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"It's just always a good feeling to make a kid's day," Seeler said with a wide smile. Late Bloomer Seeler is the epitome of 'Minnesota Nice' off the ice, yet one hard-nosed, fiery competitor on the ice. He is also somebody a lot of young Minnesota hockey players who don't think they have what it takes to make it can use as a source of inspiration. When the 26-year-old, 6-foot-2 Seeler was a sophomore at Eden Prairie High School, he was an undersized, 5-6 defenseman with a mop of blond hair. He won two State Championships with the Eagles, yet in the first one, he played one shift in the title game totaling what he guess- es was three seconds because he took a penalty. After two years of junior hockey that included making the USHL's All-Rookie team, Seeler started his collegiate career at the University of Nebraska Omaha. But he decided to leave the school after his sophomore year with no idea of what he'd do next. By luck, his advisor, now agent Chris LaCombe ran into former University of Minnesota assistant coach Grant Potulny at an ice rink in Bloomington and at the very last moment was able to find Seeler a spot with the Gophers. But he would have to sit out an entire key development year. The Wild worried all this time away from the ice would ruin their prospect. But on a half scholarship, Seeler would play one year at the U and ultimately sign with the Wild before working hard and finding a way to impressively overtake a handful of left-shot defensemen on the depth chart to make it to the big show. "It's a testament to the commu- nity surrounding Minnesota hock- ey and Eden Prairie in general," Seeler said. "Being a Minnesota- born kid and being able to play here where I grew up, it's pretty special. It makes you really appre- ciate the support you get growing up. It's pretty cool that guys like me and (Kyle Rau), who I grew up with and played with for so long as a kid, were able to make it and are still playing." Seeler and Rau, who plays on the Wild's American Hockey League affiliate in Des Moines, Iowa, won back-to-back Bantam State Championships as a kid. There were several accolades that preceded that, too, but it was in high school and juniors where Seeler really started to develop as a player. Oly's Impact He was really aided during his senior year by mentor Steve Olinger, the man they called, "Oly." "Other than my dad, he had the biggest impact on me as a kid," Seeler said. "He was our assistant coach at Eden Prairie and he came in right before our senior year, and that was a cool group to be a part of. I mean, we'd been playing together for years and we had probably 12 or 13 seniors and he came in and he was one of those coaches that understood me. He really just understood how I played, how I was wired. More impor- tantly, he worked with me and taught me not only about hockey and things I can work on and improve on, but, I mean, he was a friend of mine outside the rink and taught me about life. D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9 | M H J ON L I N E . C O M 29 Left: Nick Seeler shares a special bond with his dad, Dan.