Ethan Edwards has learned the importance of patience in hockey

When he was 2 years old, Ethan Edwards was dragged to rinks around Northern Alberta, Canada to watch his brother, Brett, learn to play hockey. Wide eyed at the whole spectacle, Ethan yearned for the day he could finally lace up his own skates and get on the ice himself. 

He just needed to be patient and wait his turn. 

However, as a kid with a competitive drive, Ethan was far from patient. His brother was four years older than him, but that didn’t matter. He just wanted to keep up and challenge himself to play hockey with Brett and his friends. His parents, Tara and Lee, never needed to push him to work harder, because he did that for himself. 

“When he would come to the rink and watch me play and be surrounded by that atmosphere, he wanted to do the same,” Brett told The Michigan Daily. “ … Just being around it, being around the older group of guys really pushed him to compete at that level and try to get better.”

Patience was something Ethan had to learn along the way. But now, in his senior year at Michigan, he doesn’t have to wait patiently anymore. His hockey career has been defined by his goal to become one of the best on every roster he is a part of. Throughout that process, Ethan has learned the importance of patience in bettering his game. 

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Growing up with Brett, Ethan quickly became comfortable on the ice, eventually taking his talents to AAA hockey with the St. Albert Sabres. There was one major setback in his game, especially as a defenseman — his size, or lack thereof. Just 5 feet tall and less than 100 pounds at 13 years old, Ethan was undersized and often overlooked. 

He didn’t start out as a go-to player for St. Alberts, but his versatility quickly made him one. He overcame his size deficit and learned how to be an asset all over the ice, even playing forward when necessary. 

“He was very, very small for his age,” Jason Nicholetts, Ethan’s AAA Bantam coach, told The Daily. “ … But he never played small. He was always an elite brain, very strong skater, and very tenacious for a small player. … He was just hunting pucks and was so tenacious and lifted the team when we needed at times. So he was kind of our spark plug.”

For Ethan, his innate competitiveness made it important to become the best in each league before moving onto the next one. However, that required taking time with each team and being patient while his game progressed. Following his time in AAA, he played for Northern Alberta Xtreme Prep for two seasons, fine-tuning his skills and developing as an on-ice leader. 

When his teammates chose to follow up their U-18 years by playing junior hockey, Ethan chose not to. This isn’t to say he wasn’t interested in going to juniors, or that teams weren’t interested in him — they were. But Ethan was still undersized, and Tara often got comments from WHL scouts that she needed to feed him more. 

He was ultimately drafted by the Portland Winterhawks in the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft, but after long consideration with his family and coaching staff, he decided to continue his development at home with the Spruce Grove Saints in the AJHL. Ethan knew he could better himself while patiently working hard in Alberta, and juniors would still be there when he was ready. 

“As hockey players, we always want to chase the highest level,” Matt Tassone, Ethan’s Xtreme Prep coach, told The Daily. “ … Sometimes you really have to take a step back and really think that it is a marathon, it’s not a sprint. Too many people that try to sprint to where they want to go in this game tend to burn out and tend to just rush and make mistakes along the way. … That’s what Eddy was smart about.”

With Spruce Grove, Ethan got the rare chance to live at home with his family and graduate with his friends from high school. Following his time with the Saints, his patience came to fruition as he was drafted in the fourth round of the NHL Draft to the New Jersey Devils, and when he was 18, Ethan uprooted his life for the first time. He moved to Iowa to play for the Sioux City Musketeers in the USHL. 

Ethan soon learned with Sioux City that he wasn’t a starter, and he would have to earn his playing time. On all of his previous teams, he may have been overlooked and had to work harder because of his size, but he never needed to fight for playing time. The Musketeers were a whole new beast, and the defensive coach at Sioux City didn’t let Ethan get off easy. 

“He went through trials and tribulations during his time in Sioux City with playing time,” Lisa Hall, Ethan’s billet mom, told The Daily. “Normally, the kids that are brought to those teams are used to being number one players on the teams they’re coming from. … So they battle a lot for time. So there were conversations that (his billet dad) Ron had with him on controlling what he can control and being patient with the process.”

With Ron guiding him further in the virtue of patience and trust in the process, Ethan put in the work and increased his playing time. Sioux City had a more defensive style of play, but this allowed him to work on his role as a two-way defenseman and run the Musketeers’ power play.

