The Langenbrunner family is on the move

After a playing career that spanned 18 years in the NHL, and included a couple of Stanley Cups as well as numerous moves around the country, Jamie Langenbrunner and his family retired to northern Minnesota.

Now? The family will be making another move as Langenbrunner makes the transition from retired hockey player and Boston Bruins player development coordinator, into a more in-depth role with Boston as the director of player development as well as a physical move to the Twin Cities area to live.

"When I retired five or six years ago I had visions of playing golf every day," said the former CEC hockey player. "After a while that got a little boring, so I decided to look for other things and it worked out that Boston was a good fit for me."

In his former position with Boston, Langenbrunner was on the move fairly frequently making trips around the country, and that will now increase substantially as he transitions into a new and more in-depth role for the Bruins.

"I was able to see almost every hockey game my sons Landon and Mason played for Cloquet the last few years," Langenbrunner said. "It is tough to drive down to the Cities and then catch a plane somewhere and then come back and drive the couple of hours back home to catch the kids play, but it is what you do as a parent."

The move into a deeper role for the Bruins brought about a major decision for the Langenbrunner family: to move to the Twin Cities to allow Jamie a 10-minute drive to the airport, bringing him closer to work.

"This was actually a move we looked at for a while now, but our son Landon really wanted us to stay here in the area because this was where he felt he needed to be," explained Langenbrunner. "Things have changed in my job now, and my wife Elizabeth is going to be heading back to school to get her master's degree. Landon is pursuing a dream he has of a musical career, and our daughter Laine is a senior at Boston College."

That perfect-storm scenario more or less made the decision to move to the Twin Cities a bit easier, despite the fact that their youngest son, Mason, is still looking at two years of high school hockey.

"That was the hardest part of the decision for us," Langenbrunner said. "In all reality, we looked into moving out east to the Boston area a while ago, but eventually made the decision to at least stay in Minnesota."

Moving is something that is not new to Langenbrunner. He played his senior year of high school hockey with the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League, which allowed him to sign an NHL contract with the Dallas Stars.

"I've told my kids you can't be afraid to reach for your dreams," Langenbrunner said. "You can't be afraid of change and you have to chase your passions. For each person our passion is different. For Landon it is music; for Mason it is hockey; for everyone it is different. If you aren't afraid to try you have a chance to succeed. It isn't guaranteed that you'll succeed, but the guarantee is that if you don't try you won't succeed."

The family will relocate to Eden Prairie. The move allows for less travel time for Jamie, an opportunity for Elizabeth to be closer to her schooling for her master's degree while still allowing Mason to play hockey in the Minnesota State High School League at Eden Prairie High School.

Now Langenbrunner hopes he can make the transition from former player to the front office under the guidance of the Bruins.

"I can't say enough about Don Sweeney (general manager of the Bruins) and how he has allowed me to make the move into this position," Langenbrunner said. "He has given me the flexibility so I could watch both Landon and Mason play and yet still learn the management side of the NHL. You really have two ways to go in hockey after you are done playing. One way is to get into coaching, and the other is on the front office. I like the front office and management area a lot, so that is what I am focusing on."

Despite making the move to Eden Prairie, the Langenbrunners will keep their home in Moose Lake - allowing them to still get back to northern Minnesota near family and friends.

"I played here, I coached for five years in the youth system and we have a ton of friends here," Langenbrunner said. "The move will make it a lot more convenient for me to get to the airport and still watch Mason play, as well as allowing for my wife to get back and forth working on her master's degree."