The Vineyard Gazette – Martha's Vineyard News

Community, a love for growing the game and a dash of luck. That’s how Vineyarder Nick Kent’s career as a professional hockey player and youth coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning was shaped.

“From day one, hockey has been the right place at the right time for me,” he said.

Mr. Kent was born and raised on the island and has traveled the world playing hockey. He now lives in Florida, but still returns every summer to teach the sport he loves to children on the island.

The first few times he put on his skates, when he was about six, he hated it. His father was a goalie and first took him on the ice at a YMCA camp. He had to pay bribes from his father—one lap around the rink for one movie rental—until he was hooked.

Mr. Kent played every position as a child and played professional hockey in several countries. Jeanna Shepard

“When you grow up here, you play with most of the same kids your whole life, which you don't really see elsewhere,” he said. “That was just a great experience, because [during] Senior Night, I knew everybody from day one. And the chemistry you build on the ice… you know where somebody's going to be without having to go looking for them.”

During his youth, Mr. Kent played every position on the ice, but was most at home as a goalie.

“I've had games where I've stolen a game, but I've also had games where we've lost because of me,” he said. “So riding that wave of not getting too high and not getting too low… that's a nice feeling for me.”

It’s rare for a player to be a forward, a defender, and a goalie. For high school boys hockey coach Matt Mincone, it’s part of who Mr. Kent is.

“He's the only player in my years as a coach who has played every position,” Mr. Mincone said. “It shows his unique ability to want to try and fill a needed role on a team and be part of a team.”

After graduating from high school, Mr. Kent decided to continue his hockey career in the junior divisions, playing with teams in North Carolina, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Canada and Sweden. Moving between different goal posts was a rewarding challenge.

“It's part of the job,” he said. “But looking back, I turned my life upside down so many times to play for another team in the same league with the same group of people. It was wild. But I wouldn't change a thing. I would do it 100 times over if I could.”

The pandemic put his active career on hold and he returned to Island from Sweden just as the world went into lockdown.

Mr. Kent’s current job came about by chance. He moved to Tampa in the fall of 2021 with a high school friend and decided to sign up for a local Labor Day tournament, playing with strangers. One of those strangers had connections to the Tampa Bay Lightning community and the hockey development department. After a 20-minute interview, he had the job.

“Three days later I was standing on the ice in my Lightning tracksuit and Lightning gloves and I thought, what just happened?” he said with a laugh.

Mr. Kent returns to the Vineyard in the summer to teach the islanders. Jeanna Shepard

In Tampa, Mr. Kent wears many hats. He works primarily with the girls’ program, from learning to skate to recreational leagues. He also works with the children’s and adult sled hockey teams, an experience he cherishes immensely.

“It doesn't matter how much traffic there is to the rink and how stressful it is to race there for practice,” he said. “You get there and the kids are all smiles. You never hear anything negative from them. They're all excited to be on the ice every minute. And it's awesome.”

Kelley Steadman, current development coordinator for the Tampa Bay Lightning girls hockey team and a former national team player, has witnessed Mr. Kent's development as a coach.

“Over the last three years, he's really put himself in a position where most of us are comfortable letting him do what he wants when we're not there,” she said. “I think that's just a testament to him and how hard he works and the kind of person he is.”

Mr. Kent returns to his hometown in the summer to host various summer programs and competitions, bringing what he learned in Tampa back to the island.

“Especially in the summer, the way I see it, you just have to let kids be kids,” he said. “A lot of the development just comes from repeating games. Let the kids do their own thing. [skill] camps during the day, and then at night [for games]they want to have fun with their friends. Because when I was a kid, that's all I wanted to do.”

To Mr. Mincone, he will always feel like Mr. Kent's coach, but he respects and appreciates what Mr. Kent brings to the house.

“Coming back here and taking on the role that was needed to run the high school league in the summer and run the camp and be the goalie technician and be good at it… he's passionate about everything he does,” Mr. Mincone said. “He's taken it to another level to keep dreaming the dream, even when the shape of the dream has changed.”

In the short term, he wants to move up in the Sunshine State and the NHL, but next summer he wants to bring something new to the Vineyard.

“I'd love to have a camp here exclusively for girls and have some players from the Professional Women's Hockey League come in and coach them,” he said. “If they can be coached by some of the best female players in the country … I think that would go a long way toward developing the girls' programs here. Trying to put that together is definitely at the top of my radar.”

He hopes his unique journey will continue to inspire young players on the island.

“To now know that there are alternative routes, and to be able to share that with the next generation of children [is exciting]”, he said. “If a coach kicks you off a team, that doesn't have to be the end of your story. If you keep pushing, you'll find your place. Especially as a hockey player, you just have to find a team. It doesn't have to be the best team, it doesn't have to be the worst team, but you just have to find a home and go from there.”