Veteran Eric Dazé Is Now A Rookie High School Head Coach – At Hinsdale Central

By Ross Forman

Éric Dazé brings a 601-game playing career in the NHL, all for the Chicago Blackhawks, to the Hinsdale Central bench as its new head coach – his first year coaching high school hockey.

He inherits a Red Devils team that went 16-8 in the Illinois West regular-season, which was tied for fourth-place in the 13-team league, however, Hinsdale lost 17 seniors to graduation.

“I’ve been coaching for 10 years,” said Dazé, 50, who lives in Burr Ridge. “This will be my first year coaching high school hockey, (though) I joined the team for the state playoffs last year.”

He coached peewees for the Chicago Hawks last season, and had four years with the Hawks and five years with the Chicago Mission has an assistant coach.

“I am happy to see Eric as the new coach at Hinsdale Central. He is a good coach who brings a positive approach to the game and the players he works with. We were fortunate to have him in our program at the Chicago Hawks last season as he made a positive impact on the players he coached,”
said Steve Poapst, Chicago Hawks hockey director. 

“There a lot of great (coaching) memories over the years,” Dazé said. “Winning our first state championship with Mission in game 3 in triple overtime was awesome. Going (to the) national championship game was a great accomplishment; losing was tough, but (still) great memories. 

“My best (coaching) memory was having opportunities to coach my son (the) last two games of high school career. You always try to evolve as (a) coach; my style would be demanding, but fair and honest with my players. 

“My playing career helped me understand the ups and downs in hockey, so I feel I know how the players feel. The game has changed since I retired and you have to be able to adapt and learn where the game is going. When my son started playing, I didn’t want to coach but after a few demands from other coaches I decided to join and really liked it. Trying to help players during a season is very rewarding. I was happy coaching peewees last year, but (taking over) Hinsdale Central (is an opportunity) I couldn’t pass.”

Dazé replaces James Brooks.

“There are a lot of coaches who helped me along my career,” Dazé said. “The top three are my junior coach, Joe Canale, and (NHL) coaches Craig Hartsburg and Brian Sutter. Joe and Brian were tough but fair and I felt they had my back. Craig was a good player-coach and was really good to me to start my NHL career.”

Dazé said Hinsdale Central’s goal this season is to improve over last season. The Red Devils finished with 49 points in the Illinois West regular season, tied with Plainfield, and only behind Maine (57), Glenbard (54) and the Warriors (53). Hinsdale was swept in the opening round of the West Cup playoffs by Plainfield.

“Our goal this year will be to improve over (last) season. We see it as a great opportunity for new players and a challenge we face (head) on,” Dazé said. “My goal will be to have a hard-working team that wants to play high tempo and improve during the season. Losing so many players, we obviously will rely on our four returning players to take charge.”

Forward Henry Crabb, Zachary Kunitz and Ryan Mahler, plus defenseman Danny D’Aprile, carry the returning label. “I am very excited to compete in Illinois West,” Dazé said. “I feel we have a big challenge ahead of us, but have good new players joining our team who will make us competitive.”

Assisting Dazé on the varsity bench will be Rob Bishop, Michael Levine and Ryan Sullivan.

The Hinsdale Central JV coach is Zack Laskowski, assisted by Tim Laskowski.