Ken Klee, a BGSU alumnus, has had a great number of achievements over his career as a player and a coach.
He won championships as a player in the now defunct Metro Junior B Hockey League (MetJBHL) and American Hockey League (AHL), played college hockey with Bowling Green in the early 1990s, played over 900 games in the NHL, represented the United States of America as a player and coach at multiple different International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) tournaments and most recently coached the Minnesota Frost to back-to-back Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) championships.
Born on March 24, 1974, in Indianapolis, Indiana, Klee spent parts of his childhood in multiple cities before moving to Canada for his junior hockey career with the St. Michael’s Buzzers. Klee and the Buzzers won the 1989 championship in the now-defunct MetJBHL during Klee’s only season with the team.
After his season with the Buzzers, Klee went to play his college career with Bowling Green, which was under the direction of legendary college hockey coach Jerry York.
“I think as a kid coming from Kansas City, I made the jump to Toronto to play Junior B and then kinda got a look at, possibly, could I have a hockey career or not,” said Klee. “Then when I went to Bowling Green, I think the biggest thing that jumped (out) right away is obviously having a player like Rob Blake and Nelson Emerson on your team.”
Klee continued, “I knew I wasn’t Rob Blake and I really probably (wasn’t) destined for the hall of fame like him, but I knew I was a pretty good player and hoped that I could continue to get better and hopefully have a chance (to) be able to have a career.”
Over his three seasons with the Orange and Brown, the defenseman scored 41 career points, made up of seven goals and 34 assists.
“To me, it was really a huge jumping point in my career,” said Klee about his time at BG.
During his second season with the Falcons, Klee had the opportunity to represent the United States on the international stage during the 1991 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Minnesota Frost forward, US Olympian, and team USA representative at five different IIHF tournaments, Grace Zumwinkle, described the feeling of representing the United States on the international stage.
“I think the first word that comes to mind is just pride,” said Zumwinkle. “I mean, to represent your country, it’s not like serving in the military or something like that, but it’s the greatest honor that a hockey player can have, and I think so many people take so much pride in it, and the opportunities you get don’t come along very often.”
“It was definitely something that you’ll never forget, and anytime that you can put on the USA was something special,” said Klee.
Klee scored a goal and an assist as Team USA finished fourth in the tournament. One year later, Klee would represent the U.S. again at the 1992 IIHF World Championships, where he played in two games as Team USA finished seventh in the tournament after losing to Czechoslovakia in the quarterfinals.
In 1990, following his freshman season with the Falcons, prior to representing Team USA, Klee was drafted with the ninth pick of the ninth round (117 overall) in the 1990 NHL Draft by the Washington Capitals. However, Klee didn’t find out he was drafted from the NHL or the Capitals, but rather from a BG teammate.
“The draft came and the draft went, and I didn’t get a phone call, so I didn’t really think much of it, and then I think it was a day or two after the draft, I was talking with one of my college roommates, Angelo Libertucci, our goalie. He said, ‘Oh, congrats on getting drafted’ and I said ‘I didn’t get drafted’ and he’s like ‘no, I read it in the paper’ and I said ‘well, nobody ever called me’.”
A few days after his talk with Libertucci, Ken Klee would finally receive a call from the Washington Capitals.
“A couple of days later, the Washington Capitals called me and said, ‘Hey, we drafted you. Stay in school, we’ll be watching,” recalled Klee. “A little anti-climactic for what most people think when a draft happens.”
Klee gives credit to Bowling Green and coach Jerry York for opening many doors for him and his career.
“I know Coach York did a lot to help me get invited to the World Junior tryout and to get drafted by the Capitals, so I think he certainly opened a lot of doors for me,” remarked Klee. “Obviously, I had to play and do well with the opportunities, but there was no doubt in my mind that he (York) opened a lot of doors for me.”
After finishing his college career, Klee spent a few seasons playing in the AHL for the Capitals’ farm teams and helped the Portland Pirates win the 1994 Calder Cup Championship.
“It’s so hard to win a championship. I think that anytime that you have a chance to do it, it’s something special,” stated Klee. “I’ve been fortunate, I got to win one in Junior B with the St. Michael’s Buzzers, and then to get to do it again in Portland was pretty special.”
Klee made his first appearance in the NHL with the Washington Capitals during the 1994-95 season. Klee would spend nine seasons as a Capital and scored 111 points, made up of 43 goals and 68 assists during his time in Washington D.C.
