The Blake Coleman File
Position: Forward
Size: 5-foot-10, 201 pounds
Birthday: Nov. 28, 1991
Hometown: Plano, Texas
Parents: Sandy and Rusty Coleman
Two-goal games: Bowling Green, Nov. 18, 2011; vs. Providence, Nov. 25, 2011; Colgate, Oct. 12, 2012
Juniors: Played two years in the United States Hockey League. In 2010-11, he had 34 goals and 58 assists in 59 games for the Indiana Ice and was named USHL Player of the Year. He split the 2009-10 season between the Tri-City Storm (two goals and 10 assists in 22 games) and the Ice (eight goals and eight assists in 36 games).
Hockey grabbed the Texan at an early age.
Blake Coleman can say the words and admit that they sound, well, a little off. But they’re sounding better, a little more mainstream, these days. And that makes him happy.
Coleman is the Texan, a Plano native and now a sophomore on Miami University’s hockey team. The Lone Star State is known for football, a religious experience for many in that part of the United States. But not everybody.
“I literally played every sport but football as a kid,” Coleman said. “I had middle-school coaches all over me. I was a bigger guy for my grade, and it was always a big joke. Guys would be going to practice and saying, ‘Where are you going? Hockey? What the hell’s hockey?’
“I played football in the yard. I played with all my friends, but never competitively. It’s curious, I know. Hockey just seemed to be the best fit.”
Coleman plays for the third-ranked collegiate hockey squad in the country. The 5-foot-10, 201-pound forward is a physical force on the ice, so it’s not hard to see why football coaches would seek his services. So why not play?
“It was hot, two-a-days, all of that,” Coleman said with a smile. “I just got into hockey and didn’t really want to play another sport where I could get injured and mess up hockey. I actually got hurt playing basketball, so I quit basketball.”
Coleman, whose father was a football player at Oklahoma State University, grew up watching Dallas Stars hockey games. The Stars started playing in Dallas in the 1993-94 season — Coleman was born on Nov. 28, 1991.
“My grandma took me to Stars games,” he said. “She was from New York, so she got season tickets. She took me because nobody wanted to go because they didn’t know what hockey was. I started going to games when I was 2 and started playing hockey when I was 4. I never really looked back from there.”
Those memories go wherever Coleman goes. He’s a long way from home, and that’s OK. He’s used to it.
Coleman has seven goals and six assists for MU this season. He had 23 points as a freshman. His numbers are solid, but maybe not up to the standards of a guy who racked up 92 points for the Indiana Ice during the 2010-11 United States Hockey League campaign.
That’s right, 92 points. Thirty-four goals and 58 assists. He had already committed to Miami at that point and was named USHL Player of the Year. He was also named USA Hockey’s Dave Tyler Junior Player of the Year.
“I wouldn’t say it came out of nowhere,” Coleman said. “It’s kind of been a typical pattern for me. Midgets was the same sort of way. I played a third-line role my first year, and I got 30 points. Then my second year, I worked my way onto the first line and had about 85 points.
“It was sort of the same story when I went to the USHL. It was 28 points my first year, then my second year, I just took off. It was just a lot of confidence, a lot of work in the offseason. I had two good linemates that finished second and third in scoring, so it was a lot of chemistry. That’s kind of what I’m looking to find here, a little chemistry and a little confidence.”
He feels he’s starting to find both now that Miami coach Enrico Blasi has kept him on a regular line for the last month or so. It’s Coleman, Max Cook and Jimmy Mullin, a group that’s clicking.
“Things are easier when you’re more comfortable with the guys you’re playing with,” Coleman said. “It’s not really a guessing game about where guys are going to be anymore.”
He leads the RedHawks with 106 shots on goal. He’s feeling better about his offensive thrust. He’s had two goals and two assists in the last seven games.
“I feel like the chances are there every night,” Coleman said. “I’ve got to make sure I’m bearing down on shots. It was a confidence thing there for a bit. And I had a stick thing I was going through.”
A stick thing?
“I had the sticks I like to use the first two weekends of the year (when he tallied four goals and an assist) and then broke ’em all,” Coleman said. “I actually just got them back. I’m sure some of that’s mental, but now the pucks are starting to fall.”
Blasi conceded that the 92-point season may have created unrealistic expectations for Coleman in Oxford. Then again, the veteran coach wouldn’t be surprised to see him bust out as a scorer.
“He’s still a sophomore. He’s still learning the game,” Blasi said. “So maybe next year he busts out, or maybe the next couple weeks. I didn’t think he was going to come in here and be a prolific goal scorer, even though he has those capabilities in him.”
Coleman is among the team leaders in penalty minutes. He has 45, second only to senior forward Curtis McKenzie, and will take what Blasi calls foolish penalties from time to time.
The MU coach said Coleman and McKenzie are the kind of players that thrive on the edge. Sometimes the line gets crossed, but Blasi said you can’t expect tough, aggressive players to steer completely clear of the penalty box.
“I let it get a little too far over the line sometimes,” Coleman said. “It’s just kind of the way I am. I have a lot of grit. I like to let it be known that I’m out there and have teams kind of playing on their heels when my line’s playing against them.”
He is disappointed with his point total right now and is putting in the work to elevate that area of his game. Not that he’s all that concerned about his personal statistics.
“I’d take first place in the conference over first place on the team in points any day,” Coleman said. “It’s a team-first mentality. I think that’s why we’re who we are. It’s not like you can look down our roster and see a bunch of Sidney Crosby superstars. I think everybody’s focused toward the same goal. Getting a ring on your finger is a way better feeling than scoring 100 points in the USHL.”
He was a third-round draft pick of the New Jersey Devils in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Pro hockey is his dream, but it can wait for now.
Coleman wants to be part of the RedHawks’ first national championship. He’s also working hard in the classroom and majoring in interdisciplinary business management, which has an entrepreneurial focus.
The sport of hockey is growing back in his home state. Coleman is an ambassador of sorts. Anything he can do to raise hockey’s profile in Texas, he’s glad to do.
“There was one rink within an hour when I was a kid. Now I think there’s seven,” Coleman said. “There’s a lot more kids in college now, a couple kids in the NHL and AHL. It’s pretty cool because I guess I was part of the first class that came out of Texas. I’m proud of that.”
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