William Douglas has written The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles former professional player and collegiate coach Jessica Koizumi, who returned to her home state of Hawaii in August to hold inline hockey clinics.
Jessica Koizumi’s hockey journey began with an act of defiance.
A neighbor invited Koizumi to skate at the Ice Palace in Honolulu when he was 7 years old, but his parents said no.
“I grabbed a backpack, I packed some warm clothes, and I went out the door and told my neighbors that my parents said ‘yes,'” Koizumi said. “I went to the rink. My parents couldn’t find me anywhere … They drove to the rink, found me on the ice rolling around with one of the things being pushed.”
Koizumi started playing hockey when his family moved to Minnesota shortly after his disobedience, and later to California. She became a star at the University of Minnesota Duluth and won a gold medal playing for the US at the 2008 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Harbin, China.
But the 38-year-old Honolulu native has not forgotten his island roots. He returned to Hawaii in August and conducted clinics at the Kapolei Inline Hockey Arenas to help develop the game, especially for girls and women.
“It was a very rewarding experience for me to be able to pass on my knowledge of the game to a vacation setting where I was born,” he said. “I had no idea what to expect.”
What he found were 92 participants ages 8 to 50 — including mothers and daughters — during five clinics held Aug. 15-19, all eager- eager to learn.
“I didn’t know they had a roller rink here, actually,” he said. “The last time I was in Hawaii was in 2019, and I didn’t know about it. I remember I was visiting the Ice Palace and there was a ‘Now Hiring’ sign, so I was laughing, ‘Maybe I’ll just move . to Hawaii and get this job here.'”
Doug Jones disagrees. The director of hockey operations for KIHA said he reached out to Koizumi to return to Hawaii after his sister sent him an article about Koizumi being an associate head coach for the University’s NCAA Division I women’s hockey program. of Vermont.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s great to get her because she’s a native Hawaiian who’s going to come back to the island to help us build a women’s program, or introduce the women’s game from stand on, look what Jessica has done in her hockey life,'” Jones said.
Koizumi is the seventh leading goal scorer (84) in Minnesota Duluth women’s hockey history and ranks 11th in points with 155 (84 goals, 71 assists) in 132 games .
She had two goals, including the double-overtime game-winner, in Minnesota Duluth’s 4-3 win over Boston College in the 2007 women’s Frozen Four semifinals. Minnesota Duluth lost 4-1 to Wisconsin in the final.
Koizumi went on to play six seasons in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League from 2009-15, with 77 points (39 goals, 38 assists) in 89 games for Montreal and Boston.
She scored her first National Women’s Hockey League goal in 2015 with Connecticut and had seven points (two goals, five assists) in 16 games in 2015-16 and 2018-19.
Koizumi got into college coaching in 2010 as an assistant for the women’s team at Yale University. He transferred to Ohio State University’s women’s program in 2016-17 and became Vermont’s associate head coach the following season.
Jones’ cold call led to more conversations. Koizumi said he had a plane ticket to Hawaii a week ago.
“I don’t know who this person is, it’s a stranger waiting for me, what is it, I need to do a little research,” Koizumi said. “I learned that he’s a wonderful person, a wonderful promoter of the sport. The women’s side here, he just wants to grow the program. He has a great passion for the game, and I think he’s a great fit for what they need here. in Hawaii.”
Clinic participants said Koizumi was the only person they needed to help them improve or feel comfortable playing, if they were beginners.
“I was kind of going in feeling I would be out of place, intimidated,” said Becca Skramstad, 42, who joined the clinics with her 8-year-old daughter, Isla. “He was super-welcoming and immediately I felt, ‘I can do it.’ The atmosphere that he gave, everyone felt like it was something we could all do. And we did.
Shauna Mead, a 38-year-old vet who started playing inline hockey in May, joins her two daughters, Keylanah, 10, and Maile, 8.
“It took a day or two to figure out where the skill level was and he knew there was a range,” Mead said. “He has a really good setup where he groups us with people of our skill level during the clinic. It’s a lot of fun.”
The clinics mark a time of transition for Koizumi. He left Vermont and the college coach this summer after 13 seasons and started JZumi Performance LLC, a hockey development company.
She also works for Elev802, which has hockey training and performance facilities in Florida, Massachusetts and Vermont, and as a consultant for Women’s College Hockey Recruiting, a company that helps players and their families navigate in the college hockey recruiting process.
“I’m very grateful for all the programs I’ve worked with and all the players I’ve coached,” Koizumi said. “I know I’m going to miss different places, especially when the season starts. But I’m at a point in my life where I’m excited to give back on a different level and have a little more opportunity to spend time with family and friends. friend.”
Photos: Courtesy of Doug Jones, University of Vermont, USA Hockey