Zach Budish grew up in Edina, MN playing hockey, football and baseball.  In youth hockey, his teams won state at both the Peewee and Bantam levels.  At Edina High School, Zach was All-State in both hockey and football while also lettering in baseball.  In football, Zach was 2x captain and led his team to a 10-1 record in his junior season.  On the rink, Zach was a 2x captain leading his team to the high school state tournament all three seasons.  Zach twice represented Team USA at the U-17 5 Nations Cup and the U-18 Ivan Hlinky tournament, where he served as team captain for both events.

Following his career at Edina, Zach went on to play for the Gophers at the University of Minnesota.  In Zach’s junior season, his team won the regular season WCHA title and ended up falling to Boston College in the Frozen Four.  The next year as a senior, the Gophers were ranked in the top 5 all season and won the regular season WCHA title before being upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  Zach served as assistant captain his junior year before captaining the Gophers as a senior.  During college, he was on the WCHA All-Academic Team all four seasons. 

Following college, Zach signed an entry level contract with the Nashville Predators, who drafted him in the 2nd round of the 2009 draft.  After three seasons in Nashville’s minor leagues, Zach made the move overseas.  His first four seasons were spent in Finland playing in SM-Liiga for Jukurit and TPS.  Following his time in Finland, Zach spent one year each in Sweden and Italy to wrap up his playing career.

Zach retired from professional hockey in April 2022.  He has coached throughout his playing career, including Doug Woog Hockey Camps, 2006 Velocity AAA, and small group skates for various players.  He now coaches Edina Peewee AA’s and is looking forward to working with SDP.