tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43942535412459834622024-02-20T00:52:05.233-08:00Not So Tall TalesStories and chatter from the rink and beyond with Mike Craigen.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4394253541245983462.post-74836533198212758672019-10-02T18:46:00.000-07:002019-10-02T19:17:03.837-07:00Can Your Kid Actually Hear You Screaming ? - ? - ? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As we gear up for the beginning of yet another hockey season in Knoxville, TN -<i> and for the first time ever I'm not just a coach, but a hockey dad as well</i> - one glaringly obvious thing has become evident. I am a better hockey coach than I am a hockey dad.<br />
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My son Chunk just turned 4 and will be joining the ever-growing horde of Little Preds who will engulf our arena this season in our most popular program for several years now. For those scratching their heads at that last sentence, his given name is Bradley but he was fortunate enough to pick up the nickname "<i>Chunk</i>" early in life and prefers that currently :) He'll either rise above it and use his sparkling personality to make folks ignore his name or turn out like the kid in Johnny Cash's "Boy Named Sue" and come beat the doors off me in 15 years. Either way, for now..... he's Chunk.<br />
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Anyways, he has taken to hockey a little bit lately - to no one's surprise - and is enrolled for the <br />
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January session of the Learn to Play Program with us. The program, for kids aged 4 through 9 is an incredible value at $150 per player that comes with everything you need to get started in hockey. Full equipment custom-sized that includes skates, jersey, bag, a membership to the Gnash Kids Club with the Predators, a graduation goody bag full of Preds swag and a brand new 1-year USA Hockey membership number included that allows you to sign up for further programming moving forward. It's never been this easy to get started as a young hockey player and I'm happy Chunk doesn't have to have magazines strapped to his legs and wear red vinyl winter mittens on his hand like I did because they didn't make hockey equipment that small back then. If you or a friend, neighbor, coworker or even an enemy are interested, <a href="http://www.coolsportstn.com/sports/hockey/youth-hockey/littlepreds/" target="_blank">check out our site</a> and all the other registration info for our next session that begins very soon. Cool Sports kicks in a free 8-week skating class on top of all this value and that's where my new experience as the "dad" vs the "coach" has begun.<br />
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It's funny, I always tell parents when their kid is out on the ice with us learning to play that they need to just let it happen. Let them fall, leave them out there, don't let them think that coming off the ice and quitting halfway through practice is going to be acceptable or ..... whaddya know.... it becomes accepted right? Well if that didn't go out the window for Chunk's first skating lesson :) Our skating director Marcia Little graciously volunteered her time to give him the A++ experience and wouldn't you know it, Coach Dad Mike came swooping in and let him leave the ice after about 15 minutes because he was crying. Oops.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOZqFK64Nnl8S2P1HNgmXnoraeBjtuA-rs4g39S-PHBqMXYask3jq5SE-nqtGrXOV014wvYSORsTQ-3I64wovJ2DEdOAOz9PIbO0NnnQsj9kNL1GmSGzQRNG8vQbgwBHfX8qw9f1s8i-rJ/s1600/chunky+hockey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1476" data-original-width="748" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOZqFK64Nnl8S2P1HNgmXnoraeBjtuA-rs4g39S-PHBqMXYask3jq5SE-nqtGrXOV014wvYSORsTQ-3I64wovJ2DEdOAOz9PIbO0NnnQsj9kNL1GmSGzQRNG8vQbgwBHfX8qw9f1s8i-rJ/s320/chunky+hockey.jpg" width="162" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>"Chunk" - Keep your head up kid!</b></td></tr>
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As it turns out, it wasn't all bad.... he just needed a snack. And since his mommy, my wonderful wife Haley is 34 weeks pregnant with our 2nd creature right now, snack-time is anytime in the Craigen world these days so things worked out nicely. To Chunk's credit, he buried a bit of blue slushy, hopped back out on the ice with Marcia and managed to wobble around enough to declare <i>"I skated</i>" and go home happy.... that is until he stood on top of his table and urinated directly into a dish of Play-Doh later on because it had dried out and it wasn't shaping properly for him. Did I mention he's four?<br />
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As you can tell, my blogging and written word skills have experienced a decline due to inactivity (<i>along with my skating stride sadly</i>) and I have digressed pretty drastically from the title of this article and what I had originally intended to write about.... .so stay with me here > > > > > ><br />
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<span style="color: red;"><b>Can they actually hear you</b>? </span>The answer isn't black and white, but here's my take; <b>NO</b>. Okay so maybe that was fairly black after all. They can't actually hear you. There are so many moving parts to a hockey game at really any level of play that a single voice or instruction being shouted is rarely going to register, much less register in time t<span style="font-family: inherit;">o make an impact o</span>n the play. Nevermind the fact that the playing surface is surrounded by boards and glass that provide even more barrier to your voice.<br />
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Now don't get me wrong - there's a significant difference between <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">screaming instructions </span>to your little player and c<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">heering them on</span>. <span style="font-family: inherit;">I was guilty back in my early coaching days of "over-coaching" from the bench because I felt like it was my job to do so</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span> <span style="font-family: inherit;">A player would pick up the puck behind the net and I'd yell </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">"Move your feet, hit the post guy, Jonesy watch the middle, keep your head up, Marty wheel up & across, seal the middle!!" </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">A player would come to the bench and I'd ask,</span><i style="font-family: inherit;"> "didn't you hear me?" </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Their eyes would get really wide accompanied by quizzical look and they'd almost always say</span><i style="font-family: inherit;">, "Uhhh, no."<br /><br /> </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Things have definitely changed for me as a coach over the years and I've refined many areas of my teaching from the way I work with kids during practice, during games, off the ice and obviously from age group to age group. One of the hardest parts of coaching youth hockey, or any sport at any age really, is how to change your teaching approach from </span>athlete<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to athlete and person to person. Below is a list of my top pieces of "advice" for youth hockey parents and coaches as it relates to "yelling" or "cheering."<br /><br /><b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><u>PARENTS</u></span></b><br /><br /><b><span style="color: red;">DO </span></b>- get excited when you're talking with your son or daughter about hockey. Celebrate something every single car ride whether it be raising the puck in the air on a shot, trying to tie their own skates, making a save without a rebound or taking a backhand shot. Hockey is full of small victories everytime your child is on the ice, so find them.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: red;">DO NOT</span></b> - spend more time talking about the things they did wrong than the things they did well. Watch an NHL game, even the best in the world turn the puck over and make mistakes so your 9 year old isn't going to excel in every category. Encouragement trumps discouragement in all scenarios. By the way, have you ever tried yourself? Handling a frozen piece of rubber while balancing yourself above two 3 mm steel blades on ice? It ain't easy! Especially when you're 6 years old and still thinking about the last episode of Wild Kratts you watched that morning. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="color: red;">DO</span></b> - Cheer loud and get pumped up when your kid does well! Be animated. They may not hear what you're saying but you can bet they're looking over at you regularly, so get into it.... show them you're proud and excited for what they're doing. And do the YMCA and the Cupid Shuffle every time it comes on! Energy and fun are contagious at youth hockey as show in the video captured below of ACTUAL Cool Sports hockey parents who have no idea they were being recorded last weekend :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: red;"><b>DO NOT</b></span> - Yell loud directions from outside the glass or under ANY circumstances insert yourself onto the players bench to give instruction during a game. (</span><i style="font-family: inherit;">No really... .don't do it. Like ever ever.</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">) Your player usually can't hear what you're saying let alone absorb it in time to make the adjustment necessary to act on what you yelled anyway. Hockey is a bit of a sanctuary within the boards and glass for the players, so leave em alone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: red;"><b>DO </b></span>- Ask questions to the leaders of your organization and team. There is nothing wrong with pulling a coach aside to ask about certain things that went on or didn't go on during a game or practice or calling, emailing and chatting with a program director about something you'd like to discuss. </span>You<span style="font-family: inherit;"> pay good money to have your son or daughter out there and you have every right to be informed.<br /><br /><span style="color: red;"><b>DO NOT </b></span>- Ask questions in the middle of an event when a coach/instructor are running a practice or managing a bench during a game. Ever seen that redfaced mom or dad go stomping around the glass after Little Billy got taken off the ice? Big Billy Redface is furious about what he perceives is unfair treatment of his son and opens the door to the bench, demanding an explanation from the coach only to find out the strap on Little Billy's elbow pad came undone and he came off the ice to have it fixed. Pump the brakes with the public displays of displeasure parents, I promise.... it looks silly on ya'. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b><u>C</u></b></span></span><span style="color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b><u>OACHES</u></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="color: red;"><b>DO</b></span> - use your outside voice when needed. Your players CAN hear you and you CAN be impactful during games and practices by being vocal. Use short, concise terms that players can process on the fly like "head up" or "time." Easy instructions are much more effective for kids of all ages and they will become accustomed to hearing your voice and the consistency that comes with it.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: red;">DO NOT</span></b> - try and orchestrate a play mid-action (<i>like I used to</i>). Too much yelling and too many shouted instructions only muddles an already fast paced, quick thinking sport.<br /><br /><b><span style="color: red;">DO</span></b> - use props! I love seeing coaches with the board in their hand on the bench or teaching by using other players as examples during a game. Visual learning is 10000% the way to develop youth players in this day and age. I think there is a fancy quote by some fancy person from the 1900's about showing me vs telling me online somewhere, but I couldn't find it. You can <b>tell</b> a player something 55 times and it won't sink in but if you <b>show</b> them once, it sticks. Well, it sometimes kinda sticks. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: red;"><b>DO NOT</b></span> - try and teach in the middle of a shift. You can't correct mistakes on the fly, you just can't. The best time to teach and enforce your approach is after a shift, not during. Wait until the mistake happens, let Little Billy come off the ice (</span><i style="font-family: inherit;">hopefully Big Billy Redface was at the concession stand annihilating a defenseless hot dog when it happened</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">) and grab a drink of water before you address his play. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: red;"><b>DO </b></span>- hold your players accountable every time they're on the ice. You're not doing any player or any family a favor by letting their kids off the hook for effort or attitude. We cannot make demands on a players skillset or performance but we sure as heck can demand they try hard and approach each shift and drill with a good attitude. Try it - and if you get pushback from a player I'm willing to bet you're doing it right. </span><i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">We are entrusted with teaching these players the game of hockey but in truth, we're using this amazing sport as a vehicle to teach them values they'll use for the rest of their life.</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: red;"><b>DO NOT </b></span>- take yourself too seriously. Laugh during games when something crazy doesn't go your way. Goof around with the kids from time to time when they need it. The </span>Bobby<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Knight days are over guys...... the coach is no longer a distinguished ironclad figure with his hands on his hips standing on a raised platform staring down upon his disciples and barking out orders that can never be questioned for fear of expulsion. Youth coaches are now the little-engine-that-could running a little late, carrying two bags of equipment and trying to fill up water bottles on time. So enjoy it and don't be afraid to make fun of yourself from time to time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Things are getting very busy in the hockey world for both youth, collegiate and professional organizations. At Cool Sports, our Knoxville Jr Predators winter season is about to kick off next week with leagues from mite all the way through bantam. Our youth rec leagues in Knoxville have been direct </span>beneficiaries<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>of the wonderful Little Preds program I mentioned earlier and we've seen huge growth in program numbers as a result.<br />
