Dane Sorensen’s journey to Kelowna is anything but ordinary

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Then again, hockey has been part of his life for as long as he can remember.

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Sorensen grew up in Los Angeles, where his dad put him on the ice at three years old. Weekends were often spent at the rink watching the Los Angeles Kings practice, and hockey was always on television at home.

“My dad had me on the ice at 3 years old,” Sorensen said. “I loved it my whole life, growing up around the game, watching the LA Kings practice. Every Saturday, Sunday, we’d go over to the rink and open doors.”

His father, Kelly, had his own unusual path through sports.

Born in Newmarket, Ontario, Kelly was selected 16th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1991 NHL Supplemental Draft. Dane grew up in Los Angeles and is a dual Canadian-American citizen.

Kelly retired from hockey at 26 and eventually moved into golf, earning his PGA membership and rising to become a Regional Operations Executive with American Golf Corporation, where he oversaw more than a dozen golf facilities in California.

These days, the connection to hockey has come full circle.

Kelly is an Assistant Coach and Operational Advisor at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, where he works with athletes and also serves as a Legacy Golf Course Advisor. He is also a certified FlowCode instructor, helping athletes with mental strategies designed to get them into what is known as the “zone.”

So when Dane talks about growing up around hockey, he isn’t exaggerating. His dad has spent much of his life coaching, teaching and working with athletes.

And Dane still gives him some grief about the hockey career that ended at 26.

“Well, he retired at 26. I give him some crap over that sometimes. I’m like, what, he couldn’t hold on?” Sorensen said with a laugh.

Kelly may have left hockey as a player, but he never really left Dane’s hockey life.

The two spent much of the summer together, working on his game at Sorensen’s former high school, where they had access to ice throughout the summer. His father also watches his games and isn’t shy about offering advice.

“I’m very fortunate to have him living with me all summer. We’re in a great situation at my former high school. We got ice pretty much all summer, all day long, so he’ll go out with me and we’ll do some one-on-one skill stuff together,” Sorensen said.

And when the Rockets defenseman steps onto the ice, there is another set of eyes keeping track of what happens next.

“He’s watching every game and yeah, he’s definitely like my own little coach,” Sorensen said.

Sorensen’s hockey education took another major step when he was recruited to Shattuck-St. Mary’s during the COVID year.

The Minnesota hockey powerhouse has produced a long list of elite players, including Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby, who attended the school before beginning his NHL career.

For Sorensen, getting there was a huge opportunity.

“I was playing for the LA Junior Kings my whole life. I always heard about the best players from there going to Shattuck-St. Mary’s, and we threw a little bit of a flare out to Shattuck, and that was the COVID year,” Sorensen said.

The school received a record number of players reaching out during that period, and Sorensen was one of 20 players recruited.

“That’s just been huge for my hockey career,” he said.

Shattuck was about much more than what happened between the boards.

“I think honestly Shattuck-St. Mary’s, I could give a lot of credit to that being an environment where everyone has the same goal as you and everyone’s doing the same thing every single day. You’re trying to compete and get a step on a guy that you know is a little bit better than you,” Sorensen said.

The players also had to learn how to live with one another, which can be its own education at that age.

“Being able to read personalities there as well as you’re with each other all day long, you’re in the dorms together, you’re at the rink, you’re at school in classes, you gotta be able to manage people,” he said.

The experience was another step in a hockey journey that eventually took Sorensen to Sioux Falls and then Brooks of the BCHL before he decided the WHL was the right next move.

The move to Kelowna was a personal decision, driven by the kind of hockey he felt would help him develop.

“I think WHL is a different style of hockey, so I thought that that would be best for my development,” Sorensen said.

So far, the transition has been encouraging.

Sorensen led the Rockets in preseason scoring, something that isn’t exactly a regular occurrence for a defenseman whose first instinct has always been to protect his own zone.

“Yeah, that doesn’t happen too often for me, but my teammates gave me all the opportunity to do that as well. So that was definitely not just on me,” he said.

His offensive numbers may have jumped onto the scoresheet, but there is a reason Sorensen has built his game the way he has.

“I’d like to say I’m right in the middle, but my whole life I’ve been way more on the defensive side, protecting the house and making sure that we’ve got guys back,” Sorensen said.

Sorensen has already played in national championship finals and a BCHL final. The WHL is another opportunity to keep moving forward, but there is no sense in getting too far ahead of himself.

“Every day we’re just doing it for the team and for our team to win, and the NHL is a bonus at the end of the day. If they like what they see with me, I’m definitely gonna obviously pounce on that,” he said.

Plenty can happen over the course of a hockey season, something Sorensen has already learned through the different stops in his career.

For him, the biggest moments don’t require a different version of himself.

“When the puck drops, all your focus is on the ice, really. I mean, your play shouldn’t change too much. Once you get locked in, you’re completely fine, maybe a little bit before the game,” Sorensen said.

Maybe that is the old soul talking.

At 19, Sorensen has already taken a less-than-traditional route to the WHL, learning to navigate a hockey environment at Shattuck and playing in some big games.

His music collection, meanwhile, suggests he may have been preparing for all of it a little longer than we thought.

Led Zeppelin. AC/DC. Nirvana. Radiohead.

And somewhere, his mother is probably still laughing about that Spotify number.

But when it comes down to the pressure that comes with hockey, Sorensen doesn’t make it complicated.

“But no, it’s just a game every time you step out on the ice,” Sorensen said.