Alaska awaits
FREEPORT — Cole Hepler was always destined to go far north to play hockey.
Both of his brothers, Zach, 25, and Jeremy, 23, blazed that path for him.
But neither of his brothers went quite as far as Cole is planning to go.
The 5-foot-10, 160-pound Freeport forward recently signed a tender with the Kenai River Brown Bears of the North American Hockey League. The team is located in Kenai, Alaska.
To watch him play at the next level, it would be a 4,197-mile drive, about 74 hours straight through. A flight could get you there in about 10 hours, 55 minutes.
Being that far away didn’t deter him from making the decision to head out for camp in July.
In fact, the opportunities for outdoors activities, such as fishing, made the move particularly enticing.
“I just took the best opportunity available. No one else had expressed interest and I was excited someone took interest in me,” Cole said. “It will be tough to be away from my family and my friends I grew up with, but how many kids from Pittsburgh play hockey in Alaska? It seemed like a good experience.”
Both of Cole’s brothers, who are defensemen, played in the Ontario Junior A Provincial Hockey League before moving on to play in college. Zach played at Division III SUNY Plattsburg and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth before graduating in 2013, while Jeremy currently plays for Division III University of St. Thomas (Minn.).
Zach played for the Toronto Dixie Beehives and Jeremy played for the Upper Canada Patriots and Markham Waxers.
Cole wasn’t given much time to make a decision. He was offered Tuesday, Jan. 28 and had until Saturday or Sunday to make a decision.
The coach developed interest after watching Hepler play for his club team, the Esmark Stars.
Signing a tender early provided Cole with some relief.
“It’s a good feeling. Now I can work on going to the gym and bulking up,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about going to different tryouts. I can focus on one thing.”
Freeport hockey coach Dave Hepler was pleased to see another of his sons move onto the next level.
Hepler has also figured out a strategy to see his son play. The Brown Bears will make trips to play teams in Texas and Minnesota and will play several games over a two-week span.
Hepler thinks Cole’s offensive ability will translate. This season, Cole finished third in the regular season of PIHL Class A competition with 54 points, including 32 goals.
“He’s a quick skater and has good speed,” Coach Hepler said. “He also sees the ice well. If he sees you open, he’s going to find you.”