In total, Klee spent 14 seasons in the NHL while playing for the Washington Capitals, Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche, Atlanta Thrashers, Anaheim Ducks, and Phoenix Coyotes. While skating in 934 career games during his NHL career, Klee tallied a total of 55 goals and 140 assists for 195 career points while finishing his career with a +30 +/- rating over his 14 seasons.
“We were lucky every day, I tried to look at it that way,” stated Klee. “Every year was a blessing, you never knew when it was gonna end.”
Klee, like all players, has special moments from his time in the NHL that stick out as favorites. One of which was when he had the opportunity to play in the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals, where his Capitals would ultimately fall to the Detroit Red Wings.
“I think one certainly would be getting to play in the Stanley Cup Finals. Just to get to be at that level of intensity and that only two teams are standing,” said KIee. “It’s a pretty special moment, a pretty special group, that was certainly one.”
Another highlight for the defenseman was the two seasons he spent as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“Obviously, one of my favorite places ever to play was to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs,” recounted Klee. “I make the comparison (that) it’s like playing for the Yankees, playing for the Cowboys, it’s Canada’s team. Anywhere we went, it’s an Original Six team, there were Maple Leafs fans, and it was certainly an honor to get to play for an Original Six team like that.”
Following his own playing career, Klee first got into coaching as a way to spend more time with his kids.
“I think at first it was just a way to spend time with my own kids. I think when you’re a professional athlete, you miss so much time with your kids, whether it be birthdays, or school functions, or celebrations, you just miss a lot,” explained Klee. “Your job comes before everything. So, when I was done playing, I really just wanted to focus on spending time with my kids, and they were into hockey and loved it.
With help from their dad’s coaching, all three of Klee’s sons went on to play college hockey for different schools.
Garrett Klee spent four seasons at Northern Michigan University, while Mason Klee spent four years at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and an additional season at Ohio State. David Klee is currently in his freshman season with the University of North Dakota.
“I think it grew into more than that, more than just a passion to try to help my own kids,” said Ken Klee. “I realized I could have a big impact on a lot of different kids, and then it became girls and women as well.”
As Klee’s kids started their own hockey careers, Klee began coaching for other teams, including an opportunity to coach Team USA at the 2015 and 2016 IIHF Women’s World Championships.
“Having three sons, I wasn’t really sure what the women’s game looked like, and when I got there, I was blown away at how professional they were, how hard they worked, what great people they were.”
In 2015, Team USA would defeat Canada 7-5 in the gold medal game. They would secure the gold medal again in 2016 after defeating Canada again, this time 1-0 after overtime.
“As a coach, when you have players who will do anything you ask and are all in all the time, whether you’re with them or not they’re dialed in, it’s a pretty special group to work with and I think, again, it was a great honor for me to get to work with those ladies and obviously we had success,” said coach Klee. “It’s just, again, incredible to represent the U.S. on the international stage and have great success.”
In 2023, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) was founded, and in December of 2023, mere days before puck drop for the inaugural season, Ken Klee received a call.
“It was just a phone call I received the day before Christmas, basically saying ‘hey, there was going to be a coaching change.’
The call was from PWHL Minnesota, now known as the Minnesota Frost, who needed a new coach after Charles Burggraf stepped away from the team a week before the team’s inaugural game.
“They said, ‘Hey, we’ve got an issue, and we need a coach, and would you be interested?’. In my mind, I couldn’t imagine knowing Kendall Coyne, Lee Stecklein, Nicole Henseley, Kelly Pannek, just to name a few. I want the best for those young ladies, and I definitely, when I got the call, I said, ‘How can I help?’,” said Klee.
Klee had to make the drive from Colorado to Minnesota the day after Christmas to make it to the team’s post-Christmas practice on Dec. 27 and the team’s first game on Jan. 3.
“It’s inconvenient for my wife, I know, for me to have to get in the car the day after Christmas and drive to Minnesota, but she’s super supportive of it and she knows what great people they are and, again, anyway that we could kinda help them, we were into it,” explained Klee.
Coach Klee immediately made an impression with his new team, both with players he had coached before and with players he was coaching for the first time.
“He is a person who cares deeply about his family, and naturally, his players become part of his extended family, in which he cares deeply,” explained Frost forward and captain Kendall Coyne Schofield.
“I gotta say, I just love Ken and I think he’s such a good relationship coach,” said Frost forward
Zumwinkle. “I think to get the best out of players, you need to build the relationship with them off the ice, and I think that’s one of his greatest traits.
Zumwinkle continued, “I would classify him (coach Klee) as a teddy bear. He is tough on the ice and will yell and get on us, but at the end of the day, you know it’s coming from a place of care and that he just wants to help get the best out of you. Then off the ice, he is a dad of three, and so I would say that’s kinda the demeanor he has, and he’s always looking out for people, and I think that’s one of the great traits about him.”