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We start off the youth rec season with tryouts for our select program this weekend, (October 5th) followed by the beginning of leagues next week. Our select program is basically a house league "all star" experience where we combine some of the best players from each age group in our program, sprinkle in some extra practices, a few games against select teams in other cities and then a couple of out of town tournaments. It's a cool way for players and families to experience hockey outside the walls of Cool Sports and develop some great friendships with other families on the road. At the risk of this blog turning into a used car dealership, if you're interested in our select program you can check out some more details on our website <a href="http://www.coolsportstn.com/sports/hockey/selectprogram/">here.</a> I'd really love anyone who's interested to have a chance to participate.<br />
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Here's a fun and informative share to wrap things up for this blog entry and help provide some perspective for everyone entering into a new hockey season;<br />
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Of the 6 major sports in the United States today -<i> baseball, soccer, hockey, football men's basketball and women's basketball</i> - only 6% of the athletes overall advance from high school sports to the NCAA. Further, of that 6% only 2% ever advance to play professionally. Numbers inflate a touch for hockey, but you get the message right? Relax and enjoy the ride parents, it won't last long.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4394253541245983462.post-86918250070627415812016-05-31T10:42:00.001-07:002016-05-31T10:50:12.345-07:00Beetles for Lunch, A Busy Summer for the Ice Bears & Some Discussion of Change for the SPHL<br />
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My son is officially mobile. His mother and I certainly didn’t
time his development accordingly though, because had this mobility developed a
little sooner we could have had a Knoxville Ice Bears baby derby champion
living with us. He’s fast. He's got the quickest knees in the Southeast for sure. A few months ago you could put him down on the floor
with a strategically placed item to distract him for a few precious minutes while you
crept away with the speed and nimble feet of a ninja to have a quick pee. These
days however, there is no creeping away from the little fella and he’ll be
right on your heels wondering what you’re doing. Objects and actions that are occurring
above him are the current target of his baby GPS and he’ll do just about
anything to raise himself up to the next level of the world so he can see and
be involved with whatever is going on in the air up there. Like cell phones,
loading and unloading of the dishwasher and yes – urinating.<br />
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The offseason has started off with a significantly different
tone this summer at the Craigen residence in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you dropped in and visited me in the evening this time a few years ago at my place I would more than likely have
been yakking on the phone with a prospective player, agent or member of my organization about the upcoming season. It was every day and night recruiting, planning,
plugged in, answering emails, texts, calls surfing Hockeydb.com and Elite
Prospects for the next wave of Ice Bears. These days, you’d better be careful
coming onto my porch because it’s littered with plastic barn animals, a Cookie
Monster saxophone, a pack n’ play, a plastic turtle that wobbles around playing
music before exploding plastic shapes all over the place and a very active 8
month old boy who is ignoring all the toys in favor of trying to eat the giant
beetle that he has been chasing around. My cabin in the woods that used to Ice
Bear hockey operations grand central station has been converted and remodeled to
accommodate the next 30/30 man in Major League Baseball who will also win the
Masters before he turns 20 and release an acoustic album that goes double platinum.
<i>No pressure kid, but when you’re done
eating that beetle I’m going to need you to get crackin’. </i></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>This little guy is the best free agent the Ice Bears have ever signed.</i></span></td></tr>
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You would think along the way that my performance on the job is suffering from
this significant change and the more hectic and demanding personal life would
detract from my duties and responsibilities as the head coach of the Knoxville
Ice Bears. <b>It most certainly has not</b>. The little Chunk I have at home has been
the best thing that’s happened to the Ice Bears since Angela Swider told Kevin
she wanted to live in Knoxville after his first season here. He gives my hours
spent at work more clarity, more focus and much more productivity because I
want to be dialed in on him when I go home so I need to be razor sharp when I'm living in my other world. </div>
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Everyone knows that when you’ve got
a child that age, you don’t want to blink or be distracted because chances are
you’re gonna miss something. Whether it be a new sound <i>– </i>Chunk has perfected the motorboat sound as of late<i>, btrrrrrrr
btrrrrrrr</i>. Or maybe they’ve decided to be left handed that day – Anytime he picks something up I always put
it into his left hand because a left handed hitter is 2 steps closer to first
base and usually hits for an average about 10 points higher. Or
my favorite thus far, you better be paying attention when small words and
verbal communication start to formulate on their lips – My little guy has begun to recognize that his small accomplishments
during the day warrant celebration and when he stands up on his own or executes
a high five he lets out a “<i>haaaaaaaaaah</i>” sound that needs to be repeated by his
mom & dad or he’ll let you know.<br />
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I’m being 100% honest when I say that Ice Bear land has
benefited from this new addition to my life. I found myself thinking on
several occasions last season when dealing with players both on our roster and
vying to be, <i>“this is someone’s son.”, “someone
loves this guy as much as I love Chunk.” </i>And I believe my compassion level
has been elevated without a doubt. Not that he’s made me soft by any means <span style="font-family: "wingdings"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span> , being a father has just heightened my
awareness of how individuals who rely on you and look to you for guidance need
to be treated. You can still be strong and sensitive and you can certainly be
compassionate without being weak. I was really mad for half a second when Chunk
took a crap on my chest in bed on the weekend while we were enjoying the morning
sun beaming in the windows. Yes…. On my chest, and then begun to mush it with
his fingers while giggling madly. But ya’ know what? I should have had a diaper
on him, so the fault was squarely on me. And how can I blame him for playing
with the poop either, nothing is funnier than pooping and farting for a kid. (<i>And adults too really. Dougie Searle was one
of the best defensemen I played with in my entire career but he’s more famous
in my mind for his fart sounds during intermissions.)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSrg56NZmV0dseoO6-WvoHDtITtOi19_TpNbtULrPCm3A4AzlNT1_zswpvFl5g6lakSn8d4Q1THaIoJp4eEf0XWHLcOIfIE7JDVxRfpnGQ96CgEgaLgUYottKwUsStw9wqNspb7cfmq015/s1600/compass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSrg56NZmV0dseoO6-WvoHDtITtOi19_TpNbtULrPCm3A4AzlNT1_zswpvFl5g6lakSn8d4Q1THaIoJp4eEf0XWHLcOIfIE7JDVxRfpnGQ96CgEgaLgUYottKwUsStw9wqNspb7cfmq015/s320/compass.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Sign above the door in my office as a constant reminder.</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</i> My player relationships
have always been a source of pride and my <i>modus operandi</i> as a coach but having
a little human being in my life has really thrust my players and my
relationships with each of them to the forefront of my priority list and my
approach to the job day to day has shifted for the better. It has also brought back so many fond, special memories and valued time spent with some really incredible players over the past 6 years who have contributed to what we've built here in Knoxville and my career development.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Speaking of the Ice Bears! We’re excited for the summer
around here. June, July, etc is usually a pretty quiet time around the ole’
Civic Coliseum but this year things are going to be a little different. We've partnered with FieldHouse Social down on the strip to host some Stanley Cup Finals watch parties throughout the duration of the Penguins/Sharks series. Come on down and enjoy the game on one of their many televisions and enjoy a great menu and nightly drink specials. We’re
kicking off our Charity Golf tournament this week as well at Three Ridges
prior to the annual Cool Sports Adult Hockey Challenge hosted by our friends at
the IceArium. We’ll tee it up this Friday, June 3<sup>rd</sup> with proceeds
going to Children’s Hospital and that will lead into a weekend of Men's League hockey with former Ice Bear and their opponents like <b>Kevin Swider, Jamie Ronayne, <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsNXREbFuXZSIAzv_VvJyjgBYd1IwWqhAYNsEF7vZlCedwcnMeaAew8DQAqIN0ivKWL8T0k3KjBnJCspw5NUVAOcPFM_m6-qQsKinZrwUnaM9xjG8BdxcMQyrmIFF8SSGVozHxI7lL2Eia/s1600/ice+beers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsNXREbFuXZSIAzv_VvJyjgBYd1IwWqhAYNsEF7vZlCedwcnMeaAew8DQAqIN0ivKWL8T0k3KjBnJCspw5NUVAOcPFM_m6-qQsKinZrwUnaM9xjG8BdxcMQyrmIFF8SSGVozHxI7lL2Eia/s320/ice+beers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>2015 Cool Sports Challenge Champs - "The Ice Beers"</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Mike Degurse, Mike Murray, Chris
Kovalcik, Jason Price, Nick Niedert</b> and others as they battle it out all weekend. So drop in and see how much tighter all our pants have gotten. <br />
<br />
The ice is also going down in July for a couple of weeks thanks to the City and
the wonderful new management group that SMG has put in place here downtown.
Starting on July 13<sup>th</sup> we are hosting a slew of events at the Civic
Coliseum that is going to keep us busy through the second half of July and
hopefully get the hockey community involved during some of the hotter
temperatures this summer.<br />
<br />
Our <a href="http://knoxvilleicebears.com/hockey-development/adult-hockey/">Adult Hockey Clinic</a> <i>(you can click on
each of these links for more information about each) </i>will start in the
evening on Wednesday, July 13<sup>th</sup> where we’ll be running a hockey
fundamentals program for any adults who are looking to hone some skills, just
get started with their game and need a platform to develop under some fun and
laid back instruction. We plan on running it like a mini Ice Bear training camp
with on-ice sessions, video breakdown of both our Adult skaters and some Ice
Bear game tape to go over some systematic portions of the game in detail with all our attendees. It's a lot more enjoyable when you're watching live hockey or on tv if you've got a couple reference points to watch for and notice. I’m
looking forward to it because working with adults who have a love for the game
but just don’t quite have the ability yet is always a fun challenge. If you’re
interested and want some more information just email us call us at the office,
ask for <b>Cole Burkhalter</b> or myself and we’d be happy to discuss.<br />
<br />
Immediately following that Adult Clinic we’re hosting our summer
<a href="http://knoxvilleicebears.com/hockey-development/free-agent-camp/">Free Agent Camp</a>. With the success of the camp over the past few seasons and the
players we’ve not only rostered from it but who have made significant contributions
to our team, the camp has really grown in popularity for prospective Ice Bears.
