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Hengen's hard work pays off
After a bad injury streak, the Holy Angels' all-time scoring leader is back at it
The National Hockey Center froze in an uncharacteristic silence in the first period of Friday nights 8-5 win over the MSU Mavericks when Husky sophomore forward Billy Hengen was layed out in the neutral zone after a huge open ice hit by an MSU forward.
As play went on, he layed motionless for a couple seconds until he staggered up and limped off the ice slowly.
Spectators and teammates thought it was a concussion, but it turns out Hengen was just waiting for his sublexed right shoulder to pop back into place.
A serious injury? Not even close, according to Hengen, who shooed away trainer Sean Donely and hopped over the boards for his next shift.
"It has happened so many times that it doesn't effect me anymore," Hengen said. "It's just part of what I deal with when I play."
It was merely a paragraph in the novel also known as Billy Hengen's injury report.
Hospital Bills
The pain began midway during Hengen's junior year at Holy Angels Academy when his left shoulder started dislocating. Hengen's nagging injury endured throughout the season, to the point where his shoulder dislocated once or twice a game. It only made matters worse when Hengen would pop it back in place and keep playing. Surgery in the off-season was inevitable.
"They had to shave my bone down because I did so much damage rolling it around and putting it back in on my own," Hengen said.
Hengen needed surgery once again in December of 2002 during his second year with the USHL's Lincoln Stars. This time, his right shoulder started dislocating.
As a first-year player for the Huskies last season, Hengen found himself in the hospital once again thanks to a bone chip in his right wrist. Because his wrist was mis-diagnosed in the summer of 2002 as tendonitis, Hengen's injury became worse.
"These two fingers (clenching his pinky and ring finger) became stuck like a claw," Hengen said. "I couldn't even move them."
The latest chapter in Hengen's injury report came last July. During off-season workouts Hengen started feeling pain in his chest. He went to play one night and could not bend down to tie his skates.
"I'm always hurt so the guys were like 'stop being a wuss' you know ... so I went and skated and I couldn't really walk up and down the stairs in the morning." Hengen said. "After two or three days I thought I better go in."
His visit was past due, and it turned out Hengen had a collapsed lung. His fourth surgery in five years entailed blowing up his lung, draining the fluid and stitching it back up.
"They think it happened from not breathing right when I was working out or something. I don't know ... I have bad luck I guess."
Hengen was in the hospital for about a week, then it was back to off-season workouts.
"He doesn't let those injuries get him down, and he just keeps on truckin," said SCSU head coach Craig Dahl. "The thing about Billy is he's not afraid. He's not afraid to get in there and grind, and he's smart about how he does it. Just like Jonny Cullen was smart about how he did it."
A busy off-season
As a tough 2002-03 wound down, in which Hengen played in only 14 games and contributed two assists, the Eden Prairie native knew he needed to make a decision.
He could either sulk at the bottom of the roster for another season or work his tail off. He chose the latter.
"Last year, when I wasn't playing, all I thought about was 'how am I going to get better for next year?' Instead of saying 'oh, I don't want to work hard, I'm not playing.' Two months before the season ended last year, when I knew I wasn't going to play, I started my training a month and a half before everyone else did."
Dahl told Hengen he needed to get faster. The advice was taken to heart and Hengen trained three hours a day, four days a week with Husky walk-on Josh Singer. Singer, who has to sit out this season after transferring from Michigan Tech, played with Hengen from youth hockey up to high school hockey at Holy Angels Academy.
Their vigorous routine included sprints up an Olympic Ski Jump trail, skating school at Scott Steffen's Intensified Training program and numerous hours at Acceleration Minnesota where Hengen spent time on an inclined artificially-surfaced hockey treadmill.
When Hengen showed up at the beginning of this season, he skated like a different player all together. And like Dahl had hoped, he was flying.
"He's really gone to work in the off-season to improve his speed, because that was the one knock on him," Dahl said. "He's playing a lot faster."
The difference was so apparent that Hengen switched his skates' blade measurement from a three-eighths hollow (sharpest blade) to a five-eighths hollow (dullest blade). His new blades compensated for his longer strides that now allow him to glide across the ice, instead of dig into it.
"I was chopping ice and basically trying to run on it," Hengen said. "Now I'm using more of my leg strength so I don't have to try and run. I use longer strides, so I push off more, instead of trying to be quick."
Back to scoring habits
Hengen has been on fire so far this season. His 19 points (12 assists, seven goal) rate him second on the team, and his two straight game winners vs. Michigan Tech Oct. 25 and Princeton Oct. 31, helped the Huskies begin the season with a nine-game winning streak.
Hengen is also fresh off a six- point weekend that included two goals and two assists in SCSU's 8-5 win over MSU-Mankato Jan. 23, and two more assists in SCSU's 7-6 loss the following night.
Hengen's performance gave him WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honors, and will likely keep him playing on SCSU's first line alongside senior co-captain Matt Hendricks and Brock Hooton.
The sophomore forward's hot start may be a big surprise to most of the WCHA, but not to those who kept track of Hengen's high school career at Holy Angels Academy.
Hengen ranks as the program's all-time leading scorer with 220 points (102 goals, 118 assists). Holy Angels Academy is no bush league school either. Led by head coach Greg Trebil, the Holy Angels have a 150-25-5 record in the last six years, including a state championship and a state runner-up. Husky senior co-captain Ryan LaMere was also a high school teammate of Hengen.
The program's success makes the milestone all the sweeter, according to Hengen.
"It's really nice because the program is doing so well and there's so many good players coming through there," Hengen said. "Each year when better players come through there, I'm more honored to have the record."
Singer, Hengen's high school teammate, remembers the good old days at Holy Angel's Academy.
"He had a lot of great moves," Singer said. "We didn't play against the greatest competition, so we'd just give him the puck and watch him go around three or four guys to score. He was fun to watch on the power play."
Now that Hengen's healthy, his six-point weekend may only be a snapshot of things to come.
"He's been a great scorer his whole life," Singer said, who has had similar injury problems that have led to two surgeries on his knee. "Thank God he's healthy right now. If he stays healthy he'll have a great career, but we have to say our prayers every morning to stay healthy."
Although many players may think of it as a curse, Hengen looks at his difficult, injury ridden path as a positive.
"A lot of guys haven't been in the situation where they haven't played before. I already went through all the mental struggles. I just knew that if I kept working hard and doing my thing, I'd get my chance. Guys don't always see the end of the road. They see right now."
Right now, a faster, healthier Billy Hengen is enjoying Offensive WCHA Player of the Week honors-and the end of the road is starting to look a whole lot better.
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