Then-senior Jackson Zwillenberg picked up his “tiny” 12-year-old brother Henry in celebration after winning the 2020 Kansas State Hockey Championship.
“I can’t wait to do the same thing,” Henry told Jackson.
Henry wanted to be like his older brothers, Jackson and SM East alum Charlie. But better.
“I did crazy things to try to motivate kids, but Henry never needed that,” Henry’s dad and coach Joe said. “He was self-motivated. He wanted to win because his brothers won, and he wanted to taste victory.”
During the next few years, Henry was the first in line to do the drills at practice for Carriage Club’s hockey team, the country club their family belongs to. He would practice and play on teams two grades above him. Joe expected Henry to show up 15 minutes early for practices and be the last one to leave.
In Henry's sophomore year, many of his teammates left the team. He didn’t have a full team to fill the roster — so he built one. He recruited his friends from school, who at first didn’t know how to skate. But Henry and his dad held extra practices to get them used to the ice and taught them the basic rules. Their team made it to the varsity semifinals that year.
Then the next year, Henry’s team didn’t have a goalie. But Henry didn’t quit on hockey then either. Instead, he merged with the varsity KC Knights team, with his dad as a coach once again.
Five years after Jackson’s championship win, then-junior Henry fulfilled what his 12-year-old self set out to do. That year, his team won the regional varsity championship.
“When [Henry] won and started winning, you could just tell it was like eating the best hot fudge sundae in the world,” Joe said. “He just loved that taste of winning.”
As the last in his family to retire his jersey number 99 on Feb. 25 in a legacy of two older brothers, now-senior Henry has continued his family’s hockey legacy by winning four championships from house to regional, bringing the Zwillenberg brothers’ total championships won to 17.
Only six players in the last 40 years have had their jerseys retired at Carriage Club, including both of Henry’s two older brothers, Jackson and Charlie. The process requires a unanimous vote by current coaches and winning three championships in each league — house, select and high school league.
Henry was also a captain, voted on by his team, just like his brothers. He learned the necessary leadership and hockey skills to become captain from them, whether it was shooting pucks every day in their basement or playing hockey on the frozen Ward Parkway pond in the winter.
Keep your head up while you play, Jackson and Charlie told Henry. Shoot while skating. Keep your composure no matter what happens and encourage your teammates if they mess up.
“I would always look up to my older brothers,” Henry said. “Whenever I'd watch them play, I'd be super impressed by watching them, and then I’d try to implement what they do into my game.”
While Henry doesn’t know if he’ll play hockey in college, he’ll still carry on that family legacy with his last win of the season, the regional semifinals in February.
Right before that game, Joe told Henry to “play today for your teammates, your family and most of all for your love of the game,” then looked at his wife in the stands and blew her a kiss.
Jackson texted Henry.
You got this, brother. Play your game.
Henry’s team won in overtime 4-3.
“I almost started crying just watching Henry out there, thinking this could be his last game,” Joe said. “It's just been a blessing. I cannot think of a better script that has been written for our family so far.”
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