Mason Lohrei first arrived at Culver Military Academy in June of 2001. He was 5 months old.
It would be the first of a lifetime of summers spent in Culver, Ind., on the north shore of Lake Maxinkuckee. In the years to come, Lohrei would become one of six kids, including younger sister Veronica, known as the Culver Summer Pack.
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Carefree summers of fishing, swimming and biking, however, did little to ease Lohrei’s transition to life as a full-time student at the Indiana boarding school. He was 15 years old. Home in Madison, Wis., was four hours away. Culver was rigorous, from its barracks to its uniforms to its marches.
For his first two weeks at Culver, Lohrei could not call his mother, Teri Weiss. He was too homesick to bear talking to her.
But the teenager could hold it together enough to call his father, Dave. Their common love for hockey has always connected the two.
Dave Lohrei has spent more time at the rink than most hockey dads.
Coaching life
The Boston Bruins are hosting the fathers’ trip in Florida this week. The dads, wearing their sons’ white road uniforms, were in an Amalie Arena suite for Monday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The families enjoyed an off day in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Tuesday. The fathers will be watching at the Florida Panthers’ Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday. They will fly back to Boston on the charter flight postgame.
Phil Poitras is a financial adviser in Peterborough, Ontario. Bill Beecher is the president of Chapel Lumber in Elmira, N.Y., a three-generation family-owned business. Charlie McAvoy Sr. is the fourth-generation owner of Charles A. McAvoy Plumbing & Heating in Long Beach, N.Y. Bob Frederic owns Frederic Roofing in St. Louis.
In comparison, Dave Lohrei’s resume is practically frozen.
He made coaching stops with the ECHL’s Reading Royals, USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers and Miami University. Lohrei coached lesser-known teams such as the CHL’s Nashville Ice Flyers, Fayetteville Force and Arizona Sun Dogs. Lohrei’s charges included future NHLers such as Jason Blake and John Grahame.
Lohrei was coaching the ECHL’s Baton Rouge Kingfish when his son was born. On Nov. 2, Mason Lohrei became the first Louisiana-born player to play an NHL game.
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Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said of recognizing Dave Lohrei’s coaching influence on his son: “You can because of how cerebral he is.”
“When you have to teach or coach or compliment, he knows exactly what you’re talking about,” Montgomery said. “So you can tell he’s been taught the game from an early age about how to manage it, how to read plays. Because he’s very coachable.”
In fact, it was Dave Lohrei’s employment as Culver’s summer hockey director that made the school his family’s offseason playground. So you can see why the son of a coach who used dual VCRs to cut Mario Lemieux power-play tape for his Squirt C teams ended up on the ice.
“He loves the game more than anybody. Like, addicted to the game,” Mason Lohrei said. “Some people go home at night and watch Netflix, throw on TV or read a book. He gets home and hockey’s always on TV.”
In 2002-03, Reading was the Los Angeles Kings’ ECHL affiliate. Mason Lohrei was 2 years old when he attended his first pro team meeting. By his dad’s recollection, Mason sat with Brian McCullough and Brad Rooney, Reading’s two leading scorers.
Three years later, Mason joined the Reading Junior Royals. On Saturday mornings, the team played in Philadelphia.
Dave Lohrei would start the car at 4:30 a.m. As it warmed up, he’d wake up his boy and bundle him into the car under a blanket. During the hour-plus ride, Mason would stir, eat a Pop-Tart and prepare to play. Sometime that season, Mason asked his father whether he’d ever play a game when it was light outside.
The family’s next stop was Madison, Dave Lohrei’s hometown. In collaboration with Bob Suter, the 1980 Olympic champion, Lohrei started a development team for 9- and 10-year-olds.
Mason was on the roster at age 7. He was a left-shot forward with a mind for the game. Having his dad as his coach did not hurt.
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“It was something we got to do together — go the rink every day,” Lohrei said. “Obviously, he was tough on me at times, tougher than anyone else out there. But he also let me be creative and learn on my own, too. Then just being around the game. That’s probably the biggest part I credit to him — just having me be around the game from such a young age. You learn so much.”
Father and son followed a guideline. Dave Lohrei would never comment about Mason’s game unless he asked for insight. It has held firm to this day.
“But I always ask,” Mason Lohrei said with a smile. “I want to know. Just because. I value his opinion. He’s been watching me my whole life. He knows me better than anyone. And he’ll be blunt. He’ll be honest with whatever he thinks. But he’s not going to say unless I ask.”
Mason Lohrei was not a prodigy. As a 14-year-old, he did not make his local AAA team. So he set his sights on his high school team.
“I’m thinking, ‘I’m a good player. I’ll make the varsity team,’” Lohrei recalled. “I go in September, October, whatever it was. I get cut and put on the JV team.”
The teenager wanted an opportunity elsewhere. He pitched his parents on Culver for the following year.
It changed his career and his life.
Making the switch
Halfway through 2016-17, Culver had a problem. Two defensemen broke their collarbones. Lohrei raised his hand to help.
He never went back up front.
Culver has a history of producing defensemen. Former Bruin John-Michael Liles is a Culver alum. So is ex-assistant coach Kevin Dean.
