Coach Szkodzinski Featured in Hometown Press: Shares Ideas and Thoughts on Coaching, Academics, and DIII Hockey

Making an impact ? Brighton's Szkodzinski savors roots, relishes opportunity - with photo gallery and video

By Tim Robinson
DAILY PRESS & ARGUS

ADRIAN ? It's been a long journey for Mike Szkodzinski, in more ways than one.
Sitting on a hotel bed doing an interview, he laughs as he's asked about his days in Brighton playing street hockey in the wee hours with his friend Damon Whitten.



"There's no 2-4 a.m. roller hockey games, or one-on-one with Damon any more," he says, chuckling.


There probably wouldn't be any time.
Both are now college coaches, Whitten an assistant with Division 1 Alaska-Anchorage, and Szkodzinski (pronounced 'skuh-JIN-ski') at Division III Lawrence University.

Szkodzinski's Vikings have made the 400-plus-mile drive from Appleton, Wis., to Adrian, home of a new Division III program that plays in the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association.

"It's pretty neat to be back and close somewhere close to home,," he said, "because over the past 6-7 years now I've bounced to a few different places, from Texas to Wisconsin to Ohio back to Wisconsin, so yeah, it's a personal treat to come back and coach against a team that's relatively close to Brighton."


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One of the key events that shaped Szkodzinski's athletic career was anything but a highlight.

"I will tell you the biggest thing I take from my high school days is when (former Brighton coach Rick) Bourbonais cut me during my sophomore year," he said. "It showed me that you have to be able to battle back from adversity. Period.

"And I'll tell you right now I think that's the biggest asset I have going for myself is knowing that once I got cut, I put my mind to it and made the team the next year and I was pretty successful in high school, and that continued."

Current Brighton coach Paul Moggach, an assistant back then, said Szkodzinski was the victim of a numbers game.

"It was one of those situations where Mike wasn't that bad, but the competition was that good," he said of a season in which Brighton carried three goalies. Szkodzinski was the fourth. "After we did it, we told him to hang in and he'd get his chance and believe in himself.

"We saw him a lot at (Grand Oaks Ice Arena), hanging around. He didn't shy away. It was a wakeup call for him, one of those situations where he could either complain or take charge and do something. He took the right way."

There would be more bumps along the way. He started as a freshman at Ferris State, then fell out of favor the next year and transferred to St. Norbert, a Division III school in Wisconsin.

He played one year of minor league hockey before an injury ended his career, then took a job as an assistant at Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He worked his way up to an assistant at Division 1 Findlay, only to see the school discontinue the program.

Szkodzinski then returned to St. Norbert as an assistant before taking over at Lawrence before the 2006-07 season.

"I think that's the biggest asset I've taken from any of these things, is that no matter what happens you have to adjust and continue to move forward," he said.

Moving forward is a succinct way to describe his plans for the Lawrence program.

He took over and made an immediate impression.

"It was during the first two weeks of the school," said junior Nick Jennette, a native of Grand Rapids. "We had just met Coach and were just getting to know him, and our captain, showed up late two days in a row. Coach took away his captaincy and said, look, this guy isn't going to wear a letter, but you guys need to vote whether you want him on the team or not. It got that serious that quickly.

"It wasn't like he was being a jerk. He said, be here on time. If you aren't, there will be punishments. That was the difference between the previous coach. It was the first week we were back on campus, and we realized he runs a tight ship."

The Vikings practice every day at 6:30 a.m., and after some adjustment, Jennette has embraced the program.

"It's tough to get up that early, and people complained about it, but it's definitely for the better," Jennette said. "We're up in the morning and get practice out of the way, and we have the rest of the day for schoolwork."

For Szkodzinski, performing in the classroom is as important as on-ice performance.

"I believe you can excel at both, so they are 1A and 1B," he said. "Academics comes first, because you're at school to get your degree. But you c an excel academically and on the ice if you learn good time management skills, which we stress here on a day-to-day basis.

"The reason you're going to college is to get that degree and get your future set," he added. "We take great pride in that last year we had five seniors and all five graduated. Our goal is to have every senior class make it through four years and graduate. That would speak volumes for the institution and speak volumes for our program, to be able to have a young man do the academics and the unparalleled commitment to a college sport as well. Down the road, when they have that degree, we are firm believers that employers are going to see not only a good student who graduated but also a guy who knows teamwork, time management."

He keeps a close eye on his players' academic progress. Class attendance is mandatory for Lawrence players, and one player didn't make the trip to Adrian due to academic struggles. .

"If you miss a class, I get an e-mail right away from the professor, especially on a small campus," Szkodzinski said. "That person's not going to play, Period. We don't have time for guys who feel hockey is the only thing. That's not why you were recruited to college. You're not here simply to play hockey. You need to get the degree. We're very adamant about that."

Szkodzinski, who turned 30 in September, is as friendly as he is no-nonsense. He is brimming with confidence, both in himself and in the direction he wants to take his program.

"First and foremost, I want to develop a culture of pride and passion for our program," he said. "A culture where, win lose or draw, people respect what we do, not only on the ice but how we conduct ourselves off the ice. We've already made some enormous strides toward that. There's no doubt I would love to see our program move toward the .500 mark and eventually be a year-in, year-out contender for our conference title. Once you do that, it's roll the dice and it's where the puck bounces and you need some luck, you need to stay healthy and who knows what can happen from there?"

