's probably the hardest thing I've ever done," he said. "It's super difficult. I've grown up and Army's basically been my favorite team in any sport. We grew up basically going to all of my dad's games, even the away games.

"So when I made the decision to go to Mercyhurst, I kind of thought in the back of my mind, 'I could still root for Army,' just not when we play against them."

Despite the admitted difficulty of playing against Army, Jack has clearly shown the ability to succeed. When asked if his brother had any advice to offer about playing against Army, Brendan joked, "I know they normally try to take a couple runs at him, so probably keep my head up."

Their dad certainly knows what it is like to return home to play against one's father. All of the brothers in Brian's generation paid the same visits to West Point when the elder Jack — who passed away in February at the age of 95 — was coaching the opposition; a homecoming of sorts.

"I always knew how excited we were to come back to play against my dad," Brian reflected. "More just because of being able to play at West Point, our home. We wanted to make our dad proud of hopefully playing well. I'm sure the boys are going through the same thing. The opportunity to come back and play here at West Point in front of family and friends, play in the rink where they grew up, is probably really exciting for them." 

It is definitely a special moment when Mercyhurst and Army face off for all members of the Riley family. As the coach of the opposing team, however, Brian has to balance the role of being a coach and a parent. While he has to do his job during the course of the game, he allows himself to appreciate the moments in brief spurts before and after.

"At the start of the game when you see him introduced and he comes out to the blue line, you're just really proud as a parent," he said. "As a coach, the game is going on and it's pretty fast and I'm not saying that I don't notice when he's out there, I do, but it's really after the game where I can watch video and see how he played. It is really exciting, and I just can't imagine what it will be like to have both of them out there.

"It's always been a special moment for me after the game to be able to go through the line and give Jack a big hug afterwards, and now to be able to give them both a hug afterwards will be really, really special and something that I'll always cherish."

Jack can appreciate that balance as well. He realizes that his dad is doing his job and doing what he can to help his team win. At the same time, he knows how much his father hopes for the best for him.

"The first time I remember just looking up and I was almost in awe seeing him on the other bench because I knew deep down he was rooting for me but at the same time he can't root for the team," Jack said. "He always jokes and says 'I hope my son scores a hat trick, but we win the game 4-3.'”

More coaches to come?

Playing hockey has been a big part of the Riley's lives. For many members of the family, after their playing careers ended, they were able to continue to their heavy hockey involvement through coaching.

Brian was able to grow up learning from Jack, who besides his lengthy NCAA tenure coached Team USA to its first Olympic gold medal in 1960.

"I think what I learned from my dad is that the most important thing is to care for your players more as people than hockey players," Brian said. "When you do that you create this relationship and develop this bond with your players that it's really about kind of being part of a family. When you have that bond as a coach with your players, they will do anything for you."

This desire and passion for coaching is something that appears to have been passed on to his children. His daughter has already taken her first opportunity as a coach. Along with her, both of his sons have expressed interest in coaching someday.

Given the knowledge base they have developed and growing up in a family full of hockey, Brian thinks the job would bode well for Jack and Brendan.

"I'm sure if that's what they do they'll both be very good coaches, much better than me," he said.

Jack has already succeeded in achieving the goal of becoming a Division I college hockey player, which he remembers setting in grade school. In the future, he can see himself putting all of his knowledge of the game to the test.

"Besides being a Division I college hockey player, being a coach has been my other goal," he said. The only thing I really know is hockey.

"I know the ins and outs of coaching from my uncles, my dad and my grandfather. I just want to be a coach somewhere, so wherever the opportunity is hopefully I can achieve that goal."

Being just a freshman, Brendan likely has a number of years until he needs to decide on the next phase of his hockey career. However, much like his older siblings, he acknowledged that coaching may be a possibility in his future.

"Like people say it's not only what you know, it's who you know," he said. "So we're pretty fortunate in that respect that we've got a few connections."

- Andrew Wisneski

Meet the Press: Doyle Woody talks anxiety in Alaska, life in the Twitterverse

Photo courtesy of Doyle Woody

If only 19th century Congressman J. Proctor Knott — remembered for his sarcastic Duluth, Minn., tourism plug — had a crystal ball at his disposal.

In fairness, the town in question and its potential were little-known at the time. But if only Knott could have envisaged the existence of the WCHA. After all, among its travel destinations, the conference would include Minnesota-Duluth and a program from a much more far-flung U.S. location yet to come called Alaska.

And if only Knott could have foreseen the life and career path of a WCHA beat writer from that eventual state named Doyle Woody.

Maybe then Kentucky’s 4th District ambassador to the House would have held his tongue in 1871, rather than ramble over the “Untold Delights of Duluth.” For more than a century later, Woody would discover the hidden merits of frequenting Duluth’s Pioneer Bar, then proceed to coax a special local as to the untold (but serious) amusements of Alaska.

Woody has been covering Alaska-Anchorage hockey for the Alaska Dispatch News (nee Anchorage Daily News) for the better part of the program’s 37 years as a Division I institution. For more than half of that tenure, this meant following the Seawolves on the majority of their excursions to the Lower 48.

Amidst one of UAA’s two-night road bouts with the UMD Bulldogs, Woody sought his standard postgame reward a half-mile up from the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. That is, a few cold ones with his counterparts from the Duluth News Tribune.

