The Insider Interview – Jason Deitsch

The Texas Brahmas’ latest addition talks to the Insider about his amazing career and his goal of a championship for the Brahmas

The Texas Brahmas recently announced the signing of offensive powerhouse Jason Deitsch for the 2008-09 season. The 28-year-old center joins the Brahmas for his fifth professional season after splitting time last season in the East Coast Hockey League where he was a member of the 2008 Kelly Cup Champion Cincinnati Cyclones and in Europe.

In 69 regular season games played last season between Europe and the ECHL, He put up 64 points (27 G, 37 A) with 175 penalty minutes. He played in 22 playoff games with the Cyclones, tallying 18 points (5 G, 13 A) with 35 penalty minutes.

In 2006-07, Deitsch also played with Cincinnati and posted more than a point a game with 71 points (26 G, 45 A) in 69 games. His strong play earned him an opportunity to play for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL) where he saw action in six games and netted one goal.

During his rookie season in 2005-06, Deitsch played for the Kalamazoo Wings (UHL), where he was the leading scorer on the team that captured the Colonial Cup. He tallied 87 points (38G, 49 A) in 72 games, the most by any rookie in the league. He was also named to the UHL’s All-Rookie team. He had 25 multi-point games, including six games with three or more and netted 37 points on the power play (18 G, 19 A).

Deitsch is the all-time leading scorer at St. Norbert College with 184 points (64 G, 120 A) in 122 games. St. Norbert posted a record of 101-13-10 during his career. In 2002-03, he gathered 53 points (19 G, 34 A) in 31 games, collecting a league-best 14 multi-point games. In 2003-04, he was the NCHA’s leading scorer, netting 53 points (19 G, 34 A) in 32 games. That season, St. Norbert lost in the NCAA Division III National Championship game, 1-0, in overtime. He had a league-best 19 multi-point games and 10 power play goals. In 2004-05, he was named a Division III All-America player, the first three-time pick in St. Norbert history. He was tied for the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association scoring lead with 47 points (16 G, 31 A).

I spoke to Jason recently about his past, his amazing scoring ability and his hopes for a championship with the Brahmas this season.

Q: Growing up in West Cincinnati, how were you introduced to Hockey?

A: My Dad started playing men’s league. I don’t know how old he was. I know I started when I was three. I have two older brothers and a twin brother. He got us all started. I think my oldest brother started when he was four. Dad got into men’s hockey and he liked it a lot. He was never that good at it. He loved the game. He loved it so much that he got us involved in it. We all just loved it from the start.

Q: Would you say that as a young man your Dad was your biggest influence?

A: Absolutely. I’d say he still is. He’s the hardest worker at everything he does. If I could work as hard as him, in a lot of things, I’ll be a very happy guy.

Q: You started out in the NAHL and did very well. How did you like playing in that league, especially with the Texas Tornado?

A: It was a great experience coming down here. I played in the North American league before I got here. I played in Gaylord, Michigan when I was 17. Being in the league was very good. The opportunity to come to Texas was just kind of a weird actually, to come to Texas to play junior hockey. Tony Curtale got the coaching job and he called me. I knew he had been a good coach and he was going to put together a good team and I thought it would be a great opportunity hockey-wise and just life experience to come down here and see a different part of the country.

Q: How did you end up playing at St. Norbert College (NCHA) in Wisconsin?

A: It was more my (twin) brothers’ decision that anything. He had been talking to the coaches and I talked to the coaches a little bit. We wanted to go to school together and we ended up going to St. Norbert together. Then after the first semester, he left and I stuck it out. I’m actually glad I did. I’m glad I was there for four years. But the ultimate decision to go there was more his than mine.

Q: It’s an understatement to say that you had a great run at St. Norbert. You are their all-time leading scorer, in fact, one of the NCHA’s leading scorers. You were named a Division III All - America player three times. How would you describe your experience there?

A: It was an unbelievable experience. I mean, just being there and being on a team like that. I think we lost 13 games in four years. Obviously, the numbers I put up were great. I would have given up some of those numbers to win a national championship in a heartbeat. But just the experience of being there, playing on a team; I mean, I met so many guys that I still talk to. It’s four years of your life that you can never take back and I don’t regret one bit of it. It’s one of those things that I thought about before – what if I could have gone Division I, where would I be now? But being where I am now, I wouldn’t change anything. I have no regrets for being where I was and I definitely enjoyed the four years that I was there.

Q: How disheartening was it, losing 1-0 in overtime in the NCAA Division III National Championship?

A: It’s unexplainable. Being there and being in that final game. The game was, it was the national championship game. From both ends of the ice, their goalie played well, our goalie played well. We had scoring chances. They had scoring chances. It was just a great game. To lose that game was very frustrating because that’s what you’re there for; I was there for four years of college to try to win at least one championship. That was my junior year. It just didn’t happen. That year the seniors who I’d become really good friends with, I think we only had three seniors, but to see them lose that final game that way when we were so close to winning the championship…it was hard to see those guys leaving the ice for the last time. I had another year to go back and try to win another one, but to see those guys, but to see those guys, who like I said were good friends of mine, to see them leave the ice that way was frustrating. We had the team that could’ve won it and there was just a fluky bounce that ended up in the back of our net in overtime.

Q: How did you hook up with the Kalamazoo Wings (UHL) after you got out of school?

A: After that year, two guys from St. Norbert went to Kalamazoo and played and the coach was asking if there were any other guys that would come the next year and they both told him about me because I definitely had aspirations to go and play pro after. I took a lot of my classes the first two years of school so I could leave and not really miss anything in my senior year. So, I kept in touch with him that year, throughout the season knowing that I wanted to play and he wanted to bring me down there. So, it was the guys before me that went and kind of kept me in touch with their coach and it worked out well.

