Feature Story

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Hockey a family affair for Seth Ambroz

By Dan Fremuth

For Omaha Lancers forward Seth Ambroz, hockey has always been a family affair.

“Living in Minnesota, it’s just what you do,” Ambroz said. “I started playing shortly after my brother. He got into it when he was about three or four years old and I followed shortly thereafter. Then our sister joined us when she was about 12.”

Seth is in his first season with the Omaha Lancers and his family ties to the game go far beyond a simple love for hockey. While Seth suits up for the Lancers, his sister Kacy is a freshman at the University of Minnesota Duluth and his brother Matt skates just down the road as a sophomore at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

“I tend to see him about once a week,” Ambroz said. “Sometimes once every other week depending on our schedules, but it’s just really nice to have him there to avoid feeling any homesickness or just to talk to after a long day.”

Seth admits his older brother has helped open a number of doors throughout his hockey career, including his current opportunity with the Lancers. Matt spent two full seasons playing in the USHL for the Tri-City Storm under current Omaha Head Coach and General Manager Bliss Littler.

“Coach (Littler) knew who I was from the days he coached my brother in Tri-City,” Ambroz said. “That helped get me an invitation to camp and from there I just worked as hard as I could to make the team.”

As the youngest player in the USHL (15 years old), Ambroz has had to make a number of adjustments to his game in order to find success at the junior level.

“This is a much faster, bigger, stronger and tougher league than the kind of hockey you see played at the high school level.”

Offensive production came rather easily at that level for the 6-2, 195-pound forward. Ambroz recorded 36 goals and 68 points in just 22 games last season while suiting up for New Prague High School. This season in Omaha, however, Ambroz admits his role has changed slightly.

“In high school, I was kind of the go-to guy,” Ambroz humbly stated. “This season though I’ve had to work my way up.”

Ambroz has enjoyed a great deal of success in his rookie season with the Lancers. Through 53 games, he has registered 11 goals and 26 points, seventh on a team littered with offensive talent. He has yet to miss a game this year.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen this year when I came here,” Ambroz said. “I didn’t exactly know where I was going to fit into the offense. I just wanted to work hard and see what happened.”

That hard work has certainly paid off and recently, Ambroz has found himself on the wing alongside Omaha’s top two scorers in Pat Mullane and Louis Leblanc.

“Those guys just have so much skill and are just so much fun to watch,” Ambroz said. “I just try to open up as much ice for those guys as I can with forechecking and body work in the corners.”

With just a handful of regular season games remaining, Ambroz and his teammates have clinched a berth in the Clark Cup Playoffs and you can bet while there may only be one Ambroz on the ice for the Lancers, there will be several more pulling for Omaha.

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