Minnesota high school hockey coach in critical condition after player slipped and knocked him to ice

A high school hockey coach remained in critical condition with a brain injury as of Tuesday afternoon following a fall on the ice during practice several days earlier, leading to new calls for stronger helmet requirements.

Jason Jensen, 44, was working with the Holy Family girls team at the Recreation Center in Victoria on Friday when a player slipped and fell into him and knocked him to the ice. He was not wearing a helmet, a piece of equipment that is optional in Minnesota for coaches during high school practices.

“He was standing at the goalpost talking with his goalie, and another player lost her [skate] edge” and knocked Jensen down, his wife Kelly Jensen said.

“It was a complete accident,” she said. “It caught him off guard, and he just fell back.”

Jason Jensen works as a lieutenant for the Lakeville Police Department, where he has served for the past 21 years.

Kelly Jensen said she’s been texting with the player who collided with her husband to “let her know it wasn’t her fault.”

Randy Koeppl, head coach of the Holy Family girls team, said he was on the ice at the time as practice was just getting started when he heard some of the players screaming.

Koeppl said he and assistant coach Dusty Anderson raced over and saw that Jensen “was still out when we got there.”

Jensen got back on his skates for a moment before being led off the ice, Koeppl said. Anderson, a volunteer firefighter, along with EMT Andy McDonald, who was helping coach the Chanhassen boys team on the Recreation Center’s other rink, tended to Jensen until paramedics arrived and took over.

Jensen remains in HCMC in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday.

Late Monday, an online fundraiser on behalf of the family reported that “Jason is stable [and] is able to wiggle his toes and give a thumbs up. ... He is breathing on his own with the help of oxygen.”

Along with the Holy Family girls team, Jason Jensen coaches goalies for the school’s boys team and for the Chanhassen High School boys squad. His playing career included two seasons with Minnesota State Mankato from 2001 to 2003.

In the wake of the accident, Koeppl said the coaches for all three teams Jensen works with must now wear helmets at practice. The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) does not have such a requirement.

“We made it mandatory,” Koeppl said, “obviously, when you see something like that.”

Koeppl has been coaching hockey for 25 years, 17 of them at the high school level. “I would advocate for it, definitely,” he said of the prospect of a helmet requirement for all hockey coaches statewide.

Chanhassen boys head coach Sean Bloomfield said helmets at practice for coaches is a good idea. His assistant’s life-threatening injury was “a wake-up call,” he said.

Bloomfield, who has coached hockey for 14 years, said resistance to helmets among his coaching brethren is probably rooted in a false sense of confidence: “It’s human nature, if you’re not going to see the consequences of it, you’re not going to change.

“Until it is a rule, some people are going to pass on it,” Bloomfield said.

Helmets during practice for coaches have long been mandatory for youth teams sanctioned by USA Hockey. Violations call for a mandatory 30-day suspension. The high school level in Minnesota is not part of USA Hockey.

Erich Martens, executive director of the MSHSL, said Monday there have been discussions over the years about mandating helmets for coaches during practices. At the moment, the league’s official position is that they are “highly recommended.”

Martens said that if the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) put such a requirement in place, the MSHSL would comply. He also said the league could move on its own.

“Both MSHSL and NFHS have talked about it over the years,” Martens said. “I believe [the MSHSL] will have discussions internally as well as with our committees.”

Kelly Jensen said she hopes her husband’s injury will lead to the MSHSL adding the requirement.

“Gosh, I hope so,” she said. “So that way it doesn’t happen to someone else.”

To honor their injured coach, the Holy Family and Chanhassen teams will don helmets with “Get Well Soon Jens” stickers affixed.