Sports

Lakeville North Boys Hockey Creating New Culture with 'Old School' Foundation

First-year coach Trent Eigner and his staff are drawing on their past coaches' teachings to lay a foundation for Lakeville North hockey they hope to build on for years to come.

Halfway into his first year as the boys hockey head coach, Trent Eigner is working on laying a foundation for what he hopes is many years to come. Taking over for longtime head coach Randy Schmitz that sparked plenty of debate among the Lakeville hockey faithful, Eigner and assistant coaches Brian DeFauw and Ryan Kraft are trying to create a new culture that has ‘old school’ roots.

Lakeville Patch recently spoke with Eigner about the Panthers’ follow-up season after winning the Class AA consolation championship, the coaching change, Jack Jablonski and more.

Patch: How has your first season been going as head coach of the Panthers?

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Eigner: It’s been fantastic. For the coaching staff, it’s been a great experience for us at this point. We’ve been getting to know the kids and get a better barometer for ourselves for where the program is at and find the areas where it needs improving. Speaking on behalf of the coaching staff it’s been a tremendous experience to this point. 

In all fairness to everybody, we’re trying to concentrate on areas where we want to be and areas where we feel we need to improve at. I think the concentration for us was just on raising the bar on the expectations and accountability of the athletes, and that’s not only from the standpoint of how they’re playing games, but more so how we compete in practice and how we approach taking care of business in the classroom and taking care of business away from the rink. Anytime you’re trying to instill a little bit of a new culture, I think that those are the things that become apparent. It’s those every day things versus what happens in the 50 or so minutes in a game, so those are the things we’re trying to concentrate on.

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Patch: You mentioned culture. What kind of culture are you trying to bring to the program?

Eigner: I don’t know if you want to call it old school, but I think with the mix of the staff that we have, I think we’re working on building on what we’ve learned from the people we’ve been fortunate to play for. Look at Brad DeFauw, who won two national championships at North Dakota for Dean Blais. Dean Blais is historically a hard-nosed, tough coach that asks a lot of his players in terms of discipline, character and competing. And I kind of come from the same thing under George Gwozdecky, who is a two-time national champion at Denver. We’re after that same thing. 

Game plans are going change from time to time, but the foundation of your program and things you believe in are going to remain consistent. Those things for us are discipline and character and the work ethic that the kids are going to bring every day and take pride in our program. That’s what we’ve been fortunate to draw on.

And, obviously, Ryan Kraft has had a long pro career and was a captain at the University of Minnesota. That’s another program that has a great history and it’s based on a foundation of things that we hope will go on for the next 10 to 15 years here and not just game to game. That’s the neat thing about trying to get these young kids to want to be a part of and I think they’ve responded incredibly well.

Patch: Your squad is 8-7 at about the halfway point with some tough opponents on the schedule. Does the record reflect a tough schedule, inconsistent play or both?

Eigner: I think there’s a little of both in there. But I think the greatest barometer for us is there are games we lose and play well. So when you’re playing the number one and number two teams in the state there’s still a lot of positives that came out of those games. 

As a first year staff, those are the things we look at. So by and large, the record is probably a little ahead of where we had hoped and I think we’re starting to see those consistent plays throughout the course of a game. Right now, we’re starting to see kids progress to where they’re starting to compete over an entire game and those are the things that will be the foundation of our program moving forward. We’d like to win every time we lace up, but right now we’re very pleased with the way the kids have competed.

Patch: Lakeville North has had a number of talented kids in the past that have left to play elsewhere. As a coach, is that something you think can be changed?

Eigner: I look at that situation as a positive. If you’re getting kids like that to be part of the program at some point, then the challenge and onus is on the coaching staff to put a great product out there in front of the kids and make it an attractive place to play. By and large, I think any young athlete seeks out the best situation for them to develop, so I look at the coaching staff and the things we’re doing and I think that the kids are going to be very excited to be part of our program. I would expect to see that trend change and I would expect to have quality players sticking around. And if it’s a place where they can develop, then there’s no reason for them not to.

Patch: The Jack Jablonski story has really caught the attention of the hockey community in Minnesota and elsewhere. How have you handled that with your players?

Eigner: I think we’ve had great buy-in from our athletes and the main thing you talk about is you have to have respect for your opponent and respect for the game. The game is a physical game and a fast game and you’ll never remove every injury from it.  But on the other hand, there’s really no need for some of the stuff that goes on. It’s a daily message and the Jablonski issue has brought it back to life and we’ve had a chance to speak with our kids and talk to them about that same thing. Just having a healthy respect for the rules of the game and for your opponent. 

Obviously, that’s a terrible situation that you never want to see happen. But if you play the game the right way, then the message gets spread that you can really limit those types of occurances.

Patch: What are your goals for the team for the rest of the year?

Eigner: Pretty basic, they don’t jump off the wall at you, but what we talk about is we need to figure out a way to get better every day. So if we don’t deter from that, I think the results on the ice will take care of themselves. I always tell the kids the final score is the byproduct of the work you do during the game, so if we’re doing the work, I would expect to see the results. I would look for a strong finish to the season.


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