Inside the Wild’s Locker Room: Culture, Camaraderie and Life Lessons

Roughly 70 percent of hockey takes place on the ice. The other 30 percent? That’s off the ice.

While you might think we’re referring to off-ice training and conditioning space – and sure, that’s a part of it, too – we’re actually talking about the learning space. The place where you might argue the most can be learned.

The locker room.

“As a 10, 12, 14-year-old kid, I couldn’t wait to get to the locker room to see my buddies,” recalled Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin. “And then we’d go play hockey.

“I was fortunate to have some great guys who I’m still friends with, guys I played hockey with at 5 years old, 10 years old, and it’s just because we had great experiences. It can last a lifetime, and that stems from the adults and experiences that you create in places like the locker room.”

Call it a locker room.

Call it a dressing room.

Call It a Safe Space

The inside of a locker room is designed to be a place where every player and person feels comfortable and accepted. That starts with respect for one another.

“The locker room is supposed to be your safe place,” Wild captain Jared Spurgeon explained. “You go in there, you’re part of a team. Even if your interests don’t align or you’re not the best of friends, you still have to treat each other with respect.

“You’re on the same team, so you’re going to see each other day in and day out, so you have to be cordial. Whether it’s talking to each other or doing stuff outside the rink together. You don’t have to change the person you are, but you always have to respect every single teammate. And I think that brings the trust and respect on the ice as well, where you’ll do anything for your teammate; just know that who you have beside you is going to be there.”

Spurgeon adds that part of creating that safe space is reaching out and making sure every player feels welcome.

“The nice thing about having a locker room is they’re all different voices, different views, and as long as they’re coming from a good place where you’re not trying to segregate a certain group of teammates or single person, they’re all going to be listened to and respected. I think having a voice in the locker room is big, whether it’s feeling comfortable walking in so you can be yourself or having that voice where, when you’re going to speak up, you have the confidence to do so and know that no matter what you say, you’re going to have the backing of your teammates.”

Lift People Up

In the locker room is where you’ll have the first liner stall next to a scratched player. Or maybe a penalty killer and the No. 1 power play forward.

“Every player is such an important part of the team,” Spurgeon said. “I think hockey is one of those sports where you can have those superstars, but you still need everyone. Those guys can’t play the whole game, and whether it’s a guy that is on the penalty kill or the guy wins the faceoff for you at the right time, there’s all these little skills that go unnoticed to the everyday fan, and it’s tough because everyone likes the flashy points and all the goals and stuff like that, but there’s a lot more to hockey and a team than those things.

“It’s those things that guys can contribute to you guys really getting to that point where you’re at the top over those other teams. So just cheering for a guy when he does something really simple or just coming over and giving a tap on the pad saying ‘Good job’ can really change the mood of the player.”

With that, Guerin reminds it’s about lifting one another up rather than harping on a bad shift or playing the blame game.

“A lot of times, I think people think of leadership and culture, and stuff like that is about holding each other accountable by yelling at them or being hard. It’s not,” said Guerin. “It’s about support and bringing each other up. When someone’s down, can you lift them up and not keep piling on?

“Good environments, positive environments like that preach the right things. I was always preached about character, hard work and being a good teammate. Being a good teammate doesn’t cost you anything. The more we preach stuff like that, the better experience they will have with hockey, and that’s the most important thing. Most of them won’t play college or professional, but you want them looking back on their youth hockey years with positive memories.”

Life Lessons

A locker room largely embodies one of the most important reasons we sign kids up to play youth sports: to learn life lessons.

“They’re children. They’re not professional athletes,” reiterates Guerin. “The lessons you learn playing team sports will take you far in anything. It’s being able to work with other people, people that might not agree with you, people that might look differently, that have a different upbringing or different background or whatever – it teaches you all of those things. And it teaches you how to problem-solve. It just teaches you so many things that will help you in life.”

And mom, dad, coach – it’s up to you to make sure those lessons are learned by helping foster a positive culture.

“Culture in the locker room for young kids, in the team but in the organization and in hockey in general, but it stems from the adults,” said Guerin. “We can’t leave it in the kids’ hands to figure out culture because it’s a hard thing to build. It’s treatment of your teammate, your buddies; I think that’s what it boils down to: treatment of other people. I think the adults have to be around to show the kids how it’s done.

“If we do that, we’ll not only get a few good hockey players out of it, but you’re going to get some really great kids.”