Written by Tom Schreier
In a moment of honesty, Jason Zucker will tell you that it’s a little harder being a hockey player from the Sin City. Born in Newport Beach, Calif. and raised in Las Vegas, Zucker learned to skate nearby the neon lights of the entertainment capital of the world. Perhaps a product of the NHL’s movement south, the 22 year old eventually moved to Michigan at age 14 and played his collegiate career at the University of Denver before being selected by the Wild in the 2nd round of the 2010 draft.
“I think so; I think so,” he said when asked if it’s a little more difficult to become an elite hockey player from Vegas, as opposed to an “M State:” Minnesota, Michigan or Massachusetts.
“It’s not easy for anybody, it doesn’t matter if you’re from Minnesota or Vegas,” he acknowledges, “but I think as far as exposure and a few other opportunities, being from Vegas and the West Coast, you have one more step to go, I believe, especially when you’re younger. When you’re older, I don’t think it’s any difference, but when you’re younger you have to seek out places to play, and I think that’s a bit tougher.”
If Zucker, who has traveled between the Wild and their AHL affiliate in Des Moines so frequently fans jokingly called the stretch of I-35 between Minnesota and Iowa I-16 in his honor, can establish himself as a full time player this year, he will be the first Nevada native to call himself a bona fide NHL player, according to Hockey-Reference.com. “[This] is an opportunity for Zucker to prove that he can be in the lineup consistently, and he can play in different roles, he can play different positions,” says head coach Mike Yeo, who has seen dramatic improvement from where Zucker was a year ago. “And really for young guys that’s quite often how they end up working their way in full time.”
To become a full time player from the Sin City would be quite the accomplishment. Finding ice time could be difficult for Zucker when he was younger, but he said that rink managers typically helped him find a place to skate. “It’s definitely not the same as coming here to Minnesota and having the thousand rinks to skate at,” he says with a smile, “but you can get it when you need it.”
Zucker said that there was a learning curve involved with hockey that went beyond the rink. While kids in states like Minnesota, even those that don’t play, become familiar with junior hockey knowing that the best sophomores and juniors leave home to play in leagues like the USHL, it wasn’t until he left for Michigan that Zucker understood the junior system. “When I was in Vegas when I was younger, I didn’t know anything about it,” he says. “I think now it’s a bit different because Vegas is getting more on the map and things of that sort, so it’s more of a norm now. But [at the time] we didn’t know much about it.”
Zucker moved to Plymouth, Mich. at age 15 and attended Pioneer High School while playing for the Compuware AAA Minor Midget Team. He later moved to Ann Arbor, where he spent two years in the USHL as a member of the U.S. National Development program. “I think it was a bit of a culture shock, for sure, living there,” he says. “I had been around, I had been to Boston, and I had been to a couple other places, but I think visiting is much different than staying. And staying there all year was definitely a culture shock for sure.”
By committing to the University of Denver, Zucker moved closer to home, in a sense. There is no Division I hockey in California or Nevada, so programs like Denver or Colorado College are the closest a player on the West Coast is going to get to home. Still, he insists that Denver was simply the best option — the best players, the best coaches, the best fit for him — and that he had schools on the East Coast and Midwest among his Top 5. “I did really enjoy watching Denver when I was younger, so I think that maybe had a little bit to do with it,” he admits, “but I don’t think it had anything necessarily to do with the West Coast.” Zucker may be in the Midwest now, but he still brings a little Vegas flavor with him. No, he doesn’t have a slot machine installed in his locker, nor does he have a friend who’s missing a tooth and another one that’s carrying around a baby — instead he integrates mixed martial arts, a Las Vegas attraction, into his offseason training program. “I don’t know if it’s necessarily just a Vegas thing,” he says, “but my trainer got me into it when I first started with him, and he thought that it would really help me, so it’s something that I really enjoy and decided to stick with.”
Other players have used MMA techniques in their offseason routine — Stu Bickel works with a guy locally in Minnesota — but the practice is uncommon among NHL players. And while he says it might help him in a fight, the 5-foot-10, 175-pound Zucker knows that’s not his role on the team. “I think it’s just all-around training in general, I don’t think it necessarily translates perfectly to the ice,” he says. “It’s a lot of good training, core training, and things of that sort, so I think it helps in that way.”
Whatever it does, it’s working, because Zucker definitely caught Yeo’s eye this camp. Despite entering the year without a guaranteed spot on the roster — Zucker is on a two-way contract — he was among the final cuts before the regular season. “I would say that it wasn’t his best camp [last year],” said Yeo, “and he came in very determined this year [knowing] that he had to make this year — there’s no sense of entitlement from him.”
Yeo praised Zucker for going into the hard areas, playing sound defense and performing well on the penalty kill. He feels that if Zucker continues to play the way he did in camp and accepts any role he is given, he will be considered one of the team’s young stars and part of its future. “I mean, if you want to look at Nino [Niederreiter] last year, that’s very similar to what he did,” said Yeo, comparing him to one of the team’s most talented young players. For right now, Zucker isn’t putting too much pressure on himself. He’s just a hockey player — even if he comes from a unique background. “For me it’s just a fun story to share with younger kids that are from Vegas and trying to work their way up and have aspirations to become an NHL player,” he says.
Becoming the first NHL player from Nevada? That will be one hell of a story to tell.
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Tom Schreier can be heard on The Michael Knight Show from 2-3:00 on weekdays. He has written for Bleacher Report and the Yahoo Contributor Network. Follow him on Twitter @tschreier3. |