This season, John Zeiler, a native of Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania, returned to Monarchs country bringing not only his hard-hitting style of hockey but also the right attitude. During the 2006-07 season, his first with the Monarchs, Zeiler played in 56 regular season games scoring 12 goals, 16 assists and accumulating 70 penalty minutes before he caught the eye of the Los Angeles Kings and was pulled up to the National Hockey League. However, Zeiler’s journey to the pros started many years before the 2006-07 season.
When Zeiler was only a child, his mom would be the one to wake him up early and bring him to the rink to learn how to skate. Like every good hockey mom, she would get up long before the sun and start the challenge of waking the young Zeiler up and bring him down to the rink for his skating lessons. As Zeiler began to get more into skating, his father began making the early morning drives and helped support Zeiler’s love for the game. Zeiler was also fortunate that one of his closest friends who lived down the street from his house also enjoyed playing hockey. His friend’s father had played some hockey and helped the two boys learn some of the basic fundamentals of the game.
Hard Work Pays Off (Monarchs) 
