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J A N / F E B 2 0 2 3 | M H J ON L I N E . C O M 21 M A R C H 2 0 2 4 | M H J ON L I N E . C O M 21 THE COACH Peter Roed is a proud White Bear Lake alum. Graduating from the north- east suburb in 1995, the forward was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the second round of the 1995 NHL Draft (No. 38 overall). He spent six seasons playing professionally in the minors before shifting gears to youth hockey coach. Peter served as an assistant to all three of his kids' teams at some point in their career. "Hockey gave me so much," said Peter, whose brother, Shawn, played one semester at the University of Minnesota and some minor league pro hockey. "Just watching the boys take to it like I did has been pretty incredible." He's the best kind of hockey dad. "It's nice because he's not a crazy hockey dad," said Nolan. "He's been there. He just gets it. He's always been on the ice or on the bench with every team I've been on, and he's always there to help me at home with stuff and just kind of guide any of us as we need. It's just great learning from him." When Lleyton was looking at next steps for Division I—eventually set- tling on Bemidji State—it was his dad who helped him navigate the process. "My dad just kind of always said I would make it," said Lleyton. "Not in a cocky or boastful way or anything like that, but in a really encouraging way. It really helped when things might have been tough or if I wasn't on this team or that. "He's always been there." THE SCHEDULER All four men in the family will be swift to admit: the house doesn't function without its CEO, mom. Kelly is quick to quip that it's a team effort, with plenty of help from Peter and respective carpooling families to get three kids to their respective rinks. "I wouldn't change a thing though," said Kelly. "Sometimes I wish I could go back to when they were that little because it was so much fun to watch. You could see instantly how much they loved the game. Lleyton fell asleep in his gear he was so excited about playing. "Don't get me wrong, it's still a lot of fun watching each of the boys excel at the different levels they're at, but when they were little that's a different kind of fun." Kelly also sees each boy, as most moms do, in their own light. There's Lleyton, the "worker." Nolan, the "passionate" one. And Nash, the "sassy" one. "That's the youngest for ya," Kelly laughed. Mom can see those differences on the ice, too. "Lleyton, and maybe it was an oldest kid thing, he was always working so hard. Like he had something extra to prove," said Kelly. "And he did. He saw other kids get picked over for different teams and what not, but he was so determined to do right." Then there's Nolan, who plays his best games when he can see mom in the stands. "He's just a good, sweet kid," said Kelly. "He looks out for his teammates and his brothers and just really cares. There's an empathy and compassion from him on and off the ice that is real- ly wonderful to see." Last but never least, Nash. "He's really good," said Kelly. "He goes out there and just does his thing. He's very determined, and you can see him really starting to excel at things." hite Bear Lake's Kelly Roed swears that the first word her youngest son, Nash, said was "hockey." "We didn't hear 'mom' or 'dad', it was 'hockey,'" Kelly laughed. "I can't say that I was surprised though." It would be fitting, seeing as the entire Roed family from grandparents to uncles down to 14-year-old Nash and his two older brothers Nolan and Lleyton live and breathe Minnesota's favorite sport. "When you live in Minnesota, hockey is a part of you, right?" explained Kelly. "Not that we're hockey all the time 24/7—there's baseball and golf and school—but hockey has kind of always been this space that brings us all together." W