By the end of the season, Ethan tallied the most points among defensemen and the fourth-most points on the entire team. And by going to Iowa and living away from home for a year before college, he was more prepared for the life of college hockey in America. 

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Every school Ethan visited, he left feeling like it was the one. From Ohio State to Boston University, each visit somehow got better. He even spent over $200 on Terriers merchandise after his Boston visit. But once he was in Michigan, he realized he maybe should’ve saved that merchandise money. 

Toured around campus by future teammates Nick Blankenburg and Jimmy Lambert, Ethan fell in love with the university and team atmosphere. He was also coming in after a powerhouse class filled with first round draft picks — Owen Power, Matty Beniers and Kent Johnson, to name a few — and that was exactly why he chose to become a Wolverine. 

“We thought, ‘Holy man, that is going to be one hell of a lineup to crack,’ ” Lee told The Daily. “But that was part of the reason he picked it, too. He said, ‘You want to be the best, you have to play with the best.’ … He definitely had to work his butt off to make that squad.”

Sioux City taught him how to fight for ice time. Even though he was prepared for that, it still stung to be a healthy scratch in many early games. However, his patience and drive to better himself allowed him to play in a defensive pairing with the player who toured him around campus four years earlier: Nick Blankenburg. 

Ethan knew he would get the chance to play, he just had to work hard in practice, show up in big moments and wait until his talent was recognized — as frustrating as that was for him. 

But nothing was as frustrating as what was to come. 

Ethan suffered an ankle injury early in his sophomore season, missing out on a month of play. And while that might have seemed bad at the time, things took a turn for the worse, as a shoulder injury and surgery prior to his junior year kept him out of competition for the entire first half of the season. 

For someone who has yearned for the ice since he was 2 years old, being told he couldn’t lace up his skates and get back out there was a harsh reality. He endured months of rehab and recovery before he could even wear skates and a non-contact jersey, and months more until he could play in his first real game. Watching from the stands as his teammates donned the block ‘M’ was extremely difficult for him. He wanted to continue his growth on the ice, but he simply couldn’t. 

Once again, he just had to be patient and wait until got the all-clear.

“Looking back at it now, it was definitely a mental battle,” Ethan told The Daily. “The physical battle was there, but putting in the work, coming in every day and doing my exercises was the easy part. Seeing the guys on the ice, feeling like I wasn’t completely a part of the team at the start of the season last year was definitely the hardest part. I’m not glad I went through the injury, but I’m glad I learned how to deal with it.”

By January, he didn’t need to wait anymore. He got to strip off the light blue non-contact jersey and replace it with the Michigan sweater. And in his opening game against the USNTDP, it was clear the waiting period was long enough, as he scored two goals and notched an assist in the game. 

While it was only an exhibition, the NTDP game was an opportunity for Ethan to gain confidence and shake off the rust. This first game wasn’t necessarily indicative of his season, as he went on to tally 10 points in 21 games, but it showcased a vital skill in Ethan’s game — his ability to wait his turn and step up when it matters most. 

And that same opportunity came back in the NCAA Regional Final against Michigan State.

With defenseman Seamus Casey out on injury, Ethan took it upon himself to fill the hole Casey left in the defense. Taking on a role as a two-way defenseman — something he was familiar with from juniors — he tallied three points in the game, earning his flowers for stepping up in Casey’s absence and playing his best game of the season. . 

“I’m a player that thrives, not only under pressure, but under opportunity,” Ethan said. “The more I play, the better I play. … Being a senior now, I’ve earned that ice time and that opportunity.”

Ethan’s role on the blue line is expected to increase this year, with many former Michigan defensemen signing NHL contracts. He had the opportunity to move on from the Wolverines and sign a pro contract with the Devils, but he made the decision not to. 

Because like Tassone said, Ethan has treated his hockey journey as a marathon, not a sprint.

Taking time at each stage of his development has allowed him to rise in the ranks and better himself before he increases the intensity. The 2-year-old waiting for his turn to lace up the skates and play against his brother needed to be patient. Now that same kid is lacing up his skates and donning the ‘A’ on his Michigan sweater, and that patience is paying off.

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