How Ethen Frank, A Kid From Nebraska Who Didn't Want Anything To Do With Ice Hockey, Ended Up On A Whirlwind Path To The Capitals

ARLINGTON, V.A. — Ethen Frank didn't want anything to do with ice hockey as a kid.

He insists — sheepishly, as he unwinds from a busy practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex — that he "really didn't want to" even hit the ice. He was all in on roller hockey, spending every day at the inline rinks that his parents owned, from open to close.

"I didn't really want anything to do with ice hockey," he repeated. "As a kid, I just didn't like all the little delays in the game like offsides, icing, back when the two-line pass was a thing. I just thought roller was better, there was more puck control. (Ice) was not as fast-paced, more of a hockey IQ thing, I guess."

It's not the biggest sport in his hometown of Papillion, Nebraska, located in the suburbs of Omaha and known more for its corn and soybean output, old-fashioned midwestern hospitality and of course, the Cornhuskers, rather than a cesspool of hockey talent.

But as kids do, they fall in line with their friends. One of Frank's roller teammates convinced him to try to translate his skills to the ice.

The rest is history.

"I'm glad I tried it out," Frank grinned.

Frank was on a different level than his teammates, his speed being the hallmark of his game that's still talked about to this day. The skill was there, too, but the biggest things he couldn't figure out at first were stopping and turning. That only added fuel to the fire.

"It's kind of weird to say, but it made me mad I couldn't figure it out," Frank said. "I wanted to stick with it and try to figure it out, and due to my roller hockey past, I became a pretty good skater at a pretty young age."

With no NHL team from Nebraska to cheer for, Frank looked up to two stars in particular: Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby, and ironically enough, current teammate Alex Ovechkin.

"I had Ovechkin and Crosby (FatHeads) right next to each other in my room and custom knee hockey nets and sticks with both their names on them and stuff," he recalled. "Pretty surreal."

As he continued to thrive, the AA and AAA offers came rushing in as Frank traded in his wheels for blades full-time. At the age of 14, Frank landed on a U16 team, where he faced a conundrum: he had the talent, but he was undersized.

Because of that, his coach David Wilkie, who is the current general manager of the Omaha Lancers, pushed Frank to his limits, demanding more from him to keep up with his teammates, who'd filled out before him. To this day, Frank credits Wilkie for transforming him into the skater he is now.

"Those guys are quite a bit through puberty and bigger and faster and stronger, so I had to figure out a way to be as fast as those guys," Frank said. "We did a ton of skating back then, I can't even begin to think about the skating we did. Obviously got to give him some credit; he pushed me to a whole new level."

That whole new level earned Frank a spot with his hometown Lancers, and then a scholarship to play college hockey at Western Michigan University. He played for five years and ultimately went undrafted, but never gave up on his dream.

In his final year of school — his last chance to show the professional teams what they were missing out on — he picked up 26 goals and 39 points in 38 games, landing him his first pro deal with the AHL's Hershey Bears.

He fit in at the AHL level right away, potting 30 goals in his rookie year as he made goal-scoring look flat-out easy.

Then came the 2023 AHL All-Star Classic, which would change his life forever.

Just having fun at the skills competition, Frank took center stage in the Fastest Skater event and stunned with a record-setting 12.915-second lap. It stands as the fastest lap in pro hockey history; even Connor McDavid hasn't had a lap under 13 seconds.

It was nothing for Frank, who's been going, going, going ever since he was that Nebraska boy playing inline.

"(Speed) is one thing that's translated, and I'm very glad it did," Frank said.

His record made headlines around the world and earned him significant interest from the NHL teams that'd passed on him in the draft, including the Capitals. He chose to stick with his Hershey roots, inking his first NHL deal with Washington, who had high hopes for him going into this year's training camp with a spot up for grabs and him fresh off back-to-back Calder Cup titles.

However, things didn't go according to plan, and Frank started his year in the minors.

"I don't know (what happened in camp). I asked the same thing and went, 'Wow, I haven't seen this (strong play) in two training camps and exhibition games. Haven't seen it," coach Spencer Carbery said. Sometimes the anxiousness and the build-up to training camp and all the players that are there, there's 60 players and it's a little bit scrambling.".

He's happy that things worked out the way they did, though, because that only motivated him to push himself further. And after posting 20 goals through 35 games, he earned his first call-up with coach Spencer Carbery wanting to solve the ongoing lack of offense on the third line.

"He's learned, and you can tell he's very mature... even when he didn't make the team the last two years, he's a thinker, he's like, 'Okay, what do I need to do?' And he has a process of going and addressing those needs," Carbery said, adding, "People like that figure it out because they're problem solvers. They're like, 'Okay, here's where I'm deficient, and I'm going to do something about it. I'm going to get to work. And then he works and works and works. And then you get knocked down again and get told you're not good enough, and then you work and work and work, and then eventually you break through, and that's what he's done."

So far, Frank hasn't disappointed and has been the revelation that D.C. has been looking for on the bottom-6.

Frank's managed points in each of his first three games, and has goals in back-to-back outings. In turn, the third line has found its spark, and in turn, their ice time has gone up with Frank already earning more responsibility.

"The harder you work, the harder it is to give up," Frank said. "There's been a lot of unseen hard work (to get here). It feels pretty special and very good for sure."

At the end of the day, it's all been a "whirlwind" for the rookie, but at the end of the day, he remembers the road it's taken to get to this point, and can't help but be grateful — especially when it comes to returning to his roots.

"It's really cool. There's not a lot of really good pro hockey players that come out of that state, so it's good to represent," Frank said. "I've had some people reach out saying the kids are looking up to me and watching my every move. Never thought it would've come to that point, but it's definitely a big honor."