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Mar. 21—KASSON, Minn. — Approximately three and a half years ago, Brett Ludvigsen was on a phone call with the wrong Nick, who turned out to be the right Nick.
Ludvigsen was just a freshman, teetering along the line of playing one more year of youth hockey at the Bantam level, or making the jump to the Dodge County varsity. After weeks of going back and forth in his head, Ludvigsen had come to a decision: Another year of Bantam hockey was the route to go.
"I wasn't really even sure if I'd make the varsity team that year," Ludvigsen said. "I would have been moving up to a team that had just finished second in the state. It was challenging.
"It was, I think, a day or two before high school tryouts and it was the deadline (to register) for Bantam and youth. I had made the decision to play another year of Bantams; me and my parents thought it might be better to let my body grow."
So, Ludvigsen's parents placed a call to Nick Davidson (who has been heavily involved with the Dodge County Youth Hockey program for a decade and is also now a Wildcats varsity assistant coach).
Or so Brett assumed.
"We were on the phone; I thought we had called Nick Davidson, telling him I was going to play Bantam," Ludvigsen said with a laugh. "It was actually (then-varsity head coach) Nick Worden, and he was like 'excuse me?!' ... Then he told me what the plan was for me and how he thought I'd fit into the varsity."
In hindsight, it was absolutely the right call.
Worden's plan made sense to Ludvigsen, who made the decision to test his skills — and to work on adding muscle to his frame — at the varsity level.
It turned Ludvigsen, eventually, into one of the most feared goal-scorers and playmakers in southern Minnesota, and after a 27-goal, 58-point senior season, he is the 2025 Post Bulletin All-Area Player of the Year.
"The first few practices were a bit intense," Ludvigsen said of his adjustment to the varsity level. "We were doing a drill where I was supposed to be screening the goalie and I was standing about five feet in front of him. Coach Worden let me know about that.
"And I had to battle guys like (Gavin) Giesler and (Easton) Hammill. Those guys were giants. And the game was incredibly fast, as fast as I'd played at that time."
Ludvigsen kept battling, though, and soon his confidence and his statistics skyrocketed. It was the start of a four-year varsity career that saw him put his name alongside that of current University of Minnesota star forward Brody Lamb as one of the best to ever play for Dodge County.
Ludvigsen finished his four-year career with 86 goals, 116 assists and 202 points. After an eight-goal, 13-point freshman season, he led the Wildcats in scoring as a sophomore, junior and senior, recording at least 22 goals in all three of those seasons. He set varsity career highs a year ago with 29 goals, 49 assists and 78 points.
"He's a very good lead-by-example kid and leader," Dodge County co-head coach Andrew Wilcox said. "He's just a down-to-earth kid, very calm and collected.
"This year, no matter what the score was or the result of a game, he was always calm. It can be tough at times when you're not winning as much as you'd like to (Dodge County went 9-16-0 against a challenging schedule), but he was always calm. Every single game, even when he was sick, he always played his best. He got the other kids going; the rest of the team fed off him."
Though he scored 51 goals and added 80 assists over his sophomore and junior seasons combined, Ludvigsen entered his senior season still needing to adjust and adapt his game. His long-time linemate Gryffon Funke had graduated, meaning all opposing eyes would be on Ludvigsen in 2024-25.
"That was his biggest challenge over the summer," Wilcox said. "It was to become an even more well-rounded player. Last year, so many of his points were assists, playmaking for Funke. Brett had to step into a scoring role this year."
Ludvigsen embraced that challenge and went to work in summer hockey — camps and pick-up games — trying to find ways to score when the defense knows he's the guy to stop. He continued to work on a shot that has always been lethal; his ability to score in multiple ways — with a slap shot, on a rush, from sharp angles — is uncanny.
His work carried into the fall and his second year in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League, a fall all-star league of sorts that features many of the top upperclassmen in Minnesota and surrounding states. Ludvigsen averaged nearly a point per game, with 7 goals and 13 assists, for 20 points, in 21 games.
"He really worked on that part of his game and look at his stats — almost 50-50, goals and assists," Wilcox said of Ludvigsen's 27 goals and 31 assists in his senior high school season. "He knew early on that he was losing his goal-scorer linemate and he really stepped up in that area. The way he developed and worked on his skillset, it showed this year."
Wilcox said one of Ludvigsen's best traits is his Hockey IQ, the way he sees and thinks the game, always seemingly a step or two ahead of his opponents. That Hockey IQ also told Ludvigsen that he needed to become Gryff Funke this year — not as a player, but as a leader and a mentor.
Ludvigsen played a majority of the season on a line with junior Gabe Coshenet and up-and-coming freshman Camryn Koch. As much as Coshenet (19 goals, 16 assists, 35 points) and Koch (15-14 — 29) benefitted from lining up with Ludvigsen, he benefited from their desire to be the best players on the ice on every shift.