Since 2010 when I first started running the camp, we have selected over 30 players to
compete in our main camp and 9 of them have played SPHL games for the Ice
Bears; <b>Lucas Schramm, Jake Flegel, Danny Cesarz, Mark Pustin, Jason Berube,
Brad Townsend, Bo Driscoll, Luc Kilgore and Jide Idowu</b>. Our camp is the most
legitimate opportunity for any professional free agent looking to find an opportunity and
the results and follow through by our organization for the guys who attend our
camps is absolutely second to none and all the evidence you need to support that. We don’t just take your
money and give you a jersey here in Knoxville, we give you a genuine look,
feedback and support moving forward after your experience here. Ultimately, we're trying to find players who will help us be a better hockey team and the guys we've pulled from past camps shows that.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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Once the Free Agent sessions are over, we will be transitioning
to our annual <a href="http://knoxvilleicebears.com/hockey-development/youth-hockey-school/">Youth Camp</a> the week of July 18<sup>th</sup> through 22<sup>nd</sup>.
After some pretty fun weeks in past years, our registration has been great this
summer already and we’re expecting a big turnout for July. Our camp ties all
the fundamentals of the game into a pretty enjoyable week that prioritizes fun
above everything else. We know that kids have a million things they want to do
during the summer between swimming, baseball, lacrosse and many other activities,
so trust me – we make <b><span style="color: #351c75;">sure</span></b> they have a good time with us. We have a bus pick-up
scheduled every morning out in West Knoxville for parents to drop their kids off
that week starting on Monday they 18<sup>th</sup> and we take them all day
until 5 PM when we shuttle them back out and drop em’ off. No worries, no
hassle, just drop them off and pick them up and we’ll handle the rest of the
week for you with on-ice work, recreational activity off the ice, lunches provided, video segments, martial arts training and much more that will have your youngins' collapsed in a heap on the way home everyday. We’ll be rolling out our new “<i>video report cards</i>” soon too that we’re
also pretty excited about so each camper will have an on-ice video breakdown of
things they did well and things they need to work on.<br />
<br />
If an adult camp, a free agent camp and a youth camp wasn’t enough we are
finishing off the month of July with the pilot voyage of our<a href="http://knoxvilleicebears.com/hockey-development/ironman/"> “Ironman 3 on 3”</a>
tournament. This is a really, really cool idea from our own <b>Cole Burkhalter</b> who
is a homegrown product of KAHA and helping to make a big impact on hockey in
this area as our Director of Hockey Development. So here’s how it works; there
are two divisions, elite and intermediate. Starting on Friday, July 22<sup>nd</sup>
we’re going to drop the puck and play hockey 3-on-3 format - teams of 6 skaters
and 1 goalie - around the clock until we have crowned a winning team in each
division. We’ll only break to resurface the ice between games and the rest of
the time the action will be rolling, all day every hour of every day until
Sunday night. Teams will camp out at the Coliseum, area hotels, backseats of
their cars and anywhere else they can crash between games. We’ll have the bar
open, concessions, fun off-ice games going on all around the arena while you’re
not playing and a bunch of other pretty unique events running alongside the
tournament itself. Teams from Boston, Michigan and locally have already signed
up so I’m pretty confident this event will be a fantastic weekend to finish off
a very busy month of July for the Ice Bears.<br />
<br />
EDIT: My son's name is <b>Bradley</b>. Not <b>Chunk</b>. But in true hockey culture, he had to have a nickname.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Thank you for reading if you’ve stuck
it out this long through what has come to be my bi-annual, long winded blog fest. To
wrap it up I wanted to start some dialogue about the Southern Professional
Hockey League and the direction we’re all moving in together as member teams
and staff under their umbrella.<br />
<br />
First things first, and this will not come as anything new for my readers; I’m
hopeful there will be some serious dialogue at our league meetings about the
playoff format. Pensacola and Peoria set a new standard this season with a best
of 5 final series and the on-ice product was hands down, unarguably fantastic.
There will always be financial, attendance and promotional challenges for our league in
April, but this best of 5 was a great example of what could-be. Both teams got
to put their best foot forward each game, travel was not an issue and the
results couldn’t be attributed to any factor other than what the teams
themselves dictated. That’s how it should be for every series in my opinion and
I was very encouraged to see the league and those two franchises take a step in
the right direction this season. (<i>Congratulations
to the Pensacola Ice Flyers by the way, keep our cup safe for us we’ll be
coming for it soon.)</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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The other topic I’m hopeful will receive some discussion at
the league meetings is the current veteran rule in the SPHL regulations.
Currently, each team is allowed 3 players of “Veteran” status on their active
roster. A veteran is a player who has played over 224 professional games and
the website <a href="http://www.hockeydb.com/">www.hockeydb.com</a> is the
measuring stick used by the SPHL to count those games. If you played
professionally and it’s recorded on HockeyDB, it counts. That regulation is
also piggybacked by a secondary reg’ indicating those 3 veteran players cannot
combine for more than 1100 games as a threesome. <br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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My hope is that league officials and our board of governors
will consider some alterations to those regulations that will allow for teams
to retain more of these veteran players for longer spans of their career. I believe
the SPHL has done two very obvious things in the past 5 seasons or so; one
positive progression has been the increase in their level of play and quality of
staff, players and organizations. The other progression is not so positive from
where I sit and I’m not trying to criticize anyone at all here, but I believe
the league has lost the old-fashioned “rivalries” that made our product so
entertaining not so long ago.
<br />
Let me elaborate – players don’t hate each other enough anymore. That might
sound a little old school and a touch barbaric and the anti-hockey folks who
advocate that our sport is too violent and unnecessarily dangerous will just roll their eyes, but it’s
plain and clear to me. When the Ice Bears used to welcome the Huntsville Havoc
into the Coliseum, our fans knew <b>Mike Degurse and Luke Phillips and James
Patterson and Matt Carmichael</b> would be there to face off against Ice Bear
players who had built up a competitive hatred for each other and the product on
the ice would magnify that. Fans knew different players on each team and looked
forward to the different rivalries that each match up brought to town. Ice
Bears vs Havoc on Friday night? You could bet on a big crowd and you could bet
on some of the opponents you love to hate coming in here and entertaining you.
The same could be said for the Von Braun Center and their fans booing well
known Ice Bear players during warm-up and introductions. It was fun for eveyrone invovled, it was a rivalry…..
and it has been lost over the past 4-5 seasons.<br />
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Why? Because players move on. You can’t build up a rivalry
if every team has 11 new players every season and organizations can’t retain
players for long enough to build up those rivalries if there is a cap on games
played looming above every experienced career during the off-season. It won’t
be applicable for every team, every season, but there will be plenty of
circumstances where the current veteran rule forces popular, well known
players, well known organizational assets that fans have come to identify to
leave the team that raised them so-to-speak. <br />
<br />
In 2006 the Ice Bears were forced
to choose three from the following list: <b>KJ Voorhees, Curtis Menzul, Jamie Ronayne,
Doug Searle, Kevin Swider and Jason Bermingham</b>. Not a tough decision for head
coach<b> Jim Bermingham</b> at the time as much as it was just downright unfortunate
for our fans who had to understandably say goodbye to <b>Ronayne and Voorhees</b> who
were very central, prominent faces for the organization (<i>and J Berm who eventually retired after 06 anyway</i>). I’m not as familiar
with the situations other organizations have gone through that are similar, but
I know Columbus, Huntsville, Fayetteville and others have all faced pretty
comparable decisions. <br />
<br />
We did the same thing again in 08’ here in Knoxville when the off-season brought
another list of notable players whose career hung in the balance due to the
rule. <b>Swider, Timmy Vitek, Kevin Harris, Mike Carter, myself and JJ Wrobe</b>l were
all veterans and our team could only keep three. Some pretty popular names left
town and along with them left some of the primary rivalry pieces for visiting
teams. Again, I’m sure each team can state their own instances of similar
circumstances from past seasons. <br />
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I completely recognize the need to regulate the development of
the league and we need a steady stream of rookies and fresh legs in here to
continue pushing the pace and level of play for the SPHL. Crap, some might even
argue that without the veteran rule forcing players like <b>myself, KJ Voorhees,
Kevin Harris, Jamie Ronayne</b>, etc out of Knoxville that it paved the way for
younger, better players to come in and elevate the skill level and on-ice product…… I’d be willing to
have that argument with an informed, knowledgeable source sometime <span style="font-family: "wingdings"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span> But at the end of the
day the SPHL is built on entertainment and loyal, passionate fan bases in each
of their member cities. Those fan bases don't want to find new favorites every other season, they want to establish a familiarity for their hometown team and create a bond with the culture and faces on both home and visiting teams. We’re not affiliated with ECHL/AHL/NHL networks, we’re
not bound by any agreements that require us to provide players at a certain
point in their career to clubs at the next level and we’ve carved ourselves a
very respectable niche for the specific product we can still provide. I’m in
favor of capitalizing on that and reestablishing some rivalries, using
returning players as the main component to those rivalries.<br />
<br />
<b>Worst case scenario</b>? Individual teams decide they don’t want to continually
employ more veteran guys and they opt to go with younger, rookie-laden lineups
instead. It’s their choice though, and they get to make it knowingly and with
alternative options. If your organization, fans and city is able to retain
veteran players and keep them happy, motivated and productive then so be it. If
you can’t, well…. You don't.<br />
<br />
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<b>The answer</b>? We could go many different directions with this
if the league and B.O.G's agree and choose to facilitate change. I’m speaking as an individual here, as an employee of the Ice Bears.
