Hagel brings inner fire to the ice in his last year

Born and raised in Hamilton, Ont., Hagel, the oldest of three brothers, has spent nearly his entire life playing hockey. Thanks in large part to his father — his first hockey inspiration — Hagel began skating before his second birthday, though in a particularly unusual location.

“I got started in the park across from the fire department,” Hagel said. “Some of the firefighters would bring out hoses and spray down the park. When it froze over, we’d go out and skate on it.”

In spite of his childhood in Canada, Hagel’s favorite team growing up was the St. Louis Blues. The Blues were led by eight-time all-star Brett Hull, whom Hagel admired for his quick shot release.

After growing up as a forward, Hagel shifted to defenseman during junior hockey and was noticed by then-head coach Len Quesnelle ’88 during his time with the Hamilton Red Wings.

“It was kind of a fluke,” Hagel said. “The old coaching staff saw us play on a Monday night — a game where I had 14 penalty minutes — but they must have seen something they liked because they were very forward and offered me a visit right away.”

During his visit to Princeton, Hagel fell in love with the campus and, despite being “set on going somewhere else,” committed shortly thereafter. After taking another year off to go through the application process, Hagel arrived as a freshman in fall 2004.

“It was a new experience for me because I’d never lived away from home,” he said. “I’m not sure if that was a huge adjustment, but the actual amount of hockey we played was.”

Aside from the change in frequency and intensity of practice, Hagel also switched positions midway through his freshman year after he realized his style of defensive play was not well-suited to college hockey.

“The way I played defense was effective in junior hockey but not as much in college,” Hagel said. “In juniors, I was mean and just focused on getting the puck out of our end. There’s a lot of stick work — slashing, hacking, wacking — in the defensive zone for juniors, but they don’t allow it so much in college.”

Hagel’s lack of immediate success was somewhat discouraging, especially after his first road trip, when he was benched for both games.

“I could either feel bad for myself or do something about it,” Hagel said. “I realized I had to go out and make something of myself.”

A major turning point for Hagel came several months into the season, when head coach Guy Gadowsky swapped him with then-forward Brian Carthas ’06. The impact of the move was almost immediate.

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“I was able to keeping doing those things I did well as a defenseman, but there was a pressure lifted off me,” Hagel said. “I had a higher level of intensity and played better because of it, contributing more.”

Upon beginning his career at Princeton, Hagel had two goals: to win an ECAC Hockey championship and have the option to play professional after graduation.

While the former seemed unlikely upon Hagel’s arrival — the Tigers had finished 5-24-2 a year earlier — both are now well within his and the Tigers’ reach.

“We’ve been building up for the last few seasons, getting a little bit of momentum, beating quality teams,” Hagel said. “That, along with the extreme confidence of our freshman class, has made us dangerous. [The freshmen] are a group of guys not here to simply be a part of something, they’re here to make something.”

Having won nine of its last 10 games, Princeton is now 14-9 overall and tied for second place in the ECAC. A big part of the Tigers’ recent surge has been the play of Hagel, who scored his first non-empty-net goal of the season last Saturday night.

“After the RPI game [on Feb. 2], I was saying that my linemates [Hagel and fellow senior] Keith Shattenkirk only put the puck in the net when there’s no goalie,” sophomore forward Kevin Kaiser said. “So it was nice when Hags scored that goal.”

Hagel’s role on the team, however, goes beyond goal-scoring.

“He’s one of the leaders,” junior forward Brett Wilson said. “He’s hard-working, does whatever it takes to win, whether it’s killing penalties or blocking shots. That line does a good job of setting the tone for us.”

Much of Hagel’s hard-working attitude can be attributed to the influence of former Tiger captain Darroll Powe ’07.

“I’ve always looked up to [him] in part because he took training a lot more seriously than anyone in juniors,” Hagel said. “Also, he worked so hard on the ice, so I tried to model my game after him and fill the same role — do the little things that would mostly go unnoticed but are important to the guys on the team.”

Kaiser, for one, thinks that Hagel has succeeded in that role.

“He’s assistant captain for a reason,” Kaiser said. “He always has a positive attitude, [is] always fired up, always picks guys up. It’s not only what he says, but his actions, the way he carries himself — you can just tell he loves the game.”

Indeed, it was in large part Hagel’s love for the game and his teammates that kept him motivated during a lengthy scoring drought earlier this season.

“I’m really good at keeping the team motivated and close together,” Hagel said. “How tight we are, knowing everything about each other and closeness are key. That’s a big part of my job — keeping the boys on track and motivated.”

Hagel has perhaps no bigger fan than the coach who inherited him as a recruit four years ago.

“Hags is an amazingly competitive person. He’s the ultimate team guy and very physical, but very well spoken,” Gadowsky said of the politics major. “He’s interesting because he’s so powerful, so tough, always ready to go at the drop of the hat to protect a teammate, but he’s also very intelligent. Just an amazing guy.”

In that vein, Hagel has very few personal goals, focusing more on helping the team succeed. Still, he does have one on-ice habit that occasionally bothers linemate Kaiser.

“His goal for the season is to score a wrap-around,” Kaiser said. “So even when I’m sitting in the slot with a perfect chance, he’ll go for it. But I really admire his will to win and [how] he never backs down to a challenge. He’ll play any role, and he’s not interested in individual achievements. He just brings a lot of intensity.”

Indeed, asked to describe Hagel in one sentence, usually eloquent senior defenseman and captain Mike Moore needed only one word: “Intensity.”

Even Hagel’s former teammate and role model Powe, who currently plays for the American Hockey League’s Philadelphia Phatoms, named the six-foot, 215-pound senior as the member of the Tigers he would least like to see on the other end of the ice.

Perhaps the only thing that exceeds Hagel’s intensity is his devotion to his teammates.

“The boys are the best part,” Hagel said. “They come from all over, they’re all different. It’s just a great group of guys. I would die for Princeton hockey.”