ROCHESTER – As Lakeville South celebrated its latest trip to the boys hockey state tournament, senior captain Carter Ernst took a moment to praise the coach who wasn’t there.

On Jan. 28, the Lakeville school district placed head coach Josh Storm on leave. Storm, who also teaches physical education at South, was cleared to teach but remains on leave as a coach, pending a weeks-long investigation.

“It’s tough, definitely unfortunate,” Ernst said Thursday, Feb. 26, following his team’s section championship victory that advanced the Cougars into the state quarterfinals. “He is one of my favorite coaches, but you can’t let that be a distraction. We have Kurt Weber on the bench, and he’s been phenomenal.”

On Feb. 10, Lakeville South announced that Weber, its girls hockey head coach, would fill in as interim boys coach for the rest of the season. Players have responded, winning the Class 2A, Section 1 title with some of their best hockey of the season.

This would have been Storm’s fourth trip to the state tournament at South in his five seasons, but now Weber is in charge of a team and assistant coaching staff that includes Storm’s brother, Ben.

“By the end of the year, I’m not going to change anything,” Weber said. “But with the turmoil and upsetting of the apple cart, a lot of those kids just needed some stability. For me, the kids have been phenomenal.”

Coaching players hard

The school district, citing employee privacy, has not stated a reason for the investigation into Josh Storm. Sources familiar with the situation have said Storm had times when he lost his temper, pointing specifically to a profane postgame tongue-lashing he gave players on the team bus following their 3-0 loss at Grand Rapids on Jan. 16.

Lakeville South assistant coach Brent Cullaton described Storm’s other side.

“People didn’t see how he was behind closed doors with the love and praise he gave to his players,” Cullaton said. “He’d challenge players, and then behind these walls, he’d reward them. ‘Hey, great job. I love you guys. So proud of you for the effort.’”

“Is he hard to play for? Every coach is hard to play for, right? But it’s how you respond when people aren’t watching.”

Storm, 44, is a Lakeville High School graduate and a married father of four. Before taking over South’s program, he had a successful run as Owatonna’s coach and was viewed as a coach on the rise when Lakeville South hired him.

In last year’s state tournament, Storm’s eighth-seeded Cougars put a scare into top-seeded Moorhead in the quarterfinals. The Cougars had a 4-2 lead and had two replay goal decisions go against them in an eventual 7-4 loss to Moorhead.

Storm has gained praise for preparing his team for the state tournament spotlight with difficult non-conference scheduling. But whatever happens next, Storm might have to rebuild his reputation.

Changing times

Rick Ringeisen, executive director of the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association, spoke of the delicate coaching dynamics required in today’s high school sports environment, not specific to Lakeville South.

“Kids are more comfortable talking to their parents than they have been in the past about the things that happen in practice and games,” said Ringeisen, speaking broadly. “And definitely, parents are quicker or more likely to come forward today than they had been in the past.

“People are just quicker to be unsatisfied and want action on things than they have been in past generations.”

When people hear that a coach is under administrative leave, “everybody thinks the worst right from the get-go,” Ringeisen said. “I tell [coaches], ‘All of you are one false accusation away from losing your jobs.’”

Weber previously coached Lakeville South’s boys team for 10 seasons until 2015. He led the Cougars to two state tournaments and coached eventual college players such as Justin Kloos (Gophers) and Nick Swaney (Minnesota Duluth).

After returning to coaching this season with the Lakeville South girls, he’s looking forward to Year 2 in that role.

“I said right away, ‘I’m not leaving the girls program. I’m just helping out,’” Weber said.

Building camaraderie

Weber joked before the section final that he’s still memorizing the boys’ names. But he also worked with them on hockey’s mental aspects, using techniques such as visualization.

The Cougars reached the state tournament seven times in the past eight years, including a state runner-up finish under former coach Janne Kivihalme in 2021.

All that success has only led to higher expectations, which have weighed down the Cougars at times.

“When I walked in, I said, ‘I’m not fixing talent here,’” Weber said. “That’s not what I came for. I came here to help you figure out a better way to do what you’re doing.

“They’re very competitive as a group. So what you find is some of these kids inherently just get down on themselves. It comes across even when they don’t mean it that way.”

Weber said even the team’s goal celebrations were telling. The goal-scorer would lead the line to quickly tap gloves with the players on the bench. But it was all so fast and impersonal.

Ernst scored the first goal in a 6-1 quarterfinal victory over Rochester Mayo on Feb. 19 and jumped toward the bench, with teammates piling on. The celebrations continued with a 6-1 victory over archrival Lakeville North in the section semifinals.

“After we won,” Weber said, “the texts I got from people said, ‘I can’t believe how much fun your kids are having.’”

The fun continued on Feb. 26 with a 3-1 victory over Farmington before a raucous crowd of about 2,500 at Rochester Rec Center. Next stop, St. Paul.