I don’t speak on behalf of my organization nor do I represent the majority of thinking
across the league, so keep that in mind while reading this. I respect the entire
SPHL hierarchy and I’m certain the Board of Governors will discuss and vote on
issues with the SPHL and its future in mind.<br />
<br />
<b> My ideas for positive change</b> include removing the total combined number of 1100
games to start with. I think that’d be a great start to see where it goes. Each
team can have three veterans, unlimited number of games. A <i>“smoke em’ if you got em’” </i>mentality if you will. That will let us
track which teams utilize the rule change and if there is any change whatsoever
in product, entertainment, etc. <br />
<br />
<b>Next,</b> I would propose somewhat of a “franchise” player tag that allows each
organization a bit of a gimme for homegrown veterans. If you’ve got a grizzled, popular veteran player
who has played 50% or more of his vet-labeled career with your organization, he
does not count toward the SPHL veteran regulations. For example; PLAYER A has
played 432 professional games, 275 of them have been with the Columbus Cottonmouths.
PLAYER A does not count toward any SPHL vet regulation at the time as he is
considered a “franchise” player for the Cottonmouths.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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These are all just ideas from a guy who has been on both
sides of the puck now for awhile and has grown up right alongside with this league from its
struggling infancy to its now expanding and recognizable present. If the league
wants to remain young and continue trying to be a developmental league, that’s
fine too. We’re going to be a positive contributing part of it here in Knoxville and we’re
going to put the best possible product on the ice for our fans regardless of the template. I’m
just rambling a little bit this morning cause the locker room is empty, it smells too nice around here, there is no ice right outside my office door and I
miss my guys.
<br />
Enjoy the summer everyone, <b><span style="color: orange;">#letsgoicebears</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4394253541245983462.post-91011801434886032512015-12-07T16:32:00.003-08:002015-12-07T16:33:57.759-08:00Coaching a Baby Ice Bear<br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Coaching was elevated to a whole new level 3 months ago as I
hovered teary-eyed and a little overwhelmed above a bassinet in the birthing
unit of Blount County Memorial Hospital. Hours earlier, I watched as my
girlfriend Haley gave birth to our son Bradley and in the minutes that had
passed since then I cannot recall thinking “<em>what do I do?”</em> so much in my entire
life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The staff at the hospital had informed us that since little
Bradley hadn’t had a pee yet, we’d probably have to spend another night waiting
on clearance for his circumcision. I guess they like to make sure all the pipes
are connected properly before they start removing pieces of the little engine. We’d
already been there 36 hours or so and all Haley and I really wanted was to take
our little Chunk home and get started with the next phase of life. Which…. I
should mention, I have continued to think and ask aloud “<em>what do I do?”<o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">So that brings us back to me, hovering over the bassinet and
looking at a day old child wrapped in a tiny little hospital-issued blanket and
still dry as can be below the belt. The coach in me thought it was a good time
for the first pep talk of Bradley’s career and what better reason than to book
us a ticket home immediately should he respond? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I unwrapped him from the blanket and was greeted by the unmistakable
odor of a newborn child’s doo doo and had a moment of elation as I peeled off
his itty bitty diaper to investigate, hoping perhaps #1 had led to a timely #2
as well. Aside from the black goo that reminded me of those sticky hands toys from back in the day residing in the rear of the diaper,
there was no sign of wee wee, so I launched into the most important
inspirational speech I had given yet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><em>“Listen little man, your mom & I are going to kill each
other if we don’t get out of this place soon.”</em> I whispered to him as Haley
chatted with the nurse behind us. “<em>All you have to do is pee. Just a little
pee. Come on buddy, I know you can do</em>……..” BOOM – just like that. With my lips
in a semi-circle from enunciating the word “do” little Bradley fired a rocket
stream of pee directly into my mouth as I leaned over top of him. Gives whole new meaning to the term "piss-rocket" that some of my baseball buddies will understand. I sputtered
and coughed in glee with my hands deflecting the steady squirt away from my
face and amidst cheers from Haley and clapping from our nurse, we were cleared
for circumcision and eventually release.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I’m almost positive it was the cold air that caused it, or
probably the fact that he hadn’t peed yet in his entire life and anatomy is a
pretty proven force. But it was the first of many instances in my young
fatherhood experience that I can relate to my job and the many relationships
you have with players, staff, officials and anyone else I come across on a
daily basis. I’ve come up with a list of vital lessons that have been consistent
so far to both my job as the head coach of the Ice Bears
and my life at home learning how to be Bradley’s dad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "cooper std black" , serif;">Timing is
everything.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> My kid isn’t on much of a schedule yet, nor does he have any
concept of what time it is, unless of course you count bottle-time as an actual
time. When he wants a bottle, he wants a bottle. When he needs his diaper
changed, you better change it or deal with the consequences accordingly. I’ve
learned quickly that there are times during his day to day existence that are
just better for certain things. Like cutting his nails for example; he’s got to
be mellow and maybe even half asleep for that task to even be considered. By the way, Haley has take to chewing his nails when they need to be cut in favor of my shaking, Derek Sheppard-like surgeon hands. Is that normal or nasty? We’ve
recently transitioned him into an Excersaucer where he’s surrounded by animals,
mirrors, noisemakers, etc and can balance on his own legs while being supported
by a cloth seat. He loves it and it’s a chance for mom & dad to get a break
from holding him, but if he’s got a bottle on his mind….. forget it, you have
to pick your spots.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJpMWcXDNb7VlEUu3Rv_evNfkBMDjYzvFd4pSTd2L9ePix0AMlO3x4GBGEwWVZIkzoYmopnjNKbUME0vwa7wTZ-bKOdKX2hKy_JjWpXjeqCdvu5Flp7wCt6OF5C-v5w-Yk-RDP9N29wxjE/s1600/chunk1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJpMWcXDNb7VlEUu3Rv_evNfkBMDjYzvFd4pSTd2L9ePix0AMlO3x4GBGEwWVZIkzoYmopnjNKbUME0vwa7wTZ-bKOdKX2hKy_JjWpXjeqCdvu5Flp7wCt6OF5C-v5w-Yk-RDP9N29wxjE/s320/chunk1.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I liken it to teaching spots in hockey or disciplinary
decisions. Some players don’t respond well to in-game messages and some do.
That turnover through the middle of the ice may be better tackled on video the
next day or during the intermission privately than on the bench during play in
front of teammates. There are also times when a clear message on the bench is
needed and effective; fans of the Ice Bears may have noticed last Thursday a
particular instance on the bench when I was quite emphatic with my message to
our powerplay unit about certain elements of their efficiency and execution or lack thereof.
That particular unit is 4 for 7 since my little outburst that ended with my
Halls stuck to the back of Todd Hosmer’s helmet and me gasping for breath.
Perhaps a profanity-laden tirade is just what Bradley needs too?<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "cooper std black" , serif;">Attention
to detail is key</span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. Whether it be the temperature of that bottle, the
extra half inch you pulled the diaper tab too tight or a couple of your fingers
being cold when you pick him up, little Bradley feels as if the smallest
imperfection makes a world of difference when it comes to results. He could be
warm, he could be fed, he could be watching his favorite donkey spin around on
the mobile, but if there is a wet diaper in the mix and its pissing him off,
pun intended; nothing else matters. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Hockey and hockey players are exactly the same. I’ve
definitely come to learn over the years that the small things are more
important than the big things when it comes to preparation for a hockey team.
It’s much easier to tell each player their specific responsibilities on a
faceoff – first step toward the dot, anticipate a loss, check your opponent’s
feet, etc – than it is to say, “<em>win this draw, pass it here and shoot.”<o:p></o:p></em></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">There is so much you can try and cover when preparing for a
hockey game or even developing a team over the course of a year. Hopefully
while the practice time starts to build during the season you can address as
many of the areas you want along the way, but as a general rule for me I try to
select a handful of systems and structure that will be our team foundation and
make sure the attention to detail for those specific areas are flawless. I blame
a lot of our early struggles in Knoxville this season on a lack of this.
