Minnesota Wild forward Jason Zucker knows what it’s like to be a trailblazer.

Zucker is the first player from Las Vegas to be selected in the NHL Entry Draft, going 59th overall in 2010 to the Wild.

“It’s a huge honor for me,” Zucker said. “I’m very proud being from Las Vegas. I still have family there, and it’s great to spend my summers there, too.”

He has no doubt a professional sports franchise can thrive in Las Vegas, too. City representatives recently met with NHL officials as part of the third phase of the expansion process in an attempt to land the first major professional sports franchise in Las Vegas.

“I think the reason they could is because it would be the first,” Zucker said. “I think people would rally behind the first team there. They would really enjoy that.”

Zucker said there are already great hockey fans in Las Vegas who are passionate about the sport. An arena is already under construction at the end of the famous Las Vegas strip of casinos and hotel resorts. Zucker hasn’t been inside, but he’s viewed photos of the new arena.

“It looks great,” Zucker said. “It’s amazing. I know Vegas, and I know they’re not going to skimp on any dollar amount, that’s for sure.”

Zucker was born in California, but his family moved to Las Vegas when he was two months old. He developed his love for the game through older brothers Evan and Adam.

“I just piggybacked off them and played roller hockey, and that’s what really got me into it,” Zucker said. “I just loved the game and loved playing with them.

“We grew up playing roller hockey, and that’s really all we did. It’s all we cared about. Ice hockey wasn’t even a blip on the radar at the time. For us, it was all roller hockey and we had a ton of fun.”

But once he transitioned to ice hockey around age 8 or 9, Zucker grew to love that as well. And it wasn’t difficult to develop on the ice in Las Vegas either. He spent a lot of time honing his skills inside a casino, skating at Santa Fe Station or the Fiesta Rancho, two hotels that featured ice rinks.

“It’s not as hard [to develop] as people think,” Zucker said. “There’s still plenty of ice time available if you need it. It’s not like there’s 50 rinks, but at the same time there aren’t 1,000 kids filling up each rink.

“For us, it was making sure you got ice time whenever you could.”

His family moved to Los Angeles for two years and then came back to Las Vegas for hockey, where his career changed.

“I played in a tournament in Boston and I talked to somebody at the [USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program], who basically said to keep working and doing the things that I was doing,” Zucker said.

That took Zucker to Michigan, where he played with the Compuware AAA Minor Midget team and later the NTDP.

“It was awesome, and it really helped me a ton,” Zucker said. “I had a great time at the NDTP, and it really helped me develop my game and become the player that I am.

“They taught me a lot about not only hockey, but just growing up and being a good person.”

He thrived within the program, capturing a pair of gold medals during the IIHF U18 Men’s World Championships in 2009 and 2010. Success continued when he won a third gold medal during the 2010 World Junior Championship and a bronze in the 2011 tournament.

“That’s what the program is all about, to play in those championships,” Zucker said. “For us, it was great to have a couple good teams that were able to win there. They gear you up for that and make sure you’re ready from Day 1. That’s their main focus. It works out great, and we were lucky enough to win gold.”

His favorite moment came when he won the gold medal during the 2010 World Juniors.

“It was an incredible experience,” Zucker said. “We played a lot of great teams and players in that tournament. For us to have a bunch of guys come together and win that tournament was awesome.”

He’s making his mark in the NHL with the Wild after two seasons at the University of Denver that saw Zucker score 45 goals and 91 points in 78 games. The 23-year-old scored 21 goals in 51 games during a breakout season last year with the Wild.

And it all started in Las Vegas.

“The hockey community has grown vastly,” Zucker said. “The love for the game has grown, for sure, and an NHL team would definitely boost that.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.