For more than two decades Dennis Bushy has spent the better part of his days and nights at Moorhead’s hockey arenas. He worked first at the Moorhead Sports Center – the rink adjoining the high school – before taking over as general manager of the sparkling Moorhead Youth Hockey Arena when it opened just down the street in 1998.

Bushy, also coach of the town’s top Bantam team for 20-plus years, knows talent when he sees it.

So when Aaron Herdt first hit the ice, Bushy knew he was watching something special.

“But I might be a little biased,” Bushy allows. 

The speed, the power, the focus, the cornering – Herdt was a natural.

“That kid is pretty darned good,” Bushy says about his grandson. “The only thing he does better than driving the Zamboni is play hockey.”

Yeah, that’s right, Herdt, the Spuds’ leading scorer this season – he’s a senior forward with the full array of skills – also has been an ace Zamboni driver since the day he hopped in the driver’s seat for his first solo run as a fuzzy cheeked freshman.

“I had my learner’s permit when I first started,” Herdt said. “So I was legal – barely.”

Herdt is so confident in his ice-cleaning abilities – there have been no major mishaps with him behind the wheel during the past four years – that he suggests, with a laugh, that he might even be a better Zamboni driver than his grandpa. Bushy doesn’t necessarily disagree.

“But I taught him everything he knows, that’s for sure,” Bushy, 65, said.

Herdt’s attention to detail serves him well while both cleaning the ice and, alternately, ripping it up. As a Zamboni driver, he says the most important thing to remember is, “Stay focused for about nine minutes.

“There are a lot of things you have to pay attention to. How much water you are putting down, your speed, what your blade is set at, how much snow you are picking up.  The first few times it is kind of rattling, actually. You don’t want to hit the boards.”

As one of the state’s top senior hockey players, the 5-foot-9, 170-pound Herdt has amassed 23 goals and 20 assists for 43 points in in 25 games. No other Spuds player has more than 10 goals or 19 points.

“He’s obviously carried quite the load for us,” Moorhead coach Jon Ammerman said. “When your leading scorer has more than double the points than the next guy, it’s tough to even contemplate what it would be like without him. 

“He does a lot more than score for us, too. Guys on our team and in our program look up to him. He’s a kid that people can rally around.”

Herdt, who had a goal and two assists in Tuesday night’s 8-0 quarterfinal rout of St. Cloud Tech, played for the USHL’s Fargo Force this fall and considered skipping his senior season with the Spuds so he could play for the Force all winter. He listened to opinions from all sorts of sources, including the impressive lineup of current and former NHL players (Matt Cullen, Jason Blake, Chris VandeVelde, Brian Lee and Ryan Kraft among them) Moorhead has produced in the last 20 years.

“Matt (Cullen) really thought he should stay,” Bushy said. “So did all the former Spuds. ‘Stay with Moorhead.’ That’s what they told him.”

Bushy wasn’t so sure. He knew the talent level might dip some from Moorhead’s high standards (the Spuds, who have reached the state tournament 14 times since 1992, slumped to an 11-12-1 record this season) and advised that a jump to juniors might not be a bad idea.

Bushy says he now regrets that line of thinking and is thankful Herdt made the decision to stay.

“I’ve got a lot of Moorhead pride,” Bush said. “The team he is with this year is probably not one of the most talented teams we’ve had. I was worried about that. I told him, ‘It is mot going to be easy you are going to have your hands full.

“I kick myself for even saying that. I’m glad those young guys are smarter than I am. I’m sure glad he made the decision that he did. Twenty years from now he is going to be happier than hell that he stayed. I’m very proud of him for that.”

With Herdt in the lineup, the Spuds are capable of beating any team. They were the No. 2 seed in Section 8AA and face No. 3 Brainerd on Thursday in Moorhead. The teams split their regular season series.

In preparation for the Spuds’ playoff run, Herdt, as always, has been thinking about ways to improve his game. With the NHL on its Olympic break, Cullen, a Nashville Predators forward, has spent some time in Moorhead recently. Herdt, a center, wasn’t happy with his work in the faceoff circle. Cullen, who happens to be one of the NHL’s premiere faceoff men, offered Herdt some advice. Herdt then asked Cullen if he could provide all of the Spuds’ centers some tricks and tips before Monday’s practice. Cullen obliged the request.

“We’re much more than just hockey in Moorhead, too,” said Ammerman, a former Spuds’ standout. “It’s a community experience. It’s being a part of something that is bigger than you. Aaron will tell you a lot of the same things. 

“It is kind of point of pride with him. He’s the kind of guy, you start something, you finish it.”