Every team and every coach will identify certain areas within the game as their
“systems” or “style” and I’m looking forward to a more favorable schedule in
the coming months that will allow us to pay more attention to the details of our
proven systems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "cooper std black" , serif;">You have
to do whatever it takes</span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. A child, and especially a newborn becomes the
focal point of your life and will require changes to almost every aspect of
your day to day. Sometimes my little Chunk needs a 45 minute bubble bath –
whether you have 45 minutes or not – to calm him down. Sometimes there is only
one pacifier in the entire universe that will suffice and it doesn’t matter if
it’s under the couch stuck between two iron levers and covered in dog hair,
that’s the only one he wants. I’m learning that being a parent to an infant
doesn’t come with limitations or restrictions, you just have to do what
works, even if that means singing “One Little Duck” at a dinner party in front
of people you’ve never met before.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Coaching is exactly the same concept. Maybe standard video
review and repetition at practice isn’t working with certain players and it
requires taking them to watch a squirt game to get the message across. Every
player learns differently and at this level, most guys have been taught just
about every fundamental aspect of the game in many different ways. You have to
manage personalities and find out what techniques work with which players. I
had a coach in JR hockey who would write specific reminders on sticky notes and
hide them inside my helmet so that when I needed a reminder, he’d tell me to
look in there…… kind of an off the wall idea right? But so effective at certain
times. Every day is different in the hockey world and each guy on your team is
going to be different each and every day. The key is accepting that you have to
break the mold and be creative sometimes. If you’re willing to do whatever it
takes, chances are nothing is going to seem impossible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4IsAbpT_bOKG8GJXGCt-BeYNaNluCWO3Fegjhn5sXq_C_m4xFWvrKerMKEFJ4T9esb0ajbw3LMz5aosjn3G77D-gulnrIVRNPE5awe3YCBfNdtjiLiNLzzDwQy9i9bfZNHrxyv2zR70P/s1600/chunk2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy4IsAbpT_bOKG8GJXGCt-BeYNaNluCWO3Fegjhn5sXq_C_m4xFWvrKerMKEFJ4T9esb0ajbw3LMz5aosjn3G77D-gulnrIVRNPE5awe3YCBfNdtjiLiNLzzDwQy9i9bfZNHrxyv2zR70P/s320/chunk2.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "cooper std black" , serif;">Time
management is the most important aspect of your day. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Without a doubt. If
you’re expecting to get to work on time and not look like a character from Zombie Apocalypse in doing so, time management is imperative. Little Chunk has a
very specific goal setting system lined up at the Craigen compound. When he
wakes up, his primary goal is to get fed and until he does, every living being
in the house and likely neighbors on each side will know the minute he wakes up
and the minute he gets his bottle after waking up. He’s a very vocal young lad and I don’t
foresee any issues with him speaking his mind in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">You’ve got to get the bottle into him, get him burped and
then get his attention dialed into something that will keep him content while
you make the mad dash for the Keurig machine, a toothbrush, pack the diaper bag
without forgetting essentials and then if you’re lucky a shower and a bite to
eat might work their way into your morning. If you spend too long on steps<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>1 through 3, chances are you’re not going to
get that bowl of cereal and your “<em>I’m going to stop eating fast food</em>” promise
can wait until tomorrow. I can’t count how many full or half full mugs of
coffee are left around downstairs at my place during the morning rush while
everyone tries to get out the door. The art of enjoying the microwaved coffee has officially been established around here.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Similar to what I touched on earlier about spending time on
the things that matter the most for a hockey team, time management is so
important for a team of athletes. You have to spend ample time on team oriented
systems, but also can’t forget that a team is only as good as the individual skillsets
within it. I might add, that several of my guys - including our athletic trainer Andy Clark, have shown some above average skillsets in handling and interacting with the newest member of Ice Bear Nation. Chunk loves hanging out with the boys at the rink, and we even passed one of his diapers around during our 7-game slide to symbolize our performance.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiznrtmPsouGUfIjuI1grvNzZABO0zqbDSDCjbkZ_u1P_dLwIi9Z4GyS8datfIEhC1bm35Qb1k3MCRTDFx0ZF6r82gmtY5XP5EONrNlEPq9nEV5avWoIblFoMo1Gpo8-53Ssx2XNSEFlNgR/s1600/chunk3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiznrtmPsouGUfIjuI1grvNzZABO0zqbDSDCjbkZ_u1P_dLwIi9Z4GyS8datfIEhC1bm35Qb1k3MCRTDFx0ZF6r82gmtY5XP5EONrNlEPq9nEV5avWoIblFoMo1Gpo8-53Ssx2XNSEFlNgR/s320/chunk3.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">You make time for the things that matter in life, so you have to prioritize the same way with hockey. Spend time on the things that matter, even if it means you miss out on some other areas sometimes. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">If you’ve got 15 games in 30 days for example – <em>just a
random example, not referring to any SPHL schedule in particular</em> – you’ve got 4
or 5 practices in a month to work on things, well you better make sure that
practice time is used wisely. Time management.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "cooper std black" , serif;">Have a
regular look in the mirror. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">I had a quick peak in the mirror yesterday
and realized I had a splotch of puke on the shoulder of my sweater. As I rubbed
my hands over and around my eyes to try and flatten out the bags under them, I
also noticed a yellowish-brown stain of sorts on the outside of my pinky
finger. Without an intricate smell test, I can’t confirm the nature of the
stain, but I’m certain it wasn’t highlighter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">So much goes into the day to day care of a newborn,
especially when you haven’t done it before, that the time spent on personal
hygiene and individual matters can really dwindle. Haley came home from work
today with two different socks on, and while that’s a common occurrence for
many people, particularly her, one of the socks was <u>mine</u> and purple compared to her small white
one on the other foot. It happens! You want to be the best parent you can be
and sometimes along the way you forget about the simple things that are
important to your life without a child.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">An SPHL schedule is a long, grinding journey from the day
training camp kicks off through the hectic 3 in 3’s, the hours spent on a bus
through the night, the 4 game weeks, the suspensions, the injuries and everything
else you’ll see over the course of 56 games. Every team in this league is
judged on their results by 90% of the fans at this level. If you’re winning,
you’re having success and if you’re losing, well…… you’re doing everything
wrong. I’ve found that it’s a good practice to get into regularly to give
yourself a solid, genuine self evaluation. Sometimes you’re winning in spite of
certain things; top players not producing, penalty kill not keeping opposing
PP’s off the board and poor goaltending. Other times, you’re losing despite
certain things; great goaltending, a strong powerplay, unexpected production
from rookie players. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Taking a look in the mirror regularly and giving yourself an
honest dose of personal accountability is a vital part of being a part of a
sports team.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "cooper std black" , serif;">Nobody
likes a crying baby.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> This embodies one of my favorite quotes, <em>“success
has many fathers, failure is an orphan</em>.” I’ve noticed that when Bradley has a
clean bum and he’s giggling, everybody wants to hold him and play with him, but
when he’s crying or spewing and fussy….. You’re basically on your own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The same goes in the pro sports business, and probably no more
so than for any individual or group management who are tasked with the architecture
and execution of a team that has a following of invested fans. When you’re winning, people want to talk to you, they
want to read about the team, watch the team and talk about the team. People
want to hear your thoughts and folks both inside and outside your team are
generally in good spirits and in full support of you and your athletes. All your ideas are great when they work and even the bad ideas are deemed creative and original. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">When
you’re losing, even your strongest traits and best players get called under the
gun. As a winner, you’re a great communicator. As a loser, you don’t
communicate enough. When you’re winning, your coaching philosophy is great,
when you’re losing you need to change your approach. When you’re winning, it’s just
because you have great players, when you’re losing it’s because you have a bad
coach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Through it all though, the most important lesson I
believe I have learned in the last 3 months, is one that many people would
agree with. Do what you love and love what you do. So between our little chunk
Bradley and the Ice Bears even on the worst of days in this industry, there are
plenty of reasons to get up and get out the door with a smile on my face. Pukey
sweater and poopy finger(s) included </span><span style="font-family: "wingdings"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4394253541245983462.post-48005689250735989602015-11-10T13:02:00.002-08:002015-11-10T13:05:45.088-08:00The Life I Love is Making Music With My Friends - I Can't Wait To Get On The Road Again<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
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My favourite road trip of the season and more than likely
anyone who has ever played for Knoxville’s as well, the trek down I-75 through
the scenic landscape of Chattanooga and along the rolling banks of the
Tennessee River en route to play the Huntsville Havoc always seems to provide
an uplifting tone to the day. Whether it be the short duration - we leave at 2:30
PM for a 7:30 CST puck drop – or the knowledge that the Huntsville organization
always treats their visiting teams with first class from the locker room, to
the bench, to the booster club postgame, the roadie to play the Havoc is always
one we look forward to.</div>
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This particular trip started off with a wrinkle, as we had
to load our bus from the team apartment complex at Legacy Pointe. Shinedown had
moved into the Civic Coliseum for their concert tonight and we haven’t had
access to ice or the locker room since we arrived home from Pensacola early on
Sunday. It’s the reality of a shared venue and we consider ourselves lucky to have
had the majority of the time spent in our home, along with great dates for home
games and minimal time out of the building.</div>
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The tone on the bus early in this voyage was an enthusiastic
one, from the standard 1-line barbs being thrown back and forth from players to
the daily scramble for bunks and snacks as everyone buckled down for the trip.
Our athletic trainer Andy Clark was stealthily stashing his home brew beer
& wine in the plethora of drawers and cubby holes available. Equipment
manager Rob Craigen was barking out questions at rookies about what was packed
under the bus and what may have been forgotten, even though it had been triple
checked already. Bus driver Randy Hughes was still wondering what city we were
going to, even as we were pulling onto the interstate and Czech defenseman Adam
Sedlak was attentively brewing a pot of coffee to make sure he had 8-10 cups
ready for the trip (<i>the man drinks more coffee than any human being I’ve ever
met</i>).</div>
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As we rumbled along the highway we commented on the new
T.DOT anti-texting “<i>Texting and Driving? Oh Cell no” </i>flashboards and due to our
elevated position on the bus, observed the 1 in every 3 cars who had a driver
looking at their smartphone while they changed lanes and sped. </div>
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The sun is shining though and our drive has been
traffic-free thus far, which is usually the number one concern for traveling
SPHL teams. It is not unusual at all for games to be delayed due to weather,
traffic, mechanical issues or a slew of other reasons that I’m sure you could
all add to. </div>
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I’ll never forget the roadie to Columbus in 2010, my first
season as the head coach of the Ice Bears, when we had bus issues just outside
of Atlanta and had to wait for the Snakes to send their private bus to come and
pick us up. We arrived a casual 2 hours late and with the game already being
pushed back 30 minutes for us, we were given a 15 minute grace period to be
ready and on the ice for the anthem. David Segal, being the ever
outside-the-box thinker that he is, decided that he needed more time to warm up
and while we were rumbling down the road to the Columbus Civic Center, he was
putting on his gear; all of it including his jersey, socks and skates with
skateguards so he could walk right off the bus. And walk he did….. as we pulled
in, public enemy #1 for the Cottonmouths walked right off the bus, past the
Zamboni down through the entrance tunnel and skated right out in the middle of
the Snakes warm-up, all by himself to a chorus of booing and insults. It was a
classic Segal moment in a career filled with them. And I might add, on that
note, how strange it was not only seeing him in another uniform last weekend
but hearing his name announced for scoring a goal and not giving him a pat on
the back as he came off the ice for it. David Segal will always be an Ice Bear
in my opinion, and when all the dust settles on a wonderful career, I’m sure he’ll
say the same thing.</div>
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Now, the situation on the bus has changed a bit. Bunks have
been delegated, my blog was put on hold temporarily by rookie Jackson Brewer
who came up for a quick video session before his nap and another rookie Zack
Larue is piling healthy dollops of hazelnut Nutella onto a banana for a “snack
before bed” as he calls it. The team hierarchy has ruled that Larue is no
longer welcome to take from the team supplied Nutella and must bring his own
stock due to the fact that he ate an entire 13oz jar himself on the last trip
and there was none left for anyone else come game time.</div>
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With his bananas loaded up and a few pieces of bread as
well, Zack returns to the back of the bus filled with sleeping players, guys
watching movies on their Ipads, listening to music or whatever else it is that
happens back there. Some days I truly don’t want to know.</div>
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With most of the bus quieted down, another rookie (there are a lot of them these days) Jake Flegel wanders up to the staff area with his blood typing test kit to check his levels. For those that don't know, Jake is a type 1 diabetic who has managed his condition all throughout his hockey career. Jake plays with an insulin pump sewn into his hockey pants that helps maintain his levels and keep his blood/sugar in the right range during games. It's really an amazing story that we're planning to talk more about moving forward with Jake helping out to mentor younger athletes who have similar situations in the Knoxville area.</div>
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So we will descend upon Huntsville to play our 5<sup>th</sup>
road game of the season already as 5 of our first 6 scheduled games have come
away from our humble barn on Howard Baker Jr Drive. I wouldn’t have it any
other way for several reasons; one being that travel and time spent on the
road, in hotels, restaurants and wherever else our travels lead us, always
brings a team together. Its cliché no doubt, but clichés are usually used
because they’re accurate and that is certainly the case here. How many road
trips have you been on that began with someone who was just a fringe acquaintance
to you or not really a close friend that ended with a partner for life and
someone you could call anytime? That’s what makes a good team tick and that’s
the kind of culture and atmosphere we want to always surround us in Knoxville.
