Photo Credit: Cheryl Woodard Photography

Jeff Holdenrid has an ideal mind to lead CPH this season in concert with Troy Schwab and other superb staff members. Check out our Q&A with him as he answers a lot of questions in depth to give the CPH family more insight in him.

1. What helped you decide to play hockey? 

“I grew up playing every sport you can think, but hockey was one that either I did not know about, or it was not available to me. I spent a lot of time ice skating as a kid at Eastland Mall and on a pond back in Illinois where I am from. When I got out of the ARMY, I decided to go get some gear, yes, a Sherwood 5030 Coffey curve wood stick, and try it out in an adult league, I think I was about 21 at the time. My first game I ever played I scored a goal, and I was hooked, all in. The speed of the game, the teamwork, the comradery, I was in love with all of it. I think if I look back what I love most of all is a team, in the military you are dependent on a team, and like hockey it is all team. One player cannot win the game for you, you must have a trust in each of the players to do their job and all of you must do it together at a fast pace.”

2. Why do you love this game as a coach? 

“For starters I am not a wins and losses kind of guy, like above I am all about team, family, and the hard work (Earn It). When I coach hockey, especially in the younger ages, we are not just teaching the game, you are teaching life skills, team skills, communication, how to deal with adversity, and most of all fun and love of the game. It is an adventure for me, a story, you never know where it is going to end but you can’t stop working to help make it a great one. If I look over all the years, my favorite moments are seeing a player break out of their confidence shell and do something they were always afraid to do. Holding the puck when pressured, making that hockey move instead of throwing it away, rushing the puck when they would never even consider doing that before, and even passing the puck on an odd man rush. These are the small victories that make the story great. Beyond the players I really enjoy communicating with the parents and sharing the story and adventure with them. It is a family, and we are all a part of this crazy hockey community. We share the struggles and victories together.”

3. What convinced you to come to CPH? 

“Our youngest daughter was playing on a 10U all girls travel team and this was during the thick of the pandemic. No one was traveling and getting games for an all-girls team in the south was very difficult. With everything going on the team kind of dissolved in December. So here we were dealing with our daughter’s first travel team disappearing and her just lost. Not a fun place to be as a parent. There were a couple families we are friends with that heard about this and I guess they told Ryan Cruthers. I will never forget this day as long as I live, I got a call from Ryan asking about our daughter, and what was going on. After we told stories, without a pause he invited us out to skate with his team and offered her a spot with a CPH team. I don’t know if you believe in Christmas miracles but that was ours for sure. The look on her face when she came off the ice for the first time with her new team, priceless. From that day moving forward we have been so blessed and now both our daughters are part of the CPH family.”

4. What are your goals for the program this year and in the next few after that ?

“This is my first season as one of the directors of CPH and it has already been so much fun. All the families you meet, and kids walking by saying what’s up coach. The simple things like the kickoff party and getting meet and greets have been a small step. Like starting the first chapter of this adventure book. Over the summer we have had what we call the summer series, a group of skilled events to help the players that want to develop in the off season, 4V4 games, power skating, goalie clinics, pro clinics, and one of my favorites: angling, body contact, and compete. Over the next few months, we are planning on finishing our player/parent meetings, push the positive coaching alliance to our coaches and parents, and continue to work on the communication between coaches and families. It is my goal to continue to grow a positive culture here and continue to help mold our youth into great people, and young adults. It is Troy and the coaching staff that focus on the hockey, I will be focusing on the all-around experience from tryouts to the last puck drop. If we build this to where we have 90+% of our players returning to hockey and CPH then we have created a masterpiece, that everyone will enjoy.”

5. Add any random info you’d like the CPH family to know:

“ I just want to add four simple things:

Thank you CPH for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this, as a parent, coach and now director. 

Thank you to my girls for picking this amazing sport!

Thank you to my wife, you have been such an amazing supporter of me and our families adventure, even though I know you hate the cold, you would not miss any of this. 

Finally: Earn it, earn every shift, earn every puck, earn every goal, and earn every victory.”