By Matthew Gourlie
Bemidji, Minnesota is home to some mythical men.
A statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox stands on the edge of town.
Pro Football Hall of Famer Bronko Nagurski went to Bemidji High.
Still, Bemidji is hockey country and Moose Jaw Warriors rookie Chase Hartje has a chance to be the first Bemidji product to be selected in the NHL entry draft since goalie Joe Fallon in 2005.
“It’s been a goal of mine since I was little,” Hartje said. “It’s a goal for anyone who plays. It doesn’t matter if you’re from Minnesota or Texas or anywhere, that’s your dream, you want to get drafted.
“I try not to think about it. It’s a little tough not to, but it’s a long ways away still. I’m just trying to go game-by-game.”
Hartje, 17, is the rare Minnesota product who gave up their Grade 12 year of high school hockey to make the jump to the junior ranks.
“A bunch of my friends were giving me crap for leaving. Not many kids in Minnesota leave,” Hartje said.
Though Bemidji State plays NCAA division 1 hockey, Hartje said only rivalry games with the University of North Dakota — two hours to the west — can steal the focus away from high school hockey.
“It’s a small town. It’s smaller than Moose Jaw, but it’s a good town, everybody loves hockey there,” Hartje said. “Everybody goes to the college games and they all go to the high school games too. High school hockey is the biggest thing. Every single kid who wants to play high school hockey watches the state tournament.”
Hartje got a taste of the pinnacle of Minnesota high school hockey when his Bemidji High School Lumberjacks reached the 2015 and 2016 Class AA Minnesota state tournament at the Xcel Energy Centre. The Lumberjacks lost in the quarter-finals both years as Bemidji made their first appearances at the state tournament in 30 years.
He was drafted in the second round of the USHL draft by Des Moines in 2015. That put the idea of playing junior hockey into his thoughts. A mutual friend of his parents and Warriors general manager Alan Millar opened the door for a training camp invite in 2016, but he decided to return to Bemidji for his junior season in high school.
“(The USHL) wasn’t the situation I wanted to go to and this seemed like the better fit,” Hartje said. “I knew it was going to be fast. I knew everybody was going to compete hard.”
“The team has been doing really good and on a personal level I feel like I’ve been developing better than I would anywhere else.”
The smooth-skating Warriors defenceman missed the first eight games of the season due to injury, but was pressed into duty and logged top-four minutes in the early part of the season as the Warriors lost six difference defencemen to injury at different stages of the season thus far.
“We asked him a little more than we anticipated. The minutes that he logged early on were really good from his end,” said Warriors assistant coach Mark O’Leary. “Coming from high school hockey, it’s a big jump. The offensive ability is there, we know that. He can make plays inside the other team’s blue line, but in our defensive zone he’s been learning how to use his stick. Winning those one-on-one battles in the corner and in front of the net is an area where he can improve, and he will. He’s a rink rat, he loves to play the game and love to learn. He’s made strides this year already and he’ll continue to learn.”
Hartje entered the season simply looking to crack the Warriors roster and earn a regular spot in the lineup. He was given a C rating by NHL’s Central Scouting and is hoping to continue to open the eyes of scouts in the second half.
Hartje’s skating ability has helped him get out of trouble and his vision and passing have helped him rack up 16 assists in 27 games with the Warriors.
“It’s been going pretty good. There have been a few bumps in the road, but that obviously comes with being a rookie,” Hartje said. “I want to round out my defensive game and pick that up. I don’t play a ton, but I am still putting up points.”
Hartje is 5’11” and 185 pounds and said he has learned that mistakes get punished quickly in the WHL.
“If you don’t pick up a guy, it ends up in the back of your net,” he said.
O’Leary called him a quick learner and said he’s making good strides, but can’t always rely on his skating to bail him out.
“He gets himself into jams and his legs manage to get him out of it. But when you’re playing against good players that’s not always the case,” O’Leary said. “You need to be in the right spot, have a smart stick, so you can put yourself in a position so you don’t always have to skate out of trouble. That’s somewhere he has to improve. He’s playing against better players and you can’t get away with what you did before.”
