Hockey coach enjoys giving his student-athletes a strong foundation for the future

For Andy Roeser, coaching hockey is a way to give children, teenagers and young adults tools and skills to help them build upon going forward.

“I love coaching young kids in the sport of hockey. I enjoy teaching the game and all the life lessons that can be learned from playing a team sport — like respect, sportsmanship, accountability and teamwork,” he said. “The game has taught me so much, and I want to pass on what I know to the next generation.”

The St. Cloud State University alumnus first got into coaching when his own children started participating in youth sports in the late-2000s. He moved into coaching high school hockey sometime in 2016. He is now the head coach for the East Ridge High School girls hockey team. In addition, he has been part of the Minnesota Hockey District 8 Girls 14U High Performance Program since 2018 and currently serves as a coach developer with USA Hockey as well as the District 8 goalie coordinator. Roeser’s Minnesota Moose team has gone to the national tournament the last couple years, and in April 2024 won the USA Hockey Girls Tier II 14U 2A National Championship.

While the experience was certainly a highlight, Roeser said the most rewarding part of coaching is providing a positive environment that helps each athlete grow as an individual.

“I want them to have a good experience. It's going to be fun, but they're going to learn. They're going to play a game they enjoy. If whatever else going on in the rest of their life is bugging them — school, parents, relationships, home, whatever that is — I want them to be able to come to the rink and just leave all that stuff at the door for an hour, two hours, however long we have them, and just be there and feel free. We want to help them be their best selves, where they can just excel and get better in a good, positive environment,” he said. “I believe my style of coaching instills confidence by framing mistakes as not instances for punishment, but the most beneficial way to learn and improve. I love to add the element of fun. When players are comfortable and in a safe environment, they are free to be their best selves.”

Roeser doesn’t ever expect to be the best coach in the world, and said he’ll never be able to be every athlete’s favorite coach. However, if his players can look back on their time on his team positively, he’ll take that as a win.

“The rewarding parts are after the season is long over. The kids see you in a rink after you coached them two, three, four, five years ago. ‘Hey Coach, how's it going,’ you know? They say hi to you and they're happy to see you,” he said. “You just hope that they had a good experience, that you were good to them, you did right by the kids. That's really it for me. I'm not looking for trophies. They're kind of cool to show off, but when people ask a former player, ‘What was Coach Andy like?’ I just hope that most of the time it's a positive comment. ‘I really enjoyed playing for him. He’s not a yeller or a screamer. We had a good time.’ Those types of things is mostly what I take away from it.”

While coaching is his passion, Roeser spends his days working in the information technology sector. He originally earned his degree in mass communications and television broadcasting from SCSU in 1995. He spent a few decades in the broadcast world, including working in video replay for the Minnesota Wild, before transitioning into the IT world.

“I chose SCSU as the best place to prep for my career,” he said. “The hands-on approach and numerous opportunities to do real-world work in college helped me immensely.”

Roeser was heavily involved with Husky Productions and Residential Life while he was on campus at St. Cloud State. While his experiences in the mass communications department prepared him for his previous career in broadcasting, he said his minor in speech has served him well during his time as a coach.

“I took a speech minor, and that was hugely important because I tend to do a lot of — not necessarily large-scale public speaking — but quite a bit of what you would still call public speaking, because you’re a coach talking to a group of players, your coaches, to a group of parents,” he said. “Communication is probably the most important thing.”

For Roeser, as he looks to help his players continue to excel, he plans to continue to improve as a coach at the same time.

“I want to keep getting better as a coach. There's still continuing education opportunities to keep refreshing, or getting new ideas and new ways to coach and concepts. I want to make sure that I continue to be true to myself, as far as what I'm trying to deliver to the kids,” he said. “Yes, I want them to get better at hockey, but I want them to have a good experience, have fun and feel they improved.”