For Jon Ammerman, coaching at Moorhead High School is more than a job. It is a return home.

Ammerman grew up in Moorhead, Minnesota, and played for the Spuds before continuing his career at St. Cloud State University. After college he stepped into coaching, and when a teaching job opened back in Moorhead, he returned to the community that raised him. Eventually he found himself coaching the very program he once played for.

The foundation was already strong. Moorhead’s hockey culture runs deep, with NHL draft picks, Olympians, and Stanley Cup champions connected to the community and regularly giving back to the program. Yet despite decades of success, the Spuds had never won a state championship.

That question lingered.

“We had success, but how do we get over the hump?”

The answer became the Spud Development Model.

Spoiler Alert: the Spud Development Model works. In early March, Ammerman and the Spuds repeated as state champions with a thrilling 5-4 double overtime win to secure their second consecutive Class AA State Championship!

Ammerman and his staff began with a simple but important shift in mindset.

• Celebrate what we are
• Get past what we are not

Instead of trying to copy other programs, Moorhead leaned into its identity as a community-driven program with deep roots and strong local support.

“The best thing we could do was lean into who we are.”

Like many long-standing programs, change required navigating a few familiar challenges.

• “The way we’ve always done it”
• Relationships and traditions
• Ego

Acknowledging those realities opened the door for growth and modernization within the program.

A key part of the Spud Development Model is encouraging athletes to develop beyond the rink. Rather than pushing year-round hockey specialization, the program supports players who pursue other sports.

Lacrosse, for example, helps develop movement skills, vision, and competitiveness that translate directly back to hockey.

“There are ways to improve outside the rink.”

Over the past three years, Moorhead has also taken steps to better align its structure with principles from USA Hockey and the USA Hockey American Development Model.

Key initiatives include:

• Fall captains practices
• Spring high performance practices
• A human performance class
• Locker room nutrition planning
• An off-ice shooting room
• Expanding the coaching staff

The results have been a more modern approach to development, stronger communication between the youth association and the high school program, and greater buy-in from parents.

“When everyone understands the plan, everyone can help push it forward.”

Coaches’ Challenge

Take a fresh look at your own environment. What makes your program unique, and how can you build a development model that truly reflects it?

You can access all of Ammerman's visuals here.

Noteworthy timestamps:

• 0:00 Background
• 2:55 Success of Moorhead Youth Hockey
• 6:35 Getting over the hump
• 7:25 Spud Development Model
• 9:55 Season plan
• 11:55 Last three years
• 13:40 The results