NEW ULM — One of the bright spots early this season for the New Ulm Steel has been forward Kirk Coppock.

In New Ulm’s first three games, Coppock, from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, has scored five of the Steel’s 12 goals this season for a 1.67 points per game average.

The game of hockey has led Coppock from Bantam and Midget teams in Thunder Bay in 2013 and then 2014 to Junior Hockey where he began play with the English River Miners based in Red Lake, Ontario in 2015.

Last year, Coppock played in the United States Tier 3 Professional Hockey League (USP3HL) with the Ironwood (Michigan) Yoopers where he scored 18 goals and added 31 assists.

Like a lot of players in Junior Hockey, moving from town to town and host family to host family can be hard.

“It was tough when I was younger,” he said. “But I battled through it. It is hard moving around and living with different families. But the host families that I have been living with have been great and they have treated me well. It has been a bonus through that. My host family here, Digger and Andrea Helget, have been super to me and a great family to be around.”

Coppock added that the level of competition has been a big thing for him.

“Going from AAA to Juniors and back again has been bouncy,” Coppock said.

And this year, Coppock has bounced to the Steel team.

“When I was in Ironwood last year, Kolb (Steel coach Andrew Kolb) emailed me and my father, John. He had watched me throughout the season — we emailed each other back and forth and he asked me to come to the camp here in August. And here I am.”

Despite two overtime losses and a loss in a shootout in the Steel’s first three games, Coppock feels that the team will start winning.

“We all play our roles and everything falls into place — things will work out. We’ll be in a winning situation.”

One of the things that Coppock does miss when he watches hockey here is playing high school hockey.

“High school hockey here in Minnesota is something else with the fan base and everything,” said Coppock. “I wanted to play high school hockey and I was going to in Duluth, but I decided to stay in Canada — it was easier for me and my family.”

STEEL HAD NEW ULM LINE: Fans at the Steel game Saturday night may have seen a little bit of history. The Steel had all New Ulm natives Nick Wieben, Bayler Kraus and Brandon Mehlhop all on the same line for an NA3HL game.