Climbing The Ladder

By Tom Witosky

www.iowawild.com

Follow Tom @toskyAHLWild

Since his youth hockey days in Bordeaux, France, Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel (pronounced ZHU-day-Fah-vehl), has been taking it one step-up at a time.

“I have always wanted to know how well I can play at a higher level,” the 28-year-old defenseman for the Iowa Wild, said recently. “It’s always been that way.”

Now Dieude-Fauvel finds himself just one step from achieving his life-long dream of playing in the National Hockey League – a place very few native sons of France are found. As far as Diuede-Fauvel knows, there are only two native Frenchmen – Dallas Stars forward Antoine Roussel and Philadelphia Flyers forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare in the NHL today – and he is the only one in the American Hockey League.

“He is a very good skater and he also makes good first passes to get us on the attack,” John Torchetti, the AHL Wild’s head coach, said of Dieude-Fauvel. “He is a low maintenance player and that means to me, he is a high character player. Once he is asked to do something, he follows through with it.”

Since being called-up in December from the Quad City Mallards where last season he amassed 40 points (11 goals, 29 assists) in 65 games, Dieude-Fauvel has earned a spot among the Wild’s top defensive pairings using a combination of his 10 years of experience in minor league and international hockey and a physical ability to become a regular contributor to the club.

“We have put him in the top four now,” Torchetti said. “That is a big adjustment out of the East Coast league when it comes to consistency. The number one thing for him now is to be consistence night in and night out.”

Just how does someone become a hockey player from the area known as the wine production capital of the world, Bordeaux, where summers are long and warm and winters are short and mild?

“My parents had friends whose son played at the local arena,” Dieude-Fauvel said. “I was very active kid so they put me there. I liked it right away. So I just kept going.”

Over the next few years as Dieude-Fauvel grew into a 6-foot-2, 220-pound frame, he also began to dominate from the blue line. At age 16, he earned a spot in the French national hockey team program where he competed internationally on the country’s U-16, U-18 and U-20 teams. When he wasn’t playing hockey for the national team, he was playing professional hockey in a non-elite league against men nearly twice his age.

After five years in the French professional league. Dieude-Fauvel decided to set a new goal: To play professional hockey in North America.

“I had wanted to play in North America for a long time because it was where the best hockey is played. I wanted to see how I would do,” he said.

But unable to attract any attention from the scouts, Dieude-Fauvel got accepted into a hockey showcase held in Niagara Falls, NY where he played hockey for three days hoping to attract attention. After it was over, he was offered a contract to play in the Central Hockey League for the Laredo Bucks coached by Terry Ruskowski, who now is head coach for the Quad City Mallards.

“I had no idea where I was going,” Dieude-Fauvel said with a laugh. “I had never heard of Laredo, all I knew was that I was going to be playing in the Central Hockey League.”

And when he arrived in Laredo, the city wasn’t your typical U.S. hockey town. It is more like Mexico. I liked it a lot being on the border. It was a great experience because it was fun and different,” he said.

On the ice, Dieude-Fauvel posted 23 points (six goals and 17 assists) in 56 games, but also posted a +2 rating for the entire season – a hint of what was to come. Over the last six seasons, Dieude-Fauvel , playing for Laredo, Elmira and Quad City, has a +21 rating for 296 games with very little notice.

“I consider that a good thing for a defenseman,” Torchetti said. “When you don’t notice the defensemen on the ice, you are probably getting some good play.”

After last season, Dieude-Fauvel was named to the French national hockey team and helped to lead his country’s team to the quarter-finals of the Ice Hockey World Championships in Minsk, Belarus. The team’s surprise showing included a 3-2 shootout victory over Canada in its first preliminary round game and a victory over Slovakia before losing to Russia in the quarterfinals.

“It is something that gives you goose bumps,” he remembered. It is especially true for those of us from France. We aren’t a big country and not that well known for hockey. So when we do well and get better, it is a big deal.”

After the tournament, Dieude-Fauvel spent the following month where he completed several classes as he works toward a degree in business administration. “I take two or three courses online every year and then take my exams in the summer when I visit at home,” he said, adding he hopes to become involved with a sports equipment company when he retires.

But make no mistake about what he wants to be doing right now. After impressing Wild officials during Iowa’s training camp, Dieude-Fauvel was sent to the Mallards, knowing it may only be temporary.

“I knew the chances to make the team were pretty limited because of the all the other players that had been signed out of the AHL and NHL,” he said. There weren’t a lot of places on the roster, but I did show that I could play at this level. And, I had not played at this level before, I really hadn’t. “

Now, he and the Iowa Wild are much in the same position – each trying to climb a ladder. For the hockey club, Dieude-Fauvel said there is no reason not to believe the club can still make the playoffs.

“The team is good. They work hard all the time. We’ve got some good momentum going and just have to keep it going. If we can continue to win, we will be climbing the ladder well,” he said.

As for his future, Dieude-Fauvel said that he is willing to work as hard as he can, but what he does is fun.

“I really like this job,” he said. “Every day I wake-up in the morning and I can’t wait to get to the rink – wherever I am. “