NEW ULM –Jeremy Reed said that his first few months in his new job as the Executive Director of Minnesota Hockey has been going pretty well.

“I have been playing catch-up on some things and at the same time working ahead on things,” he said. “In the world of hockey there are so many great people out there — it has been extremely enjoyable and rewarding.”

Reed, who was the head coach of the New Ulm Eagles girls hockey team for three years, said he has been working with hockey partners early on.

“I am still heavily involved in player development side and in hockey operations,” he said. “I am making public appearances and things like that.”

Reed, who was also the District 4 Director of Hockey, said that the early part of his new job has been a learning experience.

“I like to say that I came in to this job on second base, so there has been a lot of learning to get to home plate,” Reed said. “Every day there is something new and that is fun and exciting.”

Right now, Reed said that Minnesota Hockey is working on bringing a research team out of the University of Toronto on goalie development and net sizes for 10-and-under players.

“And we are always looking at all of our programs on how we can evolve them and improve them,” Reed said. “And over the last five years there has been some growth at different levels along the way. And there has also been some reductions that are kind of modest reductions — less than a percentage point.”

Reed said that this current season, Minnesota Hockey is sitting at just shy of 60,000 total members.

“This is one of our higher years,” Reed said.

Reed also said that he is a sounding board for everyone in hockey.

“I get e-mails from everything that comes into Minnesota Hockey,” he said. “I see a lot, I read a lot, and as well as phone calls that come into the office. And part of my job is to not answer them but get those questions to the right people that can answer them.

“Player-coach relationships, player-referee relationships, as well as coach-referee relationships and the parent-coach relationships are all important.”

Reed said that a lot of questions cross his desk each day. But there is one that is more common than any others.

“They ask why is there a tournament at this location right now at this time of the year,” he said. “One of our things is we encompass the whole state, and come playoff time, we have tournaments all across the state — people do not like to go to some areas. That is the biggest complaint right now and that is something that will probably never change because we are proud to be able to host events in different parts of Minnesota.”

Reed said that he has one thing on his wish list for the future.

“I am hoping that the board will approve some technology update soon.” he said. “I would like to see some technologies that will make us more efficient in the office and more efficient with not only how we store things, but how we take in things from our programs — we want to get away from paper. And technologies that allow us to communicate better with our members, our partners.”