Tight knit, family-like relationships for our players and staff, because when
push comes to shove and it comes right down to it, an SPHL season – like most
other professional sports – is a real grind, and you need everyone to trust
each other to do the work that’s necessary. <br />
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There is no better example of that atmosphere and the
family-like culture we’ve built within our organization than our most recent
signing Todd Hosmer. Todd was no-doubt a highly sought after free agent who
most teams in this league would have loved to add to their roster. Knoxville
had an inside track though via a former player, Brett Valliquette. Even after
being traded out of Knoxville in the 2013 season, Vally ended up rooming with
Hosmer in Mississippi and went on and on about how much he loved it here, how
we treated our players and the kind of work environment it was in Knoxville.
When Hos’ became available late last week, he contacted Brett again to see if
he could help connect the dots and get him to Knoxville. Without Brett’s help
and without that Knoxville culture that is widely talked about around this
league and beyond, Todd Hosmer would never have ended up here. But he’s here,
and he’ll be wearing #19 tonight as we take on Huntsville.</div>
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It’s almost time for our coffee stop, and since Seddy has thrown back an entire pot by now, all of our players and staff will have to grab
themselves a java from the gas station along with energy drinks, chocolate bars
and an assortment of other fantastic truck stop finds. I swear some guys spend
all of their per diem meal money on truck stop odds and ends like trucker caps,
USB lanyard phone chargers or boiled peanuts….. there is just something about a
truck stop whether it be the fatigue of the road, the prices or the location of
the ATM’s that lends itself to poor decision making.<br />
<br />
That will be all for now with the end destination closing in and the groggy
road warriors slowly starting to roll out of their pre-game hibernation. We’ve
got one more visiting team appearance before we’ll be back on home ice this
Friday after a long 3 week gap between games in front of our fans in Knoxville.
We all hope you’re as excited as we are for it.<br />
<br />
<b>#letsgoicebears</b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4394253541245983462.post-42165154306904994322015-08-07T12:46:00.003-07:002015-08-07T12:58:46.553-07:00How to Ensure Hockey Continues to Grow in the South<div class="MsoNormal">
The Ice Bears
finished up our annual summer Youth Hockey Camp last month out at Cool Sports
Home of the Icearium in Farragut and along with a 3 day headache, some great
stories and a pile of new rinkrat buddies, I came away with some pretty clear
and decisive reflections about youth hockey. More specifically, I came away
with some clear and decisive thoughts about youth hockey down in this area of
the South. There is no doubt that the sport has grown quickly in popularity and
with some strength since the Nashville Predators established ‘Smashville’ back
in 1998 behind the strength of other southern NHL franchises like San Jose in
91’, Tampa Bay in 92’ and Florida/Carolina/Anaheim between 93’ and 98’. The
Preds’ arrival along with the Atlanta Thrashers the year after was a sign that
the sport was outgrowing its traditional markets and their traditional, born
& bred fanbase (<i>even if the Atlanta
franchise was short-lived). <o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKpTGTaQwMcJes5CAI0h937S_1oU26sUs8FedSuj7gND_gVW-BgdHXSvPQ6bpJ7s4ZlYqDt3FXjDFqVOuza9NrkrfdX-G9i6UpMSSHiEEqRLIa7xncVgjWBR8_B_0yCwuAPnZX9jh7zCVR/s1600/yewt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKpTGTaQwMcJes5CAI0h937S_1oU26sUs8FedSuj7gND_gVW-BgdHXSvPQ6bpJ7s4ZlYqDt3FXjDFqVOuza9NrkrfdX-G9i6UpMSSHiEEqRLIa7xncVgjWBR8_B_0yCwuAPnZX9jh7zCVR/s320/yewt.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i> </i><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Some of our intense, hard working Youth campers from this summer.</span></b></div>
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<i> </i>I moved to Knoxville in the summer of
2004 when the Predators were still somewhat scuffling along on & off the
ice and as a Canadian born & raised kid, it was certainly a culture shock
for me to see the lack of interest and participation at the grass roots level
in this area. The numbers were so sparse that despite several emails, calls and
attempts to get some statistics that the best I could come up with was that in
2004 there were less than 500 kids under the age of 12 playing hockey in the
entire state of Tennessee. That number has grown by leaps and bounds since then
through great, focused youth hockey programs and people committed to the growth
of the sport and Tennessee now boasts over one thousand (<b><i>1,058</i></b><i> according to the USA hockey website</i>) youth participants in the same
category. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The problem with
growth however, and the problem with success in any walk of life, is the
realization that you can do better. There will always be the hunger and
yearning for better and its human nature to strive for more, so it should be no
surprise that youth hockey and hockey in general follow that same blueprint. The
grass roots development programs in the Southeast USA hockey region and the
introduction of our great sport into the lives of more families has worked so
well and grown so fast that I truly worry about it flaming out sooner rather
than later. I love hockey and it has been my lifeblood as long as I can
remember, but to ensure the growth we’re experiencing in the sport down here in
Knoxville and to maintain some stability, we gotta play more baseball.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Yeah, you read
that correctly and it wasn’t a typo and I’m not blogging from my Smartphone
leading to a misplaced autocorrected word. If we want young kids to continue playing
hockey well into their adolescent years, we absolutely have to play more
baseball. Or soccer. Or karate. Or golf. Or lacrosse. Just something else. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-VnAJ2iBM0nkNNPngBk8bzcCWZr_9TT1cTbFjmHVTrvLy9kA6Mv6nMH5DZ06sjOrK6bMzWbNKgQvECB-smx6BRwsegDNuh12o81OC-EIWhdj_zlLfYpeRd57DJbW0G4oQaWyom3IWjTnQ/s1600/nadoes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-VnAJ2iBM0nkNNPngBk8bzcCWZr_9TT1cTbFjmHVTrvLy9kA6Mv6nMH5DZ06sjOrK6bMzWbNKgQvECB-smx6BRwsegDNuh12o81OC-EIWhdj_zlLfYpeRd57DJbW0G4oQaWyom3IWjTnQ/s320/nadoes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> KIB stickboy Del Howes and his Tornados teammates were champs this year too.</span></b></div>
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There are so many
great sports in the wide world of athletics and there are so many different
lessons, skillsets and abilities to learn from all those sports when you’re a
kid that limiting to or overloading on just one is a clear and obvious mistake.
I know, <i>“your kid loves hockey, he begs
you to be at the rink every day, he just loves it”</i> and<i> “it’s not me telling him to play, he wants to be there, all his
friends are there playing.” </i>I get that, and I know your child loves hockey.
What’s not to love? But let’s be honest here….. your nine year old would love
looking for a bucket of steam or finding a glass hammer if there were other
kids doing it too. If you take him or her to the ball field or soccer field,
they will find friends there too. Kids are awesome, they don’t care about what church
their buddy goes to or whether they have a confederate flag in their backyard,
that drama and selective integrity is grown up stuff that they can enjoy when
you allow them to get a Facebook page <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span>.
They will rally and come together around the fun and entertainment that sports
provide, so let them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hockey requires a
very specific group of muscles and a very refined skillset including hand eye
coordination, balance, etc that other sports don’t do <i>as much</i> of. But baseball, soccer and the plethora of other sports
provide other muscle group development and skillset growth that hockey doesn’t.
These are young, growing and progressing bodies that should be playing all
sorts of sports and games to help balance their growth and skills through each
and every sport they learn to love and improve at.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Muscles and
skillsets, that’s one argument…. Sure. But that doesn’t even cover the wide
realm of categorizing the fun and lessons involved in different sports. I will
precursor this with the <i><u>I love hockey</u></i>
statement yet again, but not every kid who plays hockey gets the same
experience. Not every child who plays hockey gets to score a goal and not every
child who is on the ice is experiencing the same thing as the other. There is
one puck in a game, you either have it or you don’t and those who don’t are not
having as much fun out there as the ones that do. The exercise and strategic
positioning of soccer, the dugout comradery and the disappointment of a
strikeout at the ball yard, the confidence of martial arts, they are all great
in their own way and a different kind of enjoyment for the kids that play them.
I’m a huge advocate of not only well-rounded, complete athletes but
well-rounded, complete individuals and the more and more great athletes I meet
and talk to the common denominator is the same; <i>“I played everything when I was a kid.”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow",sans-serif;"> </span>Take this all with a grain of salt
if you must, I completely understand that a piece about raising a child from a
guy who doesn’t have any children might not be the most resounding of messages.
But I do feel like I’ve had a very good vantage point from the outside looking
in on this issue for the past 10 years as I’ve watched families and children
growing up playing hockey. If you’re living at the rink year round and your 9
year old is going to play in the NHL because of it, all the power to you, I
hope they do (<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><i>they probably won’t by the way - <u>less than 1 percent</u> </i></span><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">of youth
hockey players will make the NHL. The chances of your kid seeing Bigfoot wearing a Volunteers jersey walking down
Cumberland are likely higher than seeing them play for an NHL team</span></i>).
