Kolzig Still A Mighty Presence in the Coast

As a player, Olaf Kolzig forced people to stand up and take notice with his accomplishments, during both the junior and professional portions of his career, and now in his role as the Washington Capitals’ Professional Development Coach, he is using those experiences.  He travels between the organization’s clubs to console, encourage, and mentor the athletes as they journey through their own careers and into adulthood.

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, but raised in Canada, Kolzig played his junior hockey in the Western Hockey League and was guarding the crease for the Tri-City Americans when the Washington Capitals selected him with their first round pick in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, the first goaltender selected in that draft class. He surprised many by making the Caps out of training camp the following fall, becoming the former South African born player to play in the NHL, but after two early season starts that saw him surrender 12 goals and resulted in two losses, he was sent back to the Americans. Shortly after he returned to juniors, where he spent the rest of that season, he was again back to making history, this time by becoming the first netminder in the history of the WHL to score a goal.

Kolzig spent his first two full pro seasons between the Caps’ AHL affiliate at the time, the Baltimore Skipjacks, and their ECHL affiliate at that time, the Hampton Roads Admirals, a bitter pill to swallow for a first round draft pick who found success and acclaim throughout his junior days.     

At that time, the East Coast Hockey League was only in its second year of operation, and was mostly known for its pugilistic exhibitions, and a ticket to “The Coast” for NHL contracted players basically meant you were off the radar of that club for that season, and quite possibly for the duration of your contract. But Kolzig eventually regrouped, regained his fine form, and with his solid play in the ECHL during parts of two seasons in Norfolk, brought himself back in the good graces of the Caps’ braintrust. By virtue of starting out his pro career in the ECHL and then eventually progressing to a long NHL career, Kolzig was a pioneer, blazing a trail for many future players, including many goaltenders, by showing that the ECHL could in fact be a true developmental league.

“I don’t like to look at it that way,” said Kolzig in regards to if he considers himself a pioneer. “I think it just happened to work out that way. And I think that’s why the role that I have now is perfect. I was a first round pick, and I had a brief taste of success in my first training camp before I got sent back to junior. I came back with maybe a bit of a wrong attitude and subsequently I got sent down the East Coast League. So I was a highly touted pick and I spent time down there, and I also spent time in the AHL.  It took me six or seven years before I finally got my foot fully in the door in the NHL, and then I had a lot of success at the NHL level. So essentially I’ve run the gamut. When these kids come here and then get sent down, I can honestly say to them without lying  that I’m a proven fact that you can go down there and you are not going to be a forgotten player.”

Kolzig, who “patrolled the pies” in over 700 NHL games continued, “I went down there and spent a year and a half, and I went on to have a great career.  I think it took a little longer than anyone expected, but the end result is that the time down there helped me out. You get great coaching down there, you also get a lot more ice time because they have to dress less players, and the ECHL is not what it was in the mid-80’s. There are some very good hockey players down there, and there are some great cities, and I tell guys to embrace it. Go down there and enjoy it."

"Enjoy playing the game, build up your confidence and your skill set. The other thing that I tell them is you are down there, but your odds of getting called up to the American League are significantly high. The reason being, you have two organizations that run the risk of having injuries. There is a trickledown effect when an injury happens in Washington, a guy from the American League gets called up to the NHL, and a guy from the East Coast League gets called up to replace the guy in the American League who went up to Washington. I always try to give them a lot of hope when they go down there; it’s not an end all.  Just use the time effectively and positively, because the odds are you are going to be back up quicker than you think."

Kolzig’s NHL's credentials are certainly worthy of Hall of Fame consideration: he backstopped the Caps to 1998 Stanley Cup Finals, played in 719 NHL games, notched 303 wins, and posted 35 shutouts.  But while an NHL induction in the future remains to be seen, the ECHL, further solidifying the pioneer tag, inducted Kolzig into their Hall of Fame in the Developmental Player category in 2010.

In a statement released by the league, ECHL commissioner Brian McKenna said this about Kolzig in announcing his induction, “Olaf Kolzig got his start in professional hockey and key development time in the ECHL. As one of the first prospects to go on to a long and distinguished career in the National Hockey League, he helped bring credibility to the league and became an example for many young players to follow.”  

Spencer Carbery, the head coach of the Bears’ ECHL affiliate, the South Carolina Stingrays, when asked what it means to him to have a person of Kolzig’s stature and experience making regular stops to visit his club and offer insight and encouragement, was quick to point out the many benefits.

“He’s a huge asset to the Washington Capitals, Hershey Bears, and South Carolina Stingrays organization. Ollie, in his role, when he comes down, it’s such a valuable thing,” said Carbery, in his fifth season as Stingrays’ bench boss. “Let’s face it.  The players are not jumping for joy when they are told they are coming down to the ECHL. Even though once they get down here, they are pros and they are going to play hard and enjoy playing the game and not be a problem. But that takes a lot of work and a lot of talking to guys. What Ollie’s been able to do when he comes down and talks to these guys is tell them about his experiences of playing in the league, and that it isn’t a dead end. It’s somewhere where you just need to work on a couple of things and then you can get back up to Hershey and your career can take off.”

Carbery, who succeeded Cail MacLean, who scored the first goal in the history of Giant Center, concluded, “It shows the players that they are cared about in South Carolina, and that is important. Sometimes in the ECHL, there are teams and organizations where you just get lost down here, and the players feel like they’ve been written off, whether on an AHL contract or an NHL contract, that they’re buried in the ECHL and no one even knows their name. But that’s just not the case with the way that Washington and Hershey care about the guys that are down here.  They want to know how they are doing, and they send Ollie down here to make the guys know they are being paid attention to.”