MEDVEC MAKES MAJOR STRIDES
Feb 18, 2014By Tom Witosky www.iowawild.com
Follow Tom @toskyAHLWild
Not Your Typical Hockey Player
Ask any hockey prospect about NHL Entry Draft day and they’ll talk about what a nervous wreck they became.
If they aren’t at the draft site, they are either watching it on television or monitoring each and every choice on their cellphones or laptops. With each selection, the level of emotion rocks and rolls as players wait and watch and wait and watch.
But then there was Kyle Medvec, who was chosen by the Minnesota Wild in 4th round (102nd overall pick) in 2006.
Medvec wasn’t in Vancouver; he wasn’t even watching it on television or looking at his cellphone. Instead he was with a bunch of friends at a local Minneapolis area golf course.
“Really, I didn’t even really think too much about it. I was with a bunch of guys when my cellphone went off,” the lanky Iowa Wild defenseman said with a laugh. “It turned out to be Minnesota calling me to tell me they had just drafted me. The only thing I said was ‘Great, see you at development camp.”
Such a care-free attitude might be unbelievable to those who strive obsessively to make it into professional hockey, but Medvec’s initial goal as a hockey player was a lot less ambitious than where he is today.
“My entire goal with hockey back then was simply to get a scholarship and get my college paid for,” Medvec said. “Anything beyond that was really something beyond what I was thinking.”
But if a player is 6-foot 5-inches and 220 pounds with a history of steady improvement as a hockey player, NHL teams are going to be interested to see how far that player can go.
Iowa Coach Kurt Kleinendorst describes Medvec as making steady progress this season, but needs more confidence and aggressiveness. So far this season, Medvec, who is in the final year of his three-year entry level contract, has only four goals and three assists in 49 games, but has played a steady defensive game that is imperative to success for Iowa.
He also has played a key role in several games including a game-winning overtime goal against San Antonio in late January, The team’s first overtime win in Iowa Wild history.
“He is moving up the mountain,” Kleinendorst said. “But there are times when he takes one step back. But, he has made good progress overall. “
Medvec said that he was disappointed in how he began the season, but is learning to use his size to greater advantage. “I have started playing more physically because that is my role on the team. I need to use my size to my advantage,” Medvec said.
At the same time, Medvec acknowledges he is still learning the game – something that he really didn’t start playing until he was 9-years-old after starting out playing roller-blade hockey in his neighborhood cul-de-sac in Colorado.
“I remember when I first started playing ice hockey and they told me to play defense,” Medvec said. “Roller blade hockey didn’t have blue lines so I didn’t even know where to stand or what to do. It was pretty funny.”
But once he understood the game, Medvec began to grow quickly into a hockey player with enough talent to play for a Denver area hockey academy and after his parents moved the family to Burnsville, MN to catch the eye of scouts there to watch other players for Apple Valley High School.
“Back in Colorado, my folks and I were commuting two hours every day for me to play hockey,” he said. “That got pretty old pretty quick. Plus, it was pretty expensive.”
In high school, Medvec said that he understood NHL and college scouts were there to watch other players, particularly David Fischer, who played at the University of Minnesota.
“It was amazing,” Medvec said. “There had to be 20 to 30 scouts in the stands almost every night.”
Medvec said what attention he received from scouts early on came from Division III schools. But, that began to change his senior year and continued after graduating from high school when he spent a season playing in the United States Hockey League for the Sioux City Musketeers.
“I thought it would be great to take a break and just focus on hockey,” he said, adding that’s when he began to understand he might have a future as a professional hockey player. “I was young for my grade anyway so it proved to be a really good way to spend a year there before going to college.”
Medvec attended the University of Vermont where he played four seasons while earning a business degree with a concentration in marketing. On the ice, Medvec was a steady defender who helped get the team to the NCAA Frozen Four finals in his junior year.
Off the ice, Medvec said, he learned to get away from hockey so that it would remain fresh to him. As he came up the ranks, Medvec said, he saw too many good players experience burnout.
“When I was young I saw a lot of young guys just get burned out, I saw how it could consume you and always thought that it was better to have other interests,” he said. “I work really hard on my game over the years, but for me, it is important for me to get away from the rink and do other things that I enjoy.”
One hobby, for example, is Medvec has become a car enthusiast with the help of the owners of a high-end European car service center in Minneapolis. Not only did Medvec learn auto mechanics, but became interested in a high performance car events, in which he can take a Porsche on the racetrack.
“It’s not racing because you are usually with an instructor who guides you through the course,” Medvec said. “But you can take a car up to as fast as you want and it is a kick.”
With less than 30 games left in the season, Medvec said he and his teammates understand they have a big challenge before them if the Wild is to make to the playoffs.
“We don’t have any choice, but to get better,” Medvec said. “We are still in it, but we need to make sure we either win our games or at least get them to overtime. We can’t let games slip away from us.”
As for his future, Medvec said that he is still intent on making it to the NHL.
“Right now I am focused on getting there because right now I am having fun,” Medvec said. “What happens later? I will get to that question when it is time.”