On frozen ice and open water, the Ballard’s land big trophies

Watching Steve Ballard fillet a stringer of Walleyes in his fish house on the Lake of the Woods it quickly becomes obvious from whom his son Keith inherited the traits that have helped garner the U of M junior recognition as one of the top offensive defenseman in the WCHA.

It takes patience and intuition to catch fish, good hands to clean them and an assist to cook them, all of which are characteristics a kid growing up in a resort business takes to the water with. And the son of this resort family has applied them well after learning from two generations, but skating on the frozen variety of H20 is where applying the family experience has been the most productive for Keith.

"For me it has always been about hockey since the time I was able to skate," said Keith, whose grandfather in 1961 purchased a stretch of pristine shoreline on the Rainey River a short boat ride from the big water and started Ballard’s Resort. "And to now step into a situation and win two national championships in the last two years, I don’t think I realize yet just how much the championships will mean years from now. I’m just trying to enjoy every minute of it."

The first sign that Keith may be charting a route off of the family lake map was after his sophomore year in high school when he left his parents’ Lake of the Woods home to participate in the USA Hockey National Development Training Program in Ann Arbor Michigan. The next season he moved again to play in Omaha with the Lancers.
"The experience in the USA Hockey program was excellent and very helpful personally for me to develop as a player," said Keith, who finished third in scoring for the 2003 NCAA Champions with 12 goals and 41 points in 45 games. "In Ann Arbor there is a great deal of focus on individual skills, breaking down video and really analyzing your game. I can’t say enough about that program. In comparison, the USHL was extremely competitive and was more of a team concept focused a lot on winning. I really got the best of both world’s playing back-to-back in Ann Arbor and then Omaha."

A scholarship offer from the Gophers brought Keith back to the Land of 10,000 Lakes where, over the past two seasons, he has netted 64 points along with two NCAA Championship rings and a first round draft pick from the Buffalo Sabers. That’s quite a catch to match, even for a father who has a knack for reeling in trophy Walleye’s most any fisherman would proudly display on their wall.

"I can out fish him, definitely," said Steve, who makes the 330 mile Baudette to Mariucci commute for virtually every home game. But when it comes to hockey, I think I’m outmatched. Even though fishing has been great up here over the past couple of years I think Keith’s two championship rings equal any trophy Walleye."

When he’s not following hockey, Steve, who has been guiding fishermen around the lake since he was 14 years old, spends his winters on the frozen water shuttling anglers to and from ice houses in one of the many classic Bombardier’s from the 1950’s owned by the family. And all the while Keith is well on his way to making a career for himself on the ice.

Over the summer Ballard was part of a trade involving a couple of former college hockey greats including Wisconsin Badger alum Steve Reinprecht and BU Terrier Chris Drury. When the dust settled, Drury was with Buffalo, Reinprecht in Calgary and Ballard with the Colorado Avalanche.

"Pro hockey is something that I definitely want to be a part of," said Keith shortly after he became property of the two-time Stanley Cup Champions. "I’m going to continue to work hard at the U and if and when the time comes to think seriously about pro hockey I’ll do that. But right now I’m taking it one year at a time and having a lot of fun with all the great friends that I’ve made."

And the talk of a three-peat?

"That was the hot topic all summer but there are so many factors that go into wining a national championship, not the least of which is luck," said Keith. "We will have a lot of talent this season, no doubt. But we didn’t necessarily have a bunch last season and we still won it all. I’d say right now that we just have the same shot at winning it again as does anyone else."

"Keith has all the tools to be a superstar at the collegiate level and to advance to the next level," said former Gopher coach Doug Woog, who gets plenty of time to watch Keith during his duties as color commentator for Gopher hockey broadcasts. "I’ve fished with Steve and have watched what Keith can do with the puck for two seasons. I’d say both of the Ballards have excellent instincts around a net."

Steve, who says he doesn’t tell "fishing stories", recalled an experience from this past summer involving Woog and "success around nets".

"Wooger was attempting to land my fish but instead of netting it he accidentally whacked it right between the eyes with the landing net," recalled Steve. "Everybody in the boat heard this crude "thud" as the net hit the fish. In all my years on this lake, that was the hardest I’ve seen anyone hit a fish."

After thinking about it for a minute, Steve offered this challenge: "Somewhere in the Lake of the Woods there is a blind Walleye swimming around and probably with an indentation of a landing net between its eyes. Heck, it can’t be too smart, or see anymore, so it should be an easy net for somebody."

Chalk up another assist for the Wooger.