But I’ve noticed that the excitement and the anticipation of lacing up skates
and getting out onto the ice seems to be declining slowly. Kids are slogging
through ice sessions, checking the big digital clock in the endzone for when
their hour is up and wondering what they’re doing that night. Why? I think it’s
because kids who play too much of one sport or the other – hockey in this case –
don’t ever get the chance to miss it. And if you don’t miss something, you might
forget about why you love it. Even further to that, if you don’t develop a love
or at least a level of enjoyment for other sports, how are you going to know if
hockey is still your favorite?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Don’t get me
wrong, please. Hockey is the greatest sport in the world in my eyes and I have
never experienced more exhilaration and fun than those moments I have spent on
the ice playing it. But take a break sometimes, play other sports and see where
it takes you and your family.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Time for some Ice Bear chatter before I wrap things up and get ready to head over to Nashville to watch my buddy Scott "<i>Hot Sauce</i>" Holtzman jump into the ring for his first UFC fight. Quick side note, Scotty played lots of sports growing up..... didn't specialize in anything specific, just a fun fact.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Scott Holtzman helping the Ice Bears celebrate their 4th championship back in April</span></b></div>
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It seems like just yesterday we were parading the Cup around the ice downtown in front of that memorable playoff crowd, but in reality, it wasn't yesterday. We're already a week into August and "next season" is now being called "the season." It's getting close. </div>
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Just like any year at the single A level, our roster is going to undergo some significant overturn due to players moving on, moving up, finding other opportunities and many other reasons. Just this week I learned that along with Eric Satim not returning, his linemate Franky Drolet has signed a contract to play in France this coming year and won't be available to start the season either. Both Jake Johnson and Matthew Paton have also committed to playing in Germany and England respectively along with Brett Valliquette leaving the game, Ryan Salvis & Mark Corbett being picked up by Macon, Robbie Donahoe signing in the ECHL and perhaps beyond, Sy Nutkevitch moving on, Ben Power looking into options overseas and just like that our championship roster has been blown full of holes.</div>
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It's not ideal by any means, and a little bit staggering to be honest, to have to replace all of the names mentioned above, but it's also a simple reality in the SPHL that every team goes through almost yearly. Players come and players go, teams change and the Ice Bears will be a very different looking squad this October full of young, hungry players looking to make an impact. It's a testament to some of our quality as well as our players who padded their resume with an SPHL title last year and were able to move on and up to other jobs and opportunities in the hockey world will continue to grow the Ice Bear name across the hockey horizon. It's also a sign that a year of SPHL experience on a player resume is carrying a lot more weight than it did 5 years ago when European leagues didn't really recognize single A hockey in North America. I'm happy for all of these guys who've found alternative jobs in the hockey world and proud to say we had them all together last year in Knoxville.</div>
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We're going to start rolling out some of the names and information on returning players next week along with some of our new rookies and potential Ice Bears so stay tuned for a regular serving of hockey and KIB news soon.<br />
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Enjoy your weekend, don't forget to send good vibes Scotty Holtzman's direction tomorrow and take care.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4394253541245983462.post-45308009167605865662015-05-19T12:58:00.000-07:002015-05-19T15:31:43.846-07:00CHAMPIONSHIP REFLECTIONS<div class="MsoNormal">
Reflection is
always easier – or should I say more fun – when you’re reflecting on success. I
recall sitting down to bang out blogs summing up seasons that fell short too
many times and how tedious it was to gather much content when I was writing
about a failure that I’d been a part of…………. this blog feels a little different
already.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m completely
and entirely aware that all the pictures, social media and general scuttlebutt
about the Ice Bears 4<sup>th</sup> championship is like nails down a chalkboard
to the rest of the league. I get it guys, I really do. But that doesn’t mean
the wonderful ownership group who invested more than anyone in us, the players
who made it happen, Mike Murray and our front office staff who gave us the
platform to do it on and the fans who poured themselves into yet another season
won’t continue to celebrate and beat the drum of Ice Bear Nation for all it’s
worth.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I always knew and
coaching only further predicated the fact that to win a championship,
especially at this level with the playoff format, you have to be very fortunate
at the right time. The ending of this season was far and beyond the most proof
positive I needed to really comprehend just how opportunistic and timely your
team has to be for those 6 big wins to line up and go your way. We’ve been on
the other end of those SPHL best-of-3 series many times and felt like we lost
to teams that weren’t better than us overall, but managed to be better than us
over the period of a week which was enough to end our season. It’s the reality of this level and complaining about
it doesn’t help, only changing your attitude and approach to it does. The
bottom line is, at the beginning of every SPHL season the goal for our
franchise is to win the championship. We found a way to achieve that goal this
season.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Notice the usage
in the previous paragraph of the words “<i>timely</i>” and “<i>opportunistic</i>” though
please. I didn’t say “<i>lucky</i>” or “<i>fortuitous</i>” because that’s not what I mean. I
meant timely and opportunistic. The 2015 SPHL Champions didn’t get lucky, they
prepared themselves painstakingly, continually put themselves in the right positions
and routinely did enough things well on the ice during the post-season and the
weeks leading up to it that allowed for positive results. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Things like our
ECHL situation. Braely Torris, Bo Driscoll and Berkley Scott all added specific
elements to our lineup that were all necessary for our success. We had
excellent current and past relationships with all three ECHL organizations in
Greenville, Evansville and Quad City that allowed getting all 3 of them back to
be a possibility.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Things like our
schedule. After a tough 3 in 3 against a really good Columbus team in the first
round, we were more than pleased with Louisiana knocking out our nemesis Peoria
and even more pleased with the fact that we had home ice advantage moving
forward into the 2<sup>nd</sup> round. The rest is kind of history I guess you
could say, as a booking conflict forced the Riverkings – as the highest
remaining seed – to play all 3 games of the championship in our building. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Things like our
goaltending. There was a reason Bryan Hince was awarded the Most Valuable
Player for the playoffs. Because he was. We got almost every single timely, big
save that we needed from him in all of our wins. Defensive breakdowns when the
score was close like the save below on Devin Mantha in the finals, he shut the door. Chaotic late game scrambles with the
opposition net empty and an extra attacker, he was there. Shorthanded
opportunities against us when giving up a goal would have been a huge swing in
momentum, Bryan had a big save ready. We even started the playoffs with our
rookie goalie Braely Torris in net and got a win….. what championship team in
this league can claim that?<o:p></o:p><br />
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Things like our
top players being our top players. You can’t win without your best being your
best and that was certainly the case this year. Look no further than our three
top scorers Benny Power, Franky Drolet & Eric Satim – our entire top line –
leading us in scoring one, two and three with a combined 31 points in 7 games.
Or our top D-pair in veteran captain Jason Price and SPHL all rookie Robbie
Donahoe posting a combined plus 20 in 7 games against some very tough match
ups. Or how about leading scorer, veteran Ryan Salvis moving back to play
defense to help us with our puck possession and transition game? That was a big
gamble that could have really fallen flat, but worked out tremendously in our
favor. These things all lined up for us at the exact time that it mattered most
and we are going to hang our 4<sup>th</sup> championship banner from the
rafters of the Coliseum because of it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The most
satisfying part of this title, for me at least, and aside from the fact that it
was 5 years in the making since I got this job and Knoxville hadn’t hung a
banner since 2009….. was just how deep the league was this year. Hands down,
the SPHL had more talent and the quality of opponent every night was much
higher than any other year of this league. 10 points separated 1<sup>st</sup>
from 5<sup>th</sup> and 5 teams had 30 or more wins. This year more than ever
the post-season began without a clear cut favorite based on head to head
records and teams who were getting hot at the right time. The ECHL/CHL merger
created a new level of play for the SPHL and we are very proud to come out on
the top of that level this season. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The final piece
of reflection that I wanted to make sure I got out there was to each and every
one of our players who factored in on this victory. This was a turbulent season
for the Ice Bears that started off with us snagging 20 of a possible 28 points
and spending time at the top of the league in doing so. Injuries, personal
situations back home and call-ups took their toll as they do to every team and
at one point the board in my office had 14 names on it in green. Green
indicated a player who, if available, would be in our line-up. I think it was
at that time that our core of guys really learned how to gut it out and dig in,
finding other ways to win games and go toe to toe with lineups that had more
talent than we did during our player drought. Playoff hockey at this level is
all about resilience and the ability to overcome any circumstance to get the
job done, and during February/March I really think our group learned what it
was going to take to do that.<o:p></o:p></div>
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#<b><u>3 Robbie Donahoe <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></u></b>
I don’t know if there has ever been a better campaign by a rookie defenseman
than Robbie had. Right from the first day of the season, ‘Bobo’ began to absorb
huge minutes playing alongside Captain Jason Price. Through all the previously
mentioned injuries and call-ups, there were many nights when we played 5 or 4 D
and Robbie handled it with the composure of a seasoned pro. His attitude was
excellent and he was a teammate favorite in our locker room all season. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>#4 Ryan Hill <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
Just a pillar of strength on the backend for us. Hiller will never get the accolades
he deserves because of his quiet, efficient style, but he was rock solid all
year (except when he had his plastic bubble on) and elevated his game to a
whole other level during the playoffs when he was asked to shut down the top
lines of Columbus, Louisiana and Mississippi. He’s low maintenance, he’s
dedicated and has a wonderful team first attitude.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>#5 Brad Pawlowski <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
Another hard luck season for Brad with more nagging injury trouble, but the
“Plow” was still a part of our day to day routine and his one-of-a-kind
personality was always a lightening effect on our locker room when he was
around. Not to mention the cult following he has among our fans here in
Knoxville.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>#5 Mark Corbett <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></u></b>
Late season addition who actually went to Mississippi for his 3-game tryout
instead of here and then in the ultimate turn of irony ended up facing and
helping to defeat them in the final. Corb’ was solid, he was steady and was
thrust into action when Jake Johnson had an emergency appendectomy prior to
game 1 of the 2<sup>nd</sup> round. Mark’s biggest strength is the knowledge of
his own game and what he’s capable of. We were disappointed to lose him in the
expansion draft, Macon got a good one.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>#7 Bo Driscoll <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
A great story that started off with Bo registering for our Free Agent Showcase
back in October after he couldn't find a main camp opportunity anywhere. Not
only did he advance through to our main camp, but his season took him from
Knoxville to Steele City, PA back to Knoxville, up to Evansville in the ECHL
and then back just in time to pick up some huge minutes for us en route to the
title. He’s a quiet, hard-working, very respectful young guy who earned
everything he got last year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>#8 Jake Johnson <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></u></b>
So much talk bounced around about the appendectomy Jake underwent during the
post season that many people forgot about the concussion ‘Snakes’ came back
from after missing several weeks at the end of January. Jake joined us during
the time when our play as a team was trending down and brought a renewed energy
and work ethic to our team that was irreplaceable. His motor never stops and
he’s a lot of fun to watch out there. This guy absolutely lives and breathes
being a hockey player and it shows on the ice.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCmkEe0d2CANd-VcFVNwshXV285dWC-UfnlJDuJBUCG0Nm8RXkeCOaTliHw-ZfShcWxwFSJiV5uC72KSmIJHB7PMYRFUyPp_7eOmr3i8ree8L34cGZqdLpObIskxCi8-ubl88x698CMEft/s1600/Johnson_yewt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCmkEe0d2CANd-VcFVNwshXV285dWC-UfnlJDuJBUCG0Nm8RXkeCOaTliHw-ZfShcWxwFSJiV5uC72KSmIJHB7PMYRFUyPp_7eOmr3i8ree8L34cGZqdLpObIskxCi8-ubl88x698CMEft/s320/Johnson_yewt.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Jake Johnson, lives and breathes being a hockey player.</b></td></tr>
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<u><b>#9 Berkley Scott <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
Berks’ developed his game into a full 200 ft game early this season and earned
another ECHL opportunity as a result of it. He’s a big body with the best
individual skillset I’ve seen at this level in my career and he brought some
bigtime depth to our line-up when he returned for the post-season. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>#10 Sy Nutkevitch <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
You can never have too many experienced players in your line-up when the
playoffs start. You can’t replace that “been there before” element and that’s
exactly what Sy brought to us when he joined the Ice Bears in March. He filled
some big match-up minutes for us and stabilized our penalty kill along with
some really consistent work in the faceoff dot, especially late in games.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>#11 Ben Power <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
I remember speaking on the phone with Benny when his time in Greenville was
coming to an end and after I let him know how our roster was shaping up and
what I thought his addition would bring he said, <i>“okay Mikey, I’m going to come to Knoxville and win a ring with you.” </i>Man
did he ever make good on that statement. Benny stepped onto our top line with
Satim and Drolet and proceeded to simply make big play after big play and chip
in clutch goals and assists all along the way.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>#13 Jason Price <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
I was so happy to see Pricey hoist that trophy above his head. After 9 seasons
of pro hockey and countless minutes on the ice, injuries and miles on the
road…. The big guy finally got to enjoy winning his last game of the season.
