Just checking in: Zach Parise

Coach Zach Parise?
It's not as foreign a thought as one might think. Heck, his dad, former North Star J.P Parise, was a coach after his playing career ended.
With his normal offseason routine upended by COVID-19, Zach Parise has done a little coaching the past few months, although not as intricate as his old man once did. Think more along the lines of orange slices and juice boxes, but hey, coaching is coaching.

First, it was his daughter Emmy's soccer team. More recently, it's been his son Jax's hockey team.
But Parise has enjoyed the extra time spent with his active six-year-old twins, and yes, he's even served as a volunteer coach.
"Soccer ... I don't know squat about soccer, but at least I was there," Parise said. "I ran the bench basically. Told the next four girls who was going and that was about it."
Parise says he's tried to mostly stay out of the way when it comes to working with Jax's hockey team. Less coach, and more on-ice guest at practice. But Parise never missed an opportunity to get on the ice with his son's team, even if the extent of his coaching was showing a kid where to put his hands on a stick, or launching a puck the length of the ice to start a stampede to go retrieve it.
"I wasn't stepping on the coach's toes or anything, but I just liked being there, helping out, throwing in my two cents, maybe show all the kids one or two things," Parise said. "It's been great and I know Jax has loved it, so it's been fun."
Most of this wouldn't be possible if not for the coronavirus delay, and while Parise is eager for a return to normalcy, he has enjoyed being just a regular soccer and hockey dad.
As much as an NHL All-Star and two-time Olympian can be just a regular soccer and hockey dad.
"It's moreso just to make enjoyable for them and make them excited to come back to the next practice," Parise said. "The coaches, they have their game-plans. I'm just there pushing pucks around, keeping kids in line, but some of the small things - if I notice a kid holding his stick wrong - it's just stuff like that. I wasn't running drills or anything.
"I was having fun with it and they were having fun with it and that was the most important thing."
As the weather has turned colder, Parise has added -- or attempted to add -- ice maintenance specialist to his extensive resume, although that has come with some issues.
Parise installed a backyard rink for the first time last winter and struggled to maintain a perfect sheet of ice. Unlike former teammate Eric Staal, who was known for maintaining a nearly flawless backyard rink, Parise said he had more than a few hiccups.
"I need to do a better job. Last year, I messed things up pretty badly, to the point where I had to have the company come back out," Parise said. "Everyone told me, 'you have to use hot water,' so I went out there with hot water and it just became slushy and soft. Then when it froze, it was clumpy all over the ice, bumpy everywhere.
"I just completely butchered it. It was kind of embarrassing."
But like any high-end athlete, Parise says he learned from his experience and figured out a game-plan to make improvements this time around.
So far, the results haven't been promising.
"One of the neighborhood girls busted through the ice, just with her hand, and then that all flooded," Parise said. " And that was when it was snowing, so I couldn't go on there to shovel it. And that melted the snow, but then froze it on there and now it's already bumpy. It's just a bad start to it."
The good news is, it's still early. And while a career in ice maintenance isn't likely in his future, the heart is willing.
"My neighbor always has a good sheet of ice," Parise said. "So I may have to have him help me a little more."
Those are the things that have kept Parise busy for the past few months between the NHL's return to play back in August and the Wild's rather sudden exit after just a couple weeks, and now, when the team is slowly but surely rolling into town in preparation for the 2020-21 season.
The NHL's hope is that games will begin as soon as mid-January, which means players are in the homestretch of their "offseason," and the time to ramp up on-ice activities ahead of training camp is kicking into high gear.
Until recently, Parise had been skating in Edina with a contingent of Minnesota-based NHLers, but that activity has shifted to TRIA Rink, where Parise passed the necessary testing to enter the team's practice facility.
And while the on-ice workouts haven't exactly been grueling - players have been taking shots on Shooter Tutors because none of the Wild's goalies have entered TRIA Rink yet - Parise said it has been good to find that little bit of normalcy in driving to the rink and bonding with teammates.
"Moreso just getting to know each other right now," Parise said. "It's really been getting the new guys] comfortable in being here, getting to know the lay of the land here, and getting them more comfortable with just being here."
The one thing that has been pretty standard has been everyone's excitement to get back to playing hockey games in the near future.
It's been a long offseason, and despite all of the heaviness associated with what is going on in the world today, Parise thinks guys are ready to get back to what they know best.
"Everyone has a smile on their face," Parise said. "Everyone is excited to be there. We're having fun with it."
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