Lohrei fit right in on the blue line, where he practiced creativity and offensive thinking. Then-coach Steve Palmer taught Lohrei edgework. Assistant Rene Chapdelaine focused on the ex-forward’s defending.
Lohrei took off. Ohio State was watching.
During his senior season, he drove with his father to the Columbus campus. Coach Steve Rohlik made an offer. Rohlik, it seems, did not make it clear enough.
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“We kind of looked at each other, driving through the countryside,” Dave Lohrei recalled. “I said, ‘Mason, I have a question for you. Did Coach Rohlik just offer you a full ride?’ He goes, ‘Dad, I was just thinking about that. I’m not sure.’”
Several days later, associate coach Steve Miller called Dave Lohrei. Lohrei asked if Ohio State was extending a full scholarship. Miller said yes. That was good enough for Mason Lohrei to become a Buckeye.
That was 2019. As a 2001-born player, Lohrei was eligible for the NHL Draft. But he was never on the national radar, not like fellow 2001s Jack Hughes, Alex Turcotte, Trevor Zegras, Matt Boldy, Spencer Knight, Cam York, Cole Caufield and future Bruin teammate Johnny Beecher, all U.S. National Team Development Program standouts and first-round picks.
So instead of being drafted, Lohrei prepared for his first USHL season with the Green Bay Gamblers, who had acquired his rights from the Waterloo Black Hawks. In 2019-20, Lohrei scored 37 points as a first-year USHLer. His skating, which was never his strength, improved.
NHL teams, which had bypassed him in 2019, were noticing. The Los Angeles Kings interviewed Lohrei on Zoom. So did the New Jersey Devils.
And, of course, the Bruins.
Dave Lohrei did not dare dream of evaluating his 19-year-old son as a prospective NHL draft pick. He asked his scouting friends to do so instead.
“Most of them thought he had a chance. A chance,” Lohrei said. “Then one day, one of my buddies — I’m not going to name who it was — came up to me at the Green Bay Gamblers.”
“He went like this,” continued Lohrei, holding his hand at a 45-degree angle. “That was the day I thought, ‘Wow, I wonder how good he will be.’ He was growing. His skating was improving. I was always worried about his skating.”
On Oct. 7, 2020, the second round of the draft began. It was conducted virtually because of the pandemic.
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NHL Central Scouting slotted Lohrei No. 132 in its final rankings of North American skaters. So when Bruins general manager Don Sweeney selected Lohrei 58th overall, it opened eyes everywhere, including at the NHL Network. The way Dave Lohrei remembered it, analyst Brian Lawton, surprised as anyone, ad-libbed through his confusion well.
“I thought Brian Lawton was going to swallow his mike,” said Lohrei. “Because they all just kind of went, ‘OK. We’ll get back to Mason.’”
The defenseman rewarded the Bruins’ faith. In 2020-21, he scored 59 points. He was named USHL defenseman of the year.
Lohrei scored 29 points as an Ohio State freshman in 2021-22. He recorded 32 points his sophomore season, which included an 8-1 first-round thrashing of Harvard, Sweeney’s school. Ohio State lost to Quinnipiac, that year’s champion, in the second round.
By then, the 6-foot-5, 211-pound Lohrei was ready to go pro. The Bruins welcomed him to Providence on an amateur tryout contract.
His NHL debut came sooner than expected.
Life up top
Lohrei had a very good first NHL training camp. But with Hampus Lindholm, Matt Grzelcyk and Derek Forbort locked in on Boston’s left side, there was no room for him. His task to begin his first full pro season was to play big minutes in Providence.
That changed on Oct. 30.
Grzelcyk was hurt seriously enough against the Florida Panthers to require a stint on long-term injured reserve. The same night, Charlie McAvoy was given a match penalty for his hit on Oliver Ekman-Larsson, which would lead to a four-game suspension. Two days later, Lohrei was recalled.
He had an assist in his NHL debut against the Toronto Maple Leafs that night. The 22-year-old has played in seven more games since then, including Monday with his father at the rink.
“At this point, it’s one of those things where he’s more of just a proud dad,” Lohrei said. “He’s proud of me. Obviously I ask him. He tells me what he thinks. I’ve always thought you try to play the perfect game. Do your best to play the perfect game. It’s never going to happen. But do your best. After, we talk about what wasn’t and learn from it. That’s how we’ve always dissected the game. I like doing it like that.”
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Monday was not perfect. Lohrei played a career-low 12:46.
Wednesday could be it for Lohrei for now. Grzelcyk is eligible to come off LTIR and play on Friday against the Detroit Red Wings. A demotion is not on Dave Lohrei’s mind.
On Monday, the lifelong coach sat back in a chair in the lobby of the team hotel in Tampa to reflect on his son’s journey. He wore a black Bruins T-shirt. He fist-bumped a woman carrying a Bruins jersey.
“He gets a chance to learn from those guys,” said Dave Lohrei with a catch in his throat, mentioning Sweeney, Montgomery, president Cam Neely, player development coordinator Adam McQuaid, captain Brad Marchand and his son’s fellow defensemen. “That’s probably what makes me the happiest.”
(Top photo courtesy of the Boston Bruins)