The epitome of a warrior on the ice, this guy is a great human being and well
loved and respected in our room.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>9 seasons after his rookie year, Jason Price has his championship</b>.</td></tr>
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<u><b>#14 Peter Neal <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
Another tough-luck story for us this season as Pete blew out his knee in Peoria
back in February in the middle of the best year of his career. Peter’s
contribution to our team and the work ethic and energy that he displayed prior
to his injury was a big part of the culture and system we were trying to
establish here.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>#15 Corey Fulton <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
After being placed on the IR late in the season, Fultsy was able to be on the
ice and get his turn with the Cup along with his teammates and it was something
great to see. Corey’s history is well documented since his SR league days the
job that he does day in and day out as an enforcer is, in my opinion, the
hardest gig in hockey. He was a big part of our team ID on home ice and loved
being an Ice Bear every minute.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>#16 Brett Valliquette <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
We came to a point mid-season when our home record wasn’t nearly good enough.
Not only that, but it was the way we were losing games at home that really
concerned me. Somewhere along the line we had become easy to play against in
Knoxville and that had to change. Vally’s return to our line-up was about much
more than on the ice – his locker room impact was immeasurable – but his style
of play and physical presence on home ice helped us reestablish the way we
wanted to compete in our own building. Our 14-4 record at home after he came
back was not a coincidence. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>#17 Ryan Salvis <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
What can you say about a guy who has won 3 championships in the past 3 years? Ryan
Salvis embodies everything it takes to be successful at this level and the pedigree he brought to Knoxville was immediate.
Preparation, commitment and character. He emerged quickly as a huge leader in
our room and his experience was invaluable down the stretch. He was dialed in
when he needed to be, he was lighthearted and compassionate to others when
necessary and he was also ornery and demanding if required. You can’t put a
price on veteran leadership and I am very thankful we were able to acquire Sal’
last summer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>#18 Eric Satim <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
People always want leaders and captains to be demonstrative and larger than
life. Mark Messier, Ray Lewis, Kevin Garnett types….. well, they don’t always
have to be. Eric Satim is the most efficient and effective leader I’ve seen in
a lot of years and he does it strictly based on work ethic and example. I have
watched Sato come to the rink day after day over the past 4 years and put in
the work necessary time after time, doing the same away from the rink and the
same on the ice during games. He took his game to a whole new level in the
post-season and led us to the Cup. To me, Eric is the best 2-way forward in the
SPHL since Craig Stahl retired. He does it all in both ends, all the time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>#19 Matt Paton <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
For the 3<sup>rd</sup> year in a row, we were fortunate enough to add a rookie
just before the playoffs who was exactly what we were looking for. It was Benny
Souders in 2013, it was Vinny Perreault in 2014 and this year it was Patty. He
brought a breat deal of energy and physical play to our attack and really
bought into what we were doing very quickly. He came to us extremely well coached
and had a “win-first” mentality that you don’t find in rookies very often. His
play on the W with Sy and Vally helped us put together a very effective
checking unit that helped stifle a lot of good opponents in the playoffs.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>#20 Dennis Sicard <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
It seems like this season was so full of good storylines that it was too good
to be true for us and our fans. There was no secret that the reciprocal move
that was necessary to bring Dennis to Knoxville was a controversial and hotly
contested situation here in Knoxville for some time. Trust me – folks weren’t
in love with Dennis right away. But his persistence, his work ethic on the ice,
his take no prisoners’ attitude and his old time hockey approach finally
started to pay off. He made us very hard to play against and he scored some
absolutely huge, huge, huge goals in the latter half of our season.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwn4el_XF7dIzr4RmotyzD_I9o0Y2FUjoKvDkTdMvEtA63rzO4rn4ems4ID-S1NYo7cCVpF7VwgEOxTT2IwTshhzvnzbZySNcK_SUYs2vUmVb_hYkyMQqb3LdufwB7NYxBCehSOK04ectH/s1600/mikey+&+denny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwn4el_XF7dIzr4RmotyzD_I9o0Y2FUjoKvDkTdMvEtA63rzO4rn4ems4ID-S1NYo7cCVpF7VwgEOxTT2IwTshhzvnzbZySNcK_SUYs2vUmVb_hYkyMQqb3LdufwB7NYxBCehSOK04ectH/s320/mikey+&+denny.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Dennis & I had a lot more understanding as player/coach than we did as opponents</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<u><u><b># 22 Francis Drolet</b></u></u></div>
I can still hear the chant resonating through the Coliseum. What a gifted
offensive player Franky was for us this year and did he ever make some big
plays for this team when it mattered. He is a such a consistent and smart
player that he makes everyone else on the ice with him that much better. I
think his biggest play was at the 6:28 mark of the 3<sup>rd</sup> period in
Columbus during the deciding 3<sup>rd</sup> game of round 1. Columbus had just
tied it at 2 and were really coming on when Franky took a pass from Benny P 2
on 1 and buried the game winner and series clinching goal to bring our bench
back from the dead.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyKXyN2RqpeMuODuEDySBf-kkS4lY00J18M5fm1fSJPtVxi9ho1q2AGRw_TceOrHCJb2g_wg3wBRerQIZHidw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<b><u># 25 Jarrett Rush <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></u></b>
I’m always really happy for guys who have been around for a while when success
finds them. Especially guys like Rusher who are just overall, solid good dudes.
JR was added via trade with Pensacola a few days after Christmas and turned out
to be exactly what we needed. His defensive zone awareness and communication
helped stabilize our d-core and get us back to making simple, strong decisions
in our own end. He was also money on the penalty kill and a shot blocking
machine for us.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b># 27 Josh Cousineau <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
We knew right from the minute Josh arrived in Knoxville that he was going to be
really good. His skill level was always a given but he was also able to accept
and excel within so many different roles for us during the year. He spent time
in our top 6, he was on our powerplay, he centered a checking line, he killed
penalties, he scored beautiful highlight reel goals and he battled hard in the
corners when needed. A very versatile player who was another very well loved
guy in the room.</div>
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<u><b># 31 Braely Torris <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
Maybe the most confident rookie goaltender I’ve ever worked with. And I don’t
mean tongue-in-cheek cocky/arrogant…. He was just very poised and ready. He was
the perfect compliment to Bryan Hince and had the best attitude possible for
the role he was in. Bryan Hince’s MVP performance will overshadow all the great
Braely did last season well, but Bryan’s play and Braely’s return to the lineup
were parallel for a reason. They pushed each other every day in practice, each
time they got a start and had a great working relationship. To see him have
success at the next level as well when he got the call was very nice to see for
a great teammate and super guy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b># 57 Bryan Hince <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b></u>
As I said before, you can’t win a championship if your best players aren’t your
best players when it matters most. Bryan Hince had to be the best player on our
team for us to win and he was. He’s a well-traveled guy with a ton of big game
experience and his play for us beginning in game 3 round 1 and then culminating
on home ice to clinch the cup against Mississippi was the best run of
goaltending I’ve seen since James Ronayne led us to our first Cup in 2005. He
refused to lose and after years of fantastic playoff performing he deserves every bit of praise he receives for it.<o:p></o:p><br />
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<u style="font-weight: bold;">Assistant Coach Jamie Ronayne - </u>James and I met back in 2003 during my rookie season with the Alabama Slammers. He is one of the reasons I didn't pack it in and quit after a disastrous 1st season and he was also the reason I came to Knoxville via Kevin Swider. Jamie was there when I was at my best, he was behind closed doors with me at my worst and he was a constant voice firmly in my corner. So much goes into a hockey season that no one every hears or knows about and Jamie is the perfect soundboard and calming influence that I needed to help get things right - usually :)<br />
<br />
<u><b>ATC/PT Andy Clark <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span>
</b></u>You have to have committed individuals at every corner of your team to win, you
really do. With the help of our great partner BenchMark Physical Therapy, Andy Clark was able to make that commitment to us. He has a passion for hockey and a passion for this hockey
team that literally oozed out of him every day he came to the rink. Whether it
was the countless hours he spent working on guys, the extra duties he absorbed
like coordinating team meals and helping with the logistics of our travel or
even preparing breakfast on the bus after an all-night tour…. Andy poured his
heart and soul into this team and I couldn’t imagine a better co-worker to
spend a championship season with. Hold them tight Clarky, hold them tight!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>Equipment Manager Rob Craigen </b></u><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span>
Not many people get to experience what my father and I did