That was when Bulldog women’s scribe Christa Lawler invited him to join her and a friend.

“The friend turned out to be Sarah Henning, an arts-and-entertainment writer for the News Tribune,” Woody told Pucks and Recreation.

“Long story short, Sarah and I soon after began a long-distance relationship of a year and a half — that wasn’t too difficult, because I traveled to the Upper Midwest often to cover hockey, plus I racked a lot of airline miles — before I somehow suckered her into quitting her job, packing her life and moving to Alaska.

“We eventually married, so my long con apparently is working. It was a pretty good weekend in Duluth for Alaska types — think the Seawolves earned three points (in the series), and I met my love.”

And that is the centerpiece of the fulfillment a career in college hockey reportage has yielded to Woody. Whether they have changed from long-distance dating to a hometown marriage or from chatting with fellow reporters at the watering hole to over the web, numerous relationships have gratifyingly lasted.

Odds are those perks will persist, even if the program that parented them does not.

Consternation over cuts

An East Anchorage native whose professional bio jokes that “He’s been covering hockey since the Ice Age,” Woody had one of his more thankless reporting responsibilities this past summer.

With the aftershocks of a rocky state economy reaching the public university system, both the Seawolves and instate rival Alaska Nanooks are on notice. Hockey is the crux of both athletic programs, and is thus a likely casualty amidst vast budget cuts across many departments.

“UAA fans here are understandably anxious and apprehensive about the fate of the Seawolves hockey program,” Woody said. “They know, worst-case scenario, that if the program is killed, it isn’t coming back.”

A mid-August report detailed three potential courses of action. One option would entail merging the UAA hockey program with its counterpart at the university’s flagship Fairbanks school. The other two would have the Division I sport evaporate from the state altogether.

The university’s Strategic Pathways committee is expected to announce its verdict in November. In the meantime, the Seawolves are scrambling to salvage any potential for a picture better than the present best-case scenario.

How that affects the air at Sullivan Arena for UAA’s four October home dates shall be seen. But as Woody articulated, the sudden discontinuation of the program-hosted Kendall Hockey Classic is the least of the stressors.

“UAA hockey supporters are on edge,” he said. “They don't know if the program will get gassed or simply endure budget cuts. Hey, it's tough all over in Alaska with the stagnant price of oil and a huge state budget crisis that hits the entire University of Alaska system, not just athletics.”

High-profile hockey content is not all lost on Woody’s beat. He still has the ECHL’s Alaska Aces to chronicle, and he keeps a keen eye on the state’s products in the NHL. Amidst the angst over the college program late last month, he penned a protracted narrative on Scott Gomez as the Anchorage native ended his 16-season, 1,079-game career.

But the Seawolves were there first, and that counts for something.

“Covering UAA has been a big part of my career,” Woody said. “(It) has allowed me to meet a slew of very good reporters and writers, many of whose work I admired, and so I tried to steal some of their better attributes — if you're not stealing something from talented colleagues, you're not trying.”

New age, same penman, same passion

Deep into the Internet-centric, new-media era, business trips to the contiguous states are deader than broadsheets. In turn, Woody does not hear the voices of his press-box peers nearly as often as he once did.

In some ways, convenience does not equal contentment for him.

“About the only downside of technology is that it’s so easy to find information that I no longer have to make the countless phone calls I made back in the ’80s and early ’90s,” Woody said. “But that also means I don't talk to as many hockey folks and strengthen connections. Plus, by not traveling, I miss out on a lot of postgame, at-the-bar sessions on the road.

“I learned a lot about hockey, and reporting and writing, in those sessions, which also taught me how to travel on three hours of bad sleep and a bit of a headache.” 

Today, like Sarah before him, Woody has planted his feet more consistently in the Last Frontier. And the tradeoff of sacrificing visits to other venues for a clearer head extends to the blessings of Twitter. With that, the beat writers’ fraternity he once fostered in person is preserved from afar while information travels with the speed of a breakout pass.

“The Internet and Twitter help maintain a connection to college hockey, thankfully, as does live streaming,” he said. “Remember, I’m so old I recall when we had to get WCHA stats through a fax-back. You literally dialed a fax number, punched in some access code and waited for the fax to spit out the updated weekly stats.”

With current technology, there also remains ample space for casual discussion and shameless tourism plugs. Earlier this month, Woody gave a stick-tap to the Grand Forks Herald’s Brad Schlossman for the latter’s endorsement of Anchorage establishments.

And then there is the new venue for creativity, which Woody maximizes through his handle, @JaromirBlagr.

The play on the name of the NHL’s most seasoned active player inadvertently reaffirms his Alan Shemper-esque habit of joking about his maturity. Although, he admits he accepted the alias at the suggestion of a friend.

“Wish I could take credit for the Twitter handle,” he said, “but I'm not remotely that clever. That came from my friend Josh Nova, a Fairbanks boy and former co-worker who loves puns, and came up with that one in a heartbeat.

“It has also earned Sarah the nickname Mrs. Blagr among some readers. So, yeah, my bride is living the dream up here.”

Oh, the now-not-so-untold enjoyments of East Anchorage.