Q: You had a tremendous rookie year in 2005-06 with the Wings, culminating with winning the Colonial Cup and your numbers were ridiculous…87 points…how do you describe that year?

A: Being my first full season pro, it was unbelievable. We had a very good team put together there. All championship teams, you have to be good from top to bottom and to be honest, I was a third line player on that team and put up that many points because our third line was so much better than anybody else’s third line. Just the guys I played with, Lucas Drake and Dustin Virag, we stuck together from pretty much January on. We had such chemistry, we played so well together and it just made things a lot easier. Just the experience of lifting that cup was unbelievable.

Q: Coming back to Cincinnati and playing back at home in the ECHL, how was that for you being able to play in front of a home town crowd?

A: It was a great experience. It was a big part of the reason I went back there. When I was in college, I played six hours away. When I was here in Texas, I played 13 hours away. My parents would try to make it as much as possible and in college, if we played at home, they were pretty much there every weekend. So, to go that close to home, my parents live in Indianapolis now, so it was a two hour drive for them, that’s nothing to them any more. But to be in front of my Grandma and Aunts and Uncles, with a lot of people always coming out to the games, it’s just, you know you see a lot of these guys that were from Canada and places that are far away, their parents don’t make it to any games or they make it once of twice a year and it’s just unbelievable to have the family support there almost every night.

Q: You began last season in Munich. How did you come to sign with the German team?

A: I talked with some different guys that had gone over there. A big part of why I went over there was for the money. It was a good experience. It was just kind of a frustrating time over there. The team was struggling. I was talking to Cincinnati and wanting to come back after that and they were in first place at the time and for Chuck to want me to come back, to be on a first place team, that said a lot for me, that he really wanted me there. But the experience in Germany, it was definitely an experience. In the future, I could see myself going back. I don’t know when or where but it was definitely a good experience. I’m glad I did it.

Q: Your numbers are huge. From the beginning, you’ve been a strong scorer. Ho do you explain that?

A: I don’t know. I think the biggest part of my game I think is my vision on the ice. The way I see the game develop. I don’t think I’m a very good skater. I would say I’m more of a playmaker than anything. I think everything that I earn, I just work hard and earn it. A lot of my goals you’ll see are from three feet in front of the net, just working hard in front of the net, tapping in loose pucks. I don’t know. It’s tough to explain. The will and want to get the job done and whatever it takes to help the team I guess.

Q: Did you have anybody in particular throughout your career in the pro leagues that has been an influence, or who you pattern your game after?

A: Not really. I know my strengths and weaknesses and I just try to play to my capability. You don’t want to try to do too much. You don’t want to not do enough. I just try to work hard and do the things that I do well to help each team along the way.

Q: You’ve shown that you’re willing to drop the gloves when necessary and you’re tough. I’ve watched a few of your fights and they’re brutal. Did you fight a lot with your brothers growing up?

A: Yeah, I mean, obviously four boys growing up in one house, we obviously fought a little bit. My oldest brother didn’t really move on in junior hockey. He played midget and kind of ended it and he went to the Army. But my other two brothers, we played juniors together, the one year in Gaylord and those two guys are two of the toughest guys I’ve probably ever played with in my life. They’ll fight anybody, they’ll take a punch, and they’ll throw a punch. You know, I wouldn’t really consider myself a great fighter. I’m willing to fight if it needs to be done, you know, to protect a teammate or something like that. I definitely wouldn’t say that’s part of my game. I just, like I said, you have to do whatever it takes to protect a teammate. In junior, my twin brother and I fought. We were on different teams and he hit my goalie so we fought, so whatever it takes to help your teammate on the ice.

Q: Are those two brothers still playing hockey?

A: No, they’re both done.

Q: You’ve been around NYTEX a lot this summer and you helped Dan Wildfong out with his hockey camp. How did the idea of you coming on board with the Brahmas come together?

A: Actually, when I was coming back from Germany, I had talked to Dan and this was a good fit for me. I had some talks with him. I thought I was maybe going to come here and I started to talk to Cincinnati again and having played for them the year before just felt like a better situation for me this past season. The new assistant coach, Ron Vogel, I played with here in Texas and he’s a really good buddy of mine so was talking to him along the way. He was talking to Dan and talking to me and we were kind of both talking. So it kind of started right away from when I came back from Germany and we stayed in contact a little bit throughout the end of our season and as soon as our season ended, we got in contact again.

Q: What is your familiarity with the Central Hockey League?

A: With the league, I’m not really familiar at all. I really know nothing about the league. I mean, just from what I hear. The first few games are going to be really interesting, to see the league and see what it’s going to be like.

Q: What are your expectations playing with the Brahmas this season?

A: I think Dan wants to win just as much or more than any coach I’ve ever talked to. To see what he did last year as a first year coach to put together a team and then to see the guys that he is signing back this year and the new guys that he’s bringing in. You know, it’s really exciting for me because the ultimate goal every year is to win a championship. For the players, we don’t make a ton of money so the longer you play in the season, the more money you make. The playoff bonuses, I mean you play for all those little things. The ultimate goal is to lift that cup. Having played three years pro and winning two championships, that feeling is the most unexplainable feeling ever, I mean when you lift that cup…we played 22 games with Cincinnati in the playoffs this year and from start to finish it’s a battle. The will and want and the commitment. The whatever it takes to win. I know Dan’s got that here and he’s going to demand that from every player and that’s why I think this is going to be a really exciting year.

Q: Do you have anything in particular to say to the Texas Brahmas fans?

A: It’s exciting to be out here again. I don’t know how many of the same fans will be out here to watch but its very exciting to be back here and play in the same building I played in, I guess, nine years ago now. I look forward to meeting a lot of the fans and to try to help win a lot of games for the fans here.

Photo Credit: Cincyhockey11