Butch Kaebel was raised in Pekin, Illinois and moved to Blenheim, Ontario at the age 17 to pursue his hockey career and passion for the game. From there he went on to Orillia, Ontario to play Junior A hockey before playing college hockey for the University of Wisconsin River Falls from 1986 to 1990. While there, Butch was captain of the 1988 NCAA Championship UWRF hockey team under Coach Rick Kozuback, founder of the WPHL and co-founder of the new Central Hockey League and Assistant Coach Mark Tabrum, currently of USA Hockey.
Butch then began a prestigious professional career where he attended two NHL training camps with the St. Louis Blues and played several years with the St. Louis Blues NHL affiliate team catapulting him to a 12-year professional hockey career. He then served as the Head Coach of the Tulsa Oilers of the CHL for four years. Butch has always had a passion for teaching the game from the mite level working on edges, teaching pee wees how to check or bantam and midgets how to execute on the power play. Butch is a teacher of the game.
Coach Kaebel has had the honor of playing with and for many distinguished coaches and players during his hockey career. Always a hard worker and loyal friend, he stays in contact with many past teammates and coaches, which gives him a network of contacts in the hockey world from the Junior level, college level and through the NHL. Butch had the honor of being a protégé to Jack Blatherwick, Assistant Coach of the 1980 USA Olympic Gold Medal team. “Cardiac Jack” introduced Butch to hockey-specific training that set the tone for Butch’s hockey career both as a player and a coach.