After the 2024 season, Zumwinkle won the PWHL’s Rookie of the Year Award after scoring 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points in 24 games in her rookie campaign.
“I think he (coach Klee) was very instrumental and still is to this day in my development and growth,” said Zumwinkle. “I think you ask any high-level athlete, and they can always say they can be better at something, and I think that’s the way he motivates and encourages people.”
In his two seasons coaching the Frost, coach Klee has led the team to a 27-20-7 record and has won back-to-back Walter Cup Championships, including the inaugural Walter Cup Championship in 2024.
Kendall Coyne Schofield, a veteran of over 10 different IIHF tournaments, including three Olympics, and the Frost’s captain, explained that, “International competition is a sprint to the finish line, trying to win a gold medal. A 30-game PWHL season plus playoffs is a whole different beast. In both situations, coach Klee is a mastermind on how to manage the moment to get the most out of his players and lead the team to success.”
Kendal Coyne continued, “Coach Klee and our entire staff’s ability to manage so many things on and off the ice in the regular season and the playoff season has led us to winning the Walter Cup. They make coming to the rink not feel like a job, more like an opportunity to have fun, get better every day, and enjoy being part of the team.”
When Klee was asked what had made his team so successful these past two seasons, he gave the credit to his players.
“I just think our group comes together at the right time and they refuse to be beaten,” said Klee. “It’s hard; every game is tight. Like (when) we played in the finals, every game was overtime, but they don’t get rattled. If we’re up, we’re down; they stay even keel. Again, to me, it’s a credit to our players. We have fantastic players who, when the game is on the line, are there.
Both Klee and his players have emphasized how special it is to play for/in Minnesota.
“Minnesota is the State of Hockey, so there is an extremely passionate fan base, the strongest in the United States, which makes it fun to play in front of them night in and night out,” explained Coyne.
“It’s such a big hockey market that we have a lot of hometown players, we might have more than any other franchise in the league, to be honest with ya,” said Klee. “Probably seven, nine players who are born and raised in that area, their families are there. I think that makes it a little special for them.
One of those hometown players is Grace Zumwinkle, who was born and raised in Excelsior, Minnesota, and played for the University of Minnesota before coming to the PWHL.
“When the league first kinda came into fruition and to hear that Minnesota was gonna have a team, it was obviously the one team that I wanted to play on,” stated Zumwinkle. “Just being able to play at your home arenas and having your family and friends in the stands is something that means so much to me, and growing up, you always dreamed about playing for the Gophers or whatever, but now there’s a professional league that people can dream of, and we are fortunate to have the state that supports us.”
Coach Klee has had a lot of success during his time coaching in the PWHL, but maintains that the players are his favorite part of the job.
“I think it’s just working with the players. I think the day in and day out of trying to help them be better. I think I learned it early in my NHL career, even my college career, that my job was to try to get better every day and find different ways to do that, and I kinda still look at it that way as a coach. ‘How can I help these players get better every day?”
The championship moment is a phenomenon that is talked about consistently in sports, the feeling of winning the championship. It is no different in the PWHL.
“It’s utter excitement, and I think at the same point it’s excitement and joy, but it’s also relief at the same point in the sense that the season does get long and to finally be like ‘ok, we did it’ and to enjoy it, said Zumwinkle.”
“It’s amazing, it’s a proud moment. For me, it’s kinda like a father figure and a coach too, for the players who get to enjoy that. It’s hard to win, at any level, but especially in pro sports,” said Klee. “I think it’s just a proud moment for me, of my staff, of my players, for everyone involved with the Frost.
After winning the Walter Cup this last summer, Ken Klee spent his day with the cup in his local community, inspiring the next generation of women’s hockey players.
“We had a party here for friends and family at our house in Colorado, and then the next day I took it to the rink, two different rinks actually, just to celebrate it with a girls’ program,” said coach Klee. “Had it (the Walter Cup) open for high school girls who were coming through for their practices to be able to get pictures with it and just get to see it and know that ‘hey, that’s a possibility’ if they work hard and kinda share it with the local hockey community.”
As the 2025-26 season draws nearer, Klee turns his focus to the upcoming season and his goals for the new year.
“I think they’re the same as every year. We need to get better from day one to put ourselves into the playoffs, and then once we get ourselves into the playoffs, our goal is going to be to win,” said Klee.
Coach Klee and the Minnesota Frost kick off their season on Friday, Nov 21, when the Frost will host the Toronto Scepters at the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota.
