Cole Hults went from Penn State to the NHL. His next move is way to help kids, hometown

Former Penn State defenseman Cole Hults is many things — 2019 Big Ten Player of the Year, 2019 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and a 2020 CCM/AHCA Second Team All-American.

Add hockey coach to that list.

Hults, who is a member of the Los Angeles Kings organization, and his older brother, Mitch Hults — a member of the Calgary Flames organization who played with the AHL’s Stockton Heat and ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks this past season — are starting a hockey camp.

It will be located in Madison, Wisconsin, about 20 miles northwest from Stoughton, Wisconsin, where the brothers grew up with few nearby options for such camps.

“I remember traveling all over the place for different kinds of hockey camps. I think for us, using what we’ve been through and where we are now, we can kind of put that camp here in Madison and allow those kids that can’t do all that travel — we can provide that camp for them here,” Cole said.

For the brothers, creating HH Hockey Camps wasn’t a snap decision.

“It’s been in the making for a while now ... when I turned pro it just seemed the perfect time to go into it,” Cole said.

They also see it as a way to give back to the area.

“(This is) just kind of creating a local hockey camp to help grow the sport inside Madison, where you don’t have to end up leaving the state — or the city for that matter,” Mitch said.

A focus on hockey education

Cole and Mitch plan to focus on the physical aspects of playing hockey, but also place an emphasis on the educational and advising side of the sport.

“Kids are going to have questions and they’re going to be answered,” Mitch said. “I know that when I grew up, I didn’t know anything about hockey — I didn’t know what junior was, I didn’t know what colleges (there) were besides local ones and the ones that the (University of Wisconsin — Madison) Badgers played. I think with this, we’ll be able to answer all the questions that kids have, if it comes down to advisers or how the game’s played, what junior is like, what college is like.”

Cole added: “And having me and Mitch who’s gone through that — the type of people that we’re going to bring in, I think it’s just going to be very beneficial to younger kids to just be educated on that matter.”

Mitch, who’s three and a half years older than Cole, admitted he didn’t know about the NAHL, USHL or junior leagues when he was younger because he wasn’t given information about what came before the NHL.

And he doesn’t think that’s uncommon either.

“I remember when I was growing up I always wanted to go to the NHL, obviously every kid wants that, but nobody knows what that middle ground is,” Mitch said. “What this camp will do is, we’ll give them the insight. Instead of being 15, 16, 17 years old and realizing ‘Oh this is the path I have to take,’ you’ll know it from 12 years old up.”

He also believes this camp will enlighten parents whose children play hockey, and how to best support them.

“I think a lot of parents will come in blindfolded, especially if they didn’t grow up with the sport,” Mitch said.

Cole and Mitch intend to be very involved with the camp, and plan on bringing those they’ve played with in the past, who are no longer playing hockey, to be counselors and advisors.

“It’s going to be me and Mitch and then a couple counselors will help us out, but we’re gonna be there through the whole camp. It’s not going to be one of those things where we show up one day and don’t show up the next, we want to be a part of it,” Cole said.

Making Madison a hockey hotbed

The brothers don’t have the camp planned for a specific age range, and said they have received a wide interest. Due to the coronavirus and Centers for Disease control guidelines, they intend to use this summer as a “build year” to gauge interest.

“We thought we were going to be doing somewhat younger kids, but then we had a variety of different kids reach out to us. One junior kid, a couple upperclassmen high schoolers, so it depends on who reaches out to us,” Cole said.

It will likely start off being twice a week throughout the summer, and then eventually lead up to a weeklong camp, Mitch said.

“Right now I think we’re just trying to build the brand and get it out there to as many people as we can,” Cole said.

For Cole, his big brother has been a big influence on his hockey career.

“I always look at it as that he was the guinea pig for me. He went through it all and any questions I had, he could answer them. It’s a big difference going from high school, to juniors, college and then to pro,” Cole said.

Now, they both hope to pass on their knowledge and experience to young hockey players in Madison.

“We wanna watch the kids grow too, that’s the big thing,” Mitch said. “We get fulfillment out of teaching these kids that don’t know what to do. When you see them progress and you see them get better, you see them move on to the levels you went to and see them go up and up, I think that’s a big thing for us.

“I’m excited to build a brand and a camp to better Madison and make Madison a hockey bed like it used to be.”

This story was originally published May 25, 2020 at 6:00 AM.