Last season, the Vikings were 13-14-2, the best record in the school's history.

"It was the best record we ever finished with but we were a game under .500," Jennette said. "It was a step in the right direction but we have a long way to go."

While Szkodzinski is no-nonsense and disciplined in many ways, he is not a martinet, his players say.

"He's demanding, but very approachable," Jennette said. "His door is always open. If I'm having a problem with this, that, whatever, he's very approachable. You know you're accountable. You can't step out of line. You can't break the rules. You know what he expects of you. But if you're having a schoolwork issue or playing issue, you can talk with him about it and help you out."

"He tells you how it is," junior Mike Ackley said. "He won't beat around the bush. He tells you what he expects out of you, and if you don't do it, he's going to be on you. But he does it to make sure you know you've got more within you. He just knows that people have more inside of them and pushes us."

But Szkodzinski also isn't afraid to joke with his players. He spends a few minutes at a morning skate participating in shooting drills.

"I have to because I get made fun of so much," he jokes. His players tell a different story.

"He's funny because he was a (Division III) All-America goaltender, but when he interviewed, he said I'm not a goalie'" Jennette said.. "He'll come in and snipe a bit. He's got a better shot than half of us."

Szkodzinski sold his goalie equipment years ago, after his minor league career ended.

"I will joke and say I should have been a forward, but I don't ever, ever think that," he said. "The one thing I do is that I look back and think, how did I ever play goalie? I mean, it hurts, period. The puck's coming at you, and with these composite sticks, I don't know what I was thinking."

Married with a child on the way in March, Szkodzinski's life is changing and evolving, from being a single-minded hockey man to a family man with multiple tugs on his priorities and his time.

"The worst part is traveling virtually every weekend you have off during the regular season to recruit," he said. "I remember when I first started coaching it would not bother me at all to drive 12 hours to Bismarck, watching one game and driving 12 hours back and coaching that night. I had no problem with that.

"About a month and a half ago I got up at 3:35 in the morning, drove to Mason City, Iowa, which is a bout 5 1/2 hours, watched a two-hour practice, talked to six kids and then drove all the way back and got (home) about five minutes into our workout. On my way back, I was thinking, boy, this is the part of my job that's the toughest. It's not that I don't like the travel or I don't like the recruiting, but you do need to give yourself a break, and that's hard for me to do."

The trip to Adrian is not the longest trip the Vikings will take in a league that includes Michigan's other Division III team, Finlandia University in Hancock.

"Minnesota Crookston," he said of the school about 90 miles due north of Fargo, N.D.. "It's about 10 hours. I think it's somewhere in Canada. It's in the middle of nowhere."

What's not hard is selling Division III hockey. Szkodzinski is a fervent advocate of a level he considers just below Division 1.

"There are a number of Division III teams that could compete at the Division 1 level, and the reason I say that is that there's only so many spot in Division 1," he said. "Could the Division III teams compete against the top-end Division 1s. No. However, against the lower half of Division I, absolutely. The difference is depth and size at times. Other than that, the skill level, the speed is very comparable."

Szkodzinski works a camp with Whitten for Brighton High School players every summer, and he believes Adrian's entry into college hockey could open up a new vein of talent that could run all the way to Appleton.

"I think it's going to expose Division III hockey to kids who had no idea it even existed. When I was growing up, I had no idea what Division III hockey (was), and it's grown better and better and better. Division 3 hockey is an outstanding avenue to get a great education, and if you're a great hockey player, to have a chance to move on t play pro. It's high-quality hockey."

Later, he shifts from plugging Division III hockey to selling Wisconsin, even to a non-athlete years past college eligibility.

"I just want to encourage people in the Brighton area, because there are some great players there who don't pursue anything when they can," Szkodzinski said. "They have the ability, even out of high school, there are some who go to college and don't know there is Division 3 hockey there and it's outstanding. Our league and our area in Wisconsin is a beautiful area, great people, and they take care of you there, and it's a great place to be. The stereotype of Wisconsin, that there's nothing to do there, is bogus. We've got a lot of things to do, lot of things to see, and I hope I can get a few guys from the area to visit. If I can get them to visit, they'll enjoy it and there's a good chance they'll stick around."

After an interview, Szkodzinski tapes a video spot, then prepares for a team meal followed by a workout and a nap before that night's game against Adrian.

The Vikings are not on their game, both tentative and unlucky in the first period while falling behind 5-1 in a game his team loses 9-2. The next night is better, but still a 4-3 loss.

In attendance is his father, Bill.

"Michael has always wanted to do this," he said. "Since he was 10 years old, he said he wanted to make his living playing hockey. If he's not coaching he's on the road, he's talking to kids, and most of the kids you talk to have respect for him, and the parents, too. I think he's going to be all right."

The Szkodzinskis, father and son, talk at length outside the Lawrence team bus after Friday's game, a ritual they carry over when the father is at home in Brighton.

"He gives me a call after most every game," Bill said. "We chat for a bit. He kind of needs someone to talk to, so he calls me up and lets off a little steam