"Gabe took a big step this year," Ludvigsen said. "... he was lighting it up late in the year last year and he had a really good summer. It'll be fun to see what he can do next year.
"Cam, he was very impressive. He's just a freshman but it's not like he had a small role like some of us did when we moved up. He had a tremendous role on the first line and he filled those shoes very well. He can score, he can make plays, he can battle."
Right now, in late March, just a month removed from the end of his high school career, Brett Ludvigsen isn't 100% certain what's next. If he had to pinpoint an answer, it would be hockey. Hockey is next.
It will almost certainly be a year, likely two, of junior hockey. It could be in the North American Hockey League. It could be in the United States Hockey league, or possibly the British Columbia Hockey League.
Scouts and coaches from all of those leagues have watched his progress closely for a year or more. He's even had some coaches from Division I and Division III colleges express interest. Ludvigsen also knows it's up to him, just how much that interest grows over the next year or two.
Once the USHL Draft (May 5-6) and NAHL Draft (June 12) are completed, Ludvigsen will have a better idea of what his summer will look like. He could field offers from BCHL teams, too; that league doesn't hold a draft.
"Again, his Hockey IQ. It's one of the best I've seen come through the program," Wilcox said of what will make Ludvigsen a good junior hockey player. "His speed and quickness — he was the fastest skater or one of the fastest in every game we played all season, so continue to play fast and quick. And he'll keep improving in that 3-foot space along the boards, battling for pucks, bringing strength and physicality to his game, because he has everything else."
Ludvigsen added one more attribute to that list, an attribute that he said he is constantly working to improve upon.
"The most important thing that's helped me all four years is staying confident," he said. "You have to have that confidence in yourself and your own game.
"Going into some games (as a younger player), I wouldn't always think 'I'm the best player out here,' or 'I can make those plays.' I don't have to say it, but even just to think in my own head 'you can do this, you are the best player on the ice,' having that confidence in yourself is really helpful and each year I got more and more confident in myself and my abilities.
"Then it's the details. Everyone can shoot and score (in junior hockey), but you have to do the little things — back-checking, playing hard in both ends — that help the team win."
Brett Ludvigsen finished his high school hockey career with the Dodge County Wildcats with 202 points. Here's a year-by-year breakdown of his numbers:
Year Grade Goals Asst. Pts.
24-25 Sr. 27 31 58
23-24 Jr. 29 49 78
22-23 So. 22 31 53
21-22 Fr. 8 5 13
TOTAL — 86 116 202
Continue reading...
Ludvigsen was just a freshman, teetering along the line of playing one more year of youth hockey at the Bantam level, or making the jump to the Dodge County varsity. After weeks of going back and forth in his head, Ludvigsen had come to a decision: Another year of Bantam hockey was the route to go.
"I wasn't really even sure if I'd make the varsity team that year," Ludvigsen said. "I would have been moving up to a team that had just finished second in the state. It was challenging.
"It was, I think, a day or two before high school tryouts and it was the deadline (to register) for Bantam and youth. I had made the decision to play another year of Bantams; me and my parents thought it might be better to let my body grow."
So, Ludvigsen's parents placed a call to Nick Davidson (who has been heavily involved with the Dodge County Youth Hockey program for a decade and is also now a Wildcats varsity assistant coach).
Or so Brett assumed.
"We were on the phone; I thought we had called Nick Davidson, telling him I was going to play Bantam," Ludvigsen said with a laugh. "It was actually (then-varsity head coach) Nick Worden, and he was like 'excuse me?!' ... Then he told me what the plan was for me and how he thought I'd fit into the varsity."
In hindsight, it was absolutely the right call.
Worden's plan made sense to Ludvigsen, who made the decision to test his skills — and to work on adding muscle to his frame — at the varsity level.
It turned Ludvigsen, eventually, into one of the most feared goal-scorers and playmakers in southern Minnesota, and after a 27-goal, 58-point senior season, he is the 2025 Post Bulletin All-Area Player of the Year.
"The first few practices were a bit intense," Ludvigsen said of his adjustment to the varsity level. "We were doing a drill where I was supposed to be screening the goalie and I was standing about five feet in front of him. Coach Worden let me know about that.
"And I had to battle guys like (Gavin) Giesler and (Easton) Hammill. Those guys were giants. And the game was incredibly fast, as fast as I'd played at that time."
Ludvigsen kept battling, though, and soon his confidence and his statistics skyrocketed. It was the start of a four-year varsity career that saw him put his name alongside that of current University of Minnesota star forward Brody Lamb as one of the best to ever play for Dodge County.
Ludvigsen finished his four-year career with 86 goals, 116 assists and 202 points. After an eight-goal, 13-point freshman season, he led the Wildcats in scoring as a sophomore, junior and senior, recording at least 22 goals in all three of those seasons. He set varsity career highs a year ago with 29 goals, 49 assists and 78 points.
"He's a very good lead-by-example kid and leader," Dodge County co-head coach Andrew Wilcox said. "He's just a down-to-earth kid, very calm and collected.
"This year, no matter what the score was or the result of a game, he was always calm. It can be tough at times when you're not winning as much as you'd like to (Dodge County went 9-16-0 against a challenging schedule), but he was always calm. Every single game, even when he was sick, he always played his best. He got the other kids going; the rest of the team fed off him."
Though he scored 51 goals and added 80 assists over his sophomore and junior seasons combined, Ludvigsen entered his senior season still needing to adjust and adapt his game. His long-time linemate Gryffon Funke had graduated, meaning all opposing eyes would be on Ludvigsen in 2024-25.
"That was his biggest challenge over the summer," Wilcox said. "It was to become an even more well-rounded player. Last year, so many of his points were assists, playmaking for Funke. Brett had to step into a scoring role this year."
Ludvigsen embraced that challenge and went to work in summer hockey — camps and pick-up games — trying to find ways to score when the defense knows he's the guy to stop. He continued to work on a shot that has always been lethal; his ability to score in multiple ways — with a slap shot, on a rush, from sharp angles — is uncanny.
His work carried into the fall and his second year in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League, a fall all-star league of sorts that features many of the top upperclassmen in Minnesota and surrounding states. Ludvigsen averaged nearly a point per game, with 7 goals and 13 assists, for 20 points, in 21 games.
"He really worked on that part of his game and look at his stats — almost 50-50, goals and assists," Wilcox said of Ludvigsen's 27 goals and 31 assists in his senior high school season. "He knew early on that he was losing his goal-scorer linemate and he really stepped up in that area. The way he developed and worked on his skillset, it showed this year."
Wilcox said one of Ludvigsen's best traits is his Hockey IQ, the way he sees and thinks the game, always seemingly a step or two ahead of his opponents. That Hockey IQ also told Ludvigsen that he needed to become Gryff Funke this year — not as a player, but as a leader and a mentor.
Ludvigsen played a majority of the season on a line with junior Gabe Coshenet and up-and-coming freshman Camryn Koch. As much as Coshenet (19 goals, 16 assists, 35 points) and Koch (15-14 — 29) benefitted from lining up with Ludvigsen, he benefited from their desire to be the best players on the ice on every shift.
"Gabe took a big step this year," Ludvigsen said. "... he was lighting it up late in the year last year and he had a really good summer. It'll be fun to see what he can do next year.
"Cam, he was very impressive. He's just a freshman but it's not like he had a small role like some of us did when we moved up. He had a tremendous role on the first line and he filled those shoes very well. He can score, he can make plays, he can battle."
Right now, in late March, just a month removed from the end of his high school career, Brett Ludvigsen isn't 100% certain what's next. If he had to pinpoint an answer, it would be hockey. Hockey is next.
It will almost certainly be a year, likely two, of junior hockey. It could be in the North American Hockey League. It could be in the United States Hockey league, or possibly the British Columbia Hockey League.
Scouts and coaches from all of those leagues have watched his progress closely for a year or more. He's even had some coaches from Division I and Division III colleges express interest. Ludvigsen also knows it's up to him, just how much that interest grows over the next year or two.
Once the USHL Draft (May 5-6) and NAHL Draft (June 12) are completed, Ludvigsen will have a better idea of what his summer will look like. He could field offers from BCHL teams, too; that league doesn't hold a draft.
"Again, his Hockey IQ. It's one of the best I've seen come through the program," Wilcox said of what will make Ludvigsen a good junior hockey player. "His speed and quickness — he was the fastest skater or one of the fastest in every game we played all season, so continue to play fast and quick. And he'll keep improving in that 3-foot space along the boards, battling for pucks, bringing strength and physicality to his game, because he has everything else."
Ludvigsen added one more attribute to that list, an attribute that he said he is constantly working to improve upon.
"The most important thing that's helped me all four years is staying confident," he said. "You have to have that confidence in yourself and your own game.
"Going into some games (as a younger player), I wouldn't always think 'I'm the best player out here,' or 'I can make those plays.' I don't have to say it, but even just to think in my own head 'you can do this, you are the best player on the ice,' having that confidence in yourself is really helpful and each year I got more and more confident in myself and my abilities.
"Then it's the details. Everyone can shoot and score (in junior hockey), but you have to do the little things — back-checking, playing hard in both ends — that help the team win."
Brett Ludvigsen finished his high school hockey career with the Dodge County Wildcats with 202 points. Here's a year-by-year breakdown of his numbers:
Year Grade Goals Asst. Pts.
24-25 Sr. 27 31 58
23-24 Jr. 29 49 78
22-23 So. 22 31 53
21-22 Fr. 8 5 13
TOTAL — 86 116 202
Continue reading...
