Buck Kochevar is dealing with disbelief.
Lakeville North’s Buck Kochevar, who’s been there, advocates for hockey coaches to wear helmets when on the ice
Kochevar has pushed for change ever since he fell and fractured his skull in 2011. A recent incident involving another coach has amplified the issue.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 8, 2025 at 2:32AM
Fourteen years ago come Valentine’s Day, the Lakeville North girls hockey coach fell during practice while preparing his team for a Class 2A, Section 1 playoff game. He fractured his skull and suffered internal bleeding near his brain. He was not wearing a helmet.
Kochevar has been an advocate for wearing helmets on the ice ever since. His pleas haven’t been widely heard. Some coaches on Kochevar’s staff don’t wear helmets to this day.
Kochevar was taken aback when he learned Holy Family assistant girls hockey coach Jason Jensen, 44, suffered a brain injury last week when a player slipped and fell into him, knocking him to the ice. He also was not wearing a helmet.
“I immediately thought of his family,” said Kochevar, who was about the same age as Jensen when he had his accident. “Right now, they need everybody’s support. It’s life-changing. It’s scary.”
In Kochevar’s case, he hit a rut in the ice that sent him backward. He was transported to Fairview Ridges in Burnsville before being flown by helicopter to the University of Minnesota Medical Center. He underwent two hours of surgery and was hospitalized for two weeks. A broken blood vessel was cauterized, and a plate was put in the back of his head.
“It can happen quickly,” Kochevar said.
He still doesn’t have two of his senses, smell and taste, but he’s sure he benefited from lessons learned. “It changed me for the better,” he said.
Kochevar, 59, started immediately trying to prevent such an incident from happening again. “I’m here to spread the word to wear helmets,” Kochevar said at the time. “All coaches need to be wearing helmets.”
High school coaches in Minnesota weren’t required to wear helmets when on the ice then and still aren’t today. Helmets were mandatory for youth coaches in Minnesota before Kochevar’s incident.
“Over time, people forget what happened,” Kochevar said. “It would be an easy bill to pass. I’m lucky. I lived. There are people who haven’t lived.”
Kochevar’s Panthers were back in the state tournament a year later with him back on the bench.
“I made it through,” Kochevar said. “It takes a lot of people helping the family to do so. It was an emotional rollercoaster. It’s a great feeling to be back on [the ice].”
Lakeville North's Buck Kochevar has pushed for change ever since he fell and fractured his skull in 2011. A recent incident involving another coach has amplified the issue.
