Will Zellers once had an unforgettable, national title-winning performance in Vegas
· Yahoo Sports
Apr. 7—GRAND FORKS — Will Zellers sat in the hospital with his arm dangling by his side.
He was still wearing his full Shattuck-St. Mary's hockey uniform.
Visit afrikasportnews.co.za for more information.
His shoulder popped out of the socket during a game in February 2024 in Aurora, Ont., — the second time it had happened that month — and it wouldn't go back in. Hours passed by.
"They were hooking me up to wires to sedate me," Zellers said. "I was sitting there with my gurney, all my gear, in so much pain."
The final assessment wasn't pretty.
"I tore my labrum fully," he said. "My AC joint, rotator cuff... everything was mangled pretty bad."
Zellers needed surgery.
But he knew surgery meant the end of his prep career, and he and several of his teammates — Aidan Park, Ryker Lee and Colin Ralph — returned to Shattuck to try to win a Tier-I 18U national championship.
Zellers began exploring whether he could play through his injuries.
"He knew he was going to have to have surgery," longtime Shattuck-St. Mary's coach Tom Ward said. "It was a bad one. But he got a harness he felt comfortable with. His folks were comfortable with it, the doctors, the trainers were comfortable with it. He was able to manipulate it. If it did pop out, we had trainers with us."
Zellers pushed his surgery back to mid-April. He sat out the entire month of March. He began rehabbing with the goal of returning for the national tournament in Las Vegas in early April.
When the tournament arrived, Zellers gave it a shot.
"If you know Will," Ward said, "he's one of these rink rat guys. When he gets on the rink, his eyeballs turn inside out and he turns into a hockey player type of guy."
Zellers had an unforgettable performance.
In the semifinals, Zellers scored the game-tying goal in the third period. His shoulder popped out while celebrating the goal with Ralph, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound defenseman.
Zellers went into the locker room, where a doctor helped pop his shoulder back in. He returned to the ice and scored the overtime winner.
Shattuck won 5-4. Zellers scored four goals.
"It was a courageous effort," Ward said. "He earned the respect of everyone with our program and everyone who knows him. And he didn't want to do it to show off. He wanted to win it for the guys. The Sioux have themselves a guy who knows how to win and wants to win. He's a gamer."
Zellers led the tournament in goals (nine) and points (15) as Shattuck won the national title in City National Arena, the Vegas Golden Knights' practice rink.
"He's a big-time, big-game player," Ward said. "It doesn't faze him. He can feel other people's anxiety, and he preys on them."
Zellers is now headed back to Las Vegas to compete in another national tournament.
UND (29-9-1) will play Wisconsin (23-12-2) in the NCAA Frozen Four semifinals in T-Mobile Arena. The game is scheduled for 4 p.m. Central on Thursday.
Zellers said it has been a rewarding rookie year at UND under first-year head coach Dane Jackson, who has the program in its first Frozen Four in a decade.
"Especially thinking back to last April when everything started to happen, people were starting to question what UND hockey was," Zellers said of the coaching change and loss of players to the transfer portal. "I remember there were some videos out on social media about how UND is going down."
Zellers was undeterred.
"Growing up, I've been a North Dakota fan through and through," Zellers said. "I never once thought about leaving this place, especially with Jax here, too. I just wanted to stick to my decision and stick to my guns. I trusted Jax and everything he was going to do, and I knew we were going to have this great season, because he's such a smart coach and the things he can do are unbelievable."
Zellers has been elite offensively this season — and that's no surprise. He scored 44 goals for Green Bay in the United States Hockey League last season. Only two players in the last decade have scored more in the USHL — current NHLers Macklin Celebrini and Matthew Coronato.
Zellers was named USHL Player of the Year.
He enters the Frozen Four with 18 goals, ranking fourth among NCAA freshmen this season. Only the Quinnipiac duo of Ethan Wyttenbach (25) and Markus Vidicek (20), and Michigan State's Porter Martone (25), who is now playing in the NHL for the Philadelphia Flyers, scored more.
The last four UND freshmen to eclipse the 18-goal mark are Brock Boeser (27), T.J. Oshie (24), Jonathan Toews (22) and Travis Zajac (20). Oshie, Toews and Zajac all went on to play more than 1,000 NHL games. Boeser is over 600 and counting.
But the other side of Zellers' game has transformed during his freshman season.
He's become a more complete player — something that was on display in the NCAA Sioux Falls Regional. Two of his four assists in the regional came after winning puck battles on the forecheck.
"My game has changed a lot — especially off the puck and in the D-zone," Zellers said. "I came in here with a lot of holes in my game. I was very offensively driven. I kind of realized that, in college, and if I want to make it to the pros one day, I have to develop more skills and add more tools to the toolbox. Jax, (Matt) Smaby and Simmer (Dillon Simpson) have been unbelievable with that — teaching me the ropes and giving me trust, too.
"They know I'm going to make mistakes out there, but they let me come back to the bench, let me know in a timely manner that I made a mistake there, but they also trust me to get back out there. They're not putting me down for mistakes, but they're coaching me. They've been unbelievable and have helped my game so much."
UND won the Penrose Cup this season as National Collegiate Hockey Conference regular-season champions, then reached the Frozen Four by shutting out Merrimack and Quinnipiac in the Sioux Falls Regional.
The Fighting Hawks are now two wins away from their ninth NCAA national championship.
"Jax has done a great job and this team has been so much fun to be a part of," Zellers said. "You've seen it. We're all pretty goofy. We're all pretty fun. We're so close. There's not a guy in that room you can't go take lunch with. We have no cliques on the team, no little groups. That's the biggest thing that's helped us on the ice and off the ice."
Zellers, who was drafted in the third round at The Sphere two months after winning the title at Shattuck, hopes to add to his Vegas memories this weekend.
"I remember watching in 2016 when they won it," Zellers said. "It's unbelievable to be back there and to play for Jax, play for the guys in that locker room and play for the fans. I know everybody in this town has been itching for another championship. It's been hard. It's been tough sledding in recent years. I'm really happy to be back there and hopefully hang No. 9."