Zaugg-Siergiej wraps up hometown camp

Former Northland Pines hockey standout Jinelle Zaugg-Siergiej concluded her three-day junior camp last week in Eagle River, with three days of fun instruction for all levels at the Tradition on Ice-Crazy 8s Hockey Camp.

She is an experienced player and coach, and has been running camps for over two decades, along with coaching at a high level in D1 hockey.

“This is my twenty-first year of running a hockey camp. “I love coaching the ‘littles,’” she noted. “I have two young kids, boys 7 and 9, so for me it hits home when I coach my own kids and can pass that along to others.”

Jinelle says the youngsters improve so quickly that they’re probably the most rewarding group to work with and the most exhausting.

Last year, Jinelle, her husband and former Pines teammate Mike Siergiej and their former teammate Jeff Carr all worked together on the camp and then donated all the profits ($18,000) to the Eagle River Recreation Association (ERRA) and Northland Pines hockey.

“This year it’s going to be different because we have lower numbers,” noted Jinelle. “Our big hope is that we can instill in the kids the drive to want to compete and let hockey take them where they want to go.”

For the three former players, coming back to Eagle River for the camp is something that they always look forward to because of the memories.

“There is a lot of nostalgia coming back here to our old locker room. Picturing where guys were sitting is very cool,” stated Carr.
Siergiej (Mike) also talked about his wife’s impact on the game of hockey.

“She’s (Jinelle’s) so involved with women’s hockey and trying to grow the game for women,” he mentioned. “The impact that she has on these young girls is tremendous. And now it’s something we can bring our boys to and see what mom does, and it’s great!”

Zaugg-Siergiej is very well known in this area for her hockey exploits, as she played on the boys hockey team at Pines.

In college, she helped the University of Wisconsin win two national championships and made the U.S. women’s hockey team that won a silver medal at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

She is in her 11th year as Associate Head Coach at Division 1 St. Cloud State.