A Captain, on and off the ice

By Michael Caples –

Chase Podsiad remembers where he was when he heard that the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup this June.

To any hockey player or fan, that’s like saying “yes, I remember what I just had for lunch”. But when Zdeno Chara lifted Lord Stanley’s Cup, Podsiad wasn’t sitting on his couch or watching from a local bar. The former captain of Army’s hockey team was captaining U.S. Army troops around the streets of Afghanistan, trying to locate hidden bombs.

“We had a mission that day, so we heard over the radio,” the defenseman/officer said. “I checked back in with higher headquarters and asked them while we were out on the mission, and they told us ‘yeah, Boston won’. My gunner for my truck is actually from Boston, so it was pretty cool to hear that on the mission.”

Podsiad, a Wyandotte native, returned in July from a one-year tour in Afghanistan, where he led engineer platoon around that would locate ‘IDs’ – bombs that the enemy would hide within the streets of the country. He was awarded the Purple Heart after one of the bombs exploded in his vicinity, which luckily only caused minor injuries. Podsiad also received the Bronze Star for leading a platoon in battle, as well as the Combat Action Award. The humble 27-year-old said he was simply just honored to be able to serve his country.

“You hear about it in the news and from people who have been deployed and stuff, but I was able to see it first-hand, I was able to actually make a difference in the country, actually see that America is making a huge difference, and was able to be a part of that difference maker.”

During his time at home, his long-time power-skating instructor, Kim Muir, honored Podsiad during her summer camp. The participants in Muir’s ‘Can’t Skate, Can’t Play’ camp all wore black and gold jerseys adorned with Podsiad’s name, the words ‘Army Hockey’, and a ‘C’, as a symbol of Podsiad’s college jersey. Podsiad, in his dress blues, skated through a tunnel of youth hockey players holding their sticks in the air, and stopped a center ice to help Muir present scholarships to a few of her students.

Podsiad played at the highest ranks of youth hockey while growing up in metro Detroit. However, as many of his hockey friends pursued dreams of playing professional hockey, Podsiad decided to answer a different calling, and attended the United States Military Academy at West Point. In his four seasons with the Black Knights, he helped rebuild the program, eventually serving as captain for his senior season.

“It was a great experience – and obviously very unique – going to the military academy,” Podsiad said. “It was great in the fact that just the type of guys I was surrounded with were the closest group of guys I’ve ever been with. We started off the second from last in the conference, my freshman year, and then every year we got better and better, until our senior year, we won the regular season championship for our conference.

“It was just great to see, be a part a part of the transformation of the program, and how close we were. How close the guys were was just awesome. I can’t say enough about the coaching staff and the teammates – they were phenomenal.”

The army officer said that his team’s success was even more impressive, due to the different obligations his teammate

“The guys who go to Michigan and Michigan State, they’re able to focus more on hockey. For instance, in the summer

time, that’s what they do – they focus on hockey. For us, in the summertime, we’re off training. We’re jumping out of helicopters, out of airplanes, doing military training, stuff like that, that has nothing to do with hockey. They’re good at trying to give us support and get us to the gym and stuff like that as much as possible. The military takes priority over training for hockey.”

Yet Podsiad was quick to point out that the skills he learned on the ice helped him adapt to his responsibilities overseas.

“The things you learn in the game of hockey – in the locker room, being a member of a team, being a leader of a team, a contact team sport like hockey – it’s very, very applicable to being a platoon leader. The lessons that I learned in hockey, the discipline that you get from the coaches, all that good stuff carries over into the battlefield. It definitely bled over into the battlefield.”

Podsiad said he appreciated the acknowledgement of his service by his friend and former instructor, and hoped that one simple message would get across to all the kids at the camp, and all youth hockey players across the country.

“Make sure you’re having fun with it,” Podsiad said. “That’s when you have a true passion and you have fun, you can be very successful. Everyone says work hard, but I say have fun…and thank your parents.”