Zac Jones is proof that if you work hard and believe in yourself, you can overcome any perceived challenge and reach your dreams.
Growing up in Glen Allen, the odds of Jones playing professional hockey weren’t as high as an aspiring player in the Northeast or mid-west. Let’s face it, Central Virginia isn’t a hockey hub. But those odds didn’t bother Jones, who is now on the ice for the NHL New York Rangers.
“To be in Virginia and be in the National Hockey League is a long shot,” says Gregory Carvel, head coach for the Minutemen at the University of Massachusetts. “Zac is leading the sport in that area.”
Jones credits his father, Rob, with introducing him to hockey. “My dad was equipment manager for the Richmond Renegades until 2003. Being around the ice rink, I fell in love with the game,” he says.
His father played hockey in high school in Binghamton, New York and had also worked as an equipment manager for the New York Rangers farm team before joining the now defunct Renegades.
Hitting the Ice
Jones started skating around the age of three and began playing hockey a couple of years later. “I got pretty good,” he says, adding that many of his friends were playing other sports at the time.
The oldest sibling of the family — he has a younger brother and sister — Jones attended Nuckols Farm Elementary and Short Pump Middle. He honed his hockey skills on a homemade miniature rink about half the size of a normal rink that his father and nine other dads built so their children could skate and play hockey.
Jones’ father and another dad from Northern Virginia were Jones’ coaches when he was young. The team would practice in Richmond but travel around the country for competitions.
“Zac was a really good little skater. He loved the game,” says his dad. “He took to it. He always wanted to play hockey and skate. He would watch it on TV.”
When he was four, Jones went to boarding school at South Kent School, in Connecticut, which has one of the country’s top midget (16-and-under and 18-and-under) hockey programs. “I got a great education, but I went mostly for hockey,” he says.
Making the decision to let him go to boarding school was easy, his dad says. “We knew it’s what he wanted to do.”
In his freshman year, Jones was selected for the USA World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic. The USA team only selects the top twenty players under the age of twenty in the country. “You are playing against your best peers in the entire world,” says his dad.
During his sophomore year at South Kent, Jones, a defenseman, was one of the team’s top performers at the Tier 1 (Youth) National Tournament in Pittsburgh. His junior year the school won the National Championship for U18 (elite players under the eighteen) in Philadelphia.
His display of skill and talent at South Kent caught the attention of the Tier I junior ice hockey team the Tri-City Storm in Nebraska. The team plays in the Western Conference of the United States Hockey League.
The Storm drafted Jones, third overall, after his junior season at South Kent. His skills on the ice helped him earn the title 2019 United States Hockey League Rookie of the Year. During the 2018-19 season with the Storm he scored 52 points in 56 regular season games and led the league in assists by a defenseman.
Jones also won a gold medal with Team USA at the World Junior A Challenge in 2018-19. In addition, he earned a hockey scholarship with University of Massachusetts-Amherst and was selected in the third round, sixty-eighth overall, by the New York Rangers in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, during his senior year in high school.
The family got together and talked about the Rangers offer. “We talked to the Rangers and we liked what we heard,” Rob Jones says.
Making It to the League
At UMass-Amherst Jones continued to excel in hockey. He was named to both Hockey East and College Hockey News’ All-Rookie Teams and became the first UMass defenseman during the program’s Division I era to post 20 assists as a rookie. He was named Hockey East Rookie of the Week and UMass Student-Athlete of the Week for that performance.
“Zac was always known to be a good player, but he was undersized, especially for defenseman,” says Coach Carvel. (Zac is now 5 feet 11 inches and weighs 185.) “My assistants asked me to watch him and I was sold on him after ten minutes.”
After Jones started in the program at UMass he grew and got better as a player, Carvel says. “He’s been an excellent hockey player for many years. I am very proud of how hard he worked to get physically stronger and more mature, things I thought he needed.”
During his sophomore year, Jones signed an entry-level contract with the New York Rangers and moved to White Plains, New York, near the team’s training facility.
Carvel knew Jones was an NHL Entry Draft choice, but he thought the team would probably call him up in three years, not just two years into school.
“Zac was a big part of helping us the national championship. I give him a lot of credit. He made a lot of growth his freshman and sophomore years. He was committed to it and he earned it,” Carvel says of Jones’ call to the Rangers. “He has good parents that guided him and have done a good job of teaching him a good work ethic.”
Signing with the Rangers was a day Jones will never forget. “It was pretty crazy that day. Me and my family were super excited. I would always dream about being a professional as a little kid and hopefully play in the NHL. Getting the opportunity to do it, I couldn’t say no,” he says, adding he hopes to one day finish college.
For his dad, knowing that his son would be playing a professional sport was surreal. “When you think about how hard he worked to get that. He has given up a lot – proms, summer vacations, and more — to do what he’s doing. People don’t realize how much work it is. He never complained about it. He always wanted to play hockey.”
It suddenly hit Jones before his first game with the Rangers that playing in the NHL, the highest level of hockey, would be very different than playing at the collegiate level. “It’s a definite adjustment to the speed and physicality of the players,” he says. “I just wanted to go out and help the team as best I could. I did ok in the first game. The second game I was more comfortable.”
His parents made it to his first two games against the Philadelphia Flyers. “If it’s your first game, you do a lap by yourself before you skate warm ups. It’s a big tradition,” his dad says. “It was pretty surreal.”
Jones is playing well, his dad says. “The Rangers are happy with him the transition is easier than I thought.”
Like other sports, hockey is still dealing with COVID-19 safety and protocol. Jones gets tested daily and fan capacity is limited to restricted levels. “We can do road games in the U.S. only,” Jones says, noting the absence of any games in Canada.
His goal is simple: to “play the best that I can, and if I can help the team get some points, that’s great, but I hope to help the team in any way possible.”
He also hopes his journey is inspiring young kids in Richmond.
“I want them to know you can make it from anywhere as long as you love the sport and work hard,” he says.”I really think a lot of kids would like hockey and would play and see how much fun it is.”
