Breaking The ice

Meet Jeff Taffe 

Growing up in western Minnesota, Jeff Taffe’s dad and uncles played basketball and baseball. But when the Taffe family moved to the Twin Cities area, there was a new sport in town – hockey. 

“Their house was located by a park in the back, and it happened to have a hockey rink,” Taffe said. “I was the only kid at the time, so they just kind of threw me out there and it just grew from there.” 

Taffe started out his hockey career playing for the University of Minnesota before he was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. Once he wrapped up his time with Minnesota, he embarked on his NHL journey where he bounced around the NHL and AHL for 12 seasons. Being a part of the Pittsburgh Penguins team that won the Stanley Cup in 2009 and winning the National Championship for the University of Minnesota are two memories from his career that he’ll never forget. 

“We happened to win while we were in St. Paul and It was just great a memory,” Taffe said. “We just had a 20-year reunion of it and every guy showed up. I think that that says a lot about the bonds you can build when you’re with a lot of the same guys over the course of a couple of years.” 

Hershey was always a place Taffe wanted to play and towards the end of his career in North America, he was a member of the Hershey Bears for two seasons. Outside of the rink, Hershey is also a special place for Taffe and his wife, Jenni as their nine-year-old twins, Georgia and Walker, were born there.  

“We had a great time, the people were super friendly, and it was a great place to live,” Taffe said. “I think it'll be nice to actually have a little bit of time because we get in there early on Friday, so it'll be fun to go into town and maybe kind of see what's going on there these days.” 

Taffe made the decision to retire about three years ago when he was over playing in the KHL. The distance between him and his family strongly influenced his decision so he could move back home and be with his family full time. Even though he hung up his skates a few years ago, he brought them back out for the inaugural 3ICE season. 

“We ended up moving from California back to Minnesota where I started working again,” Taffe said. “Once one door closes, you have another chapter open. I'm not the type of person that would be able to retire. kind of sit around and do that the rest of my life. So, spending time with my family and being a part of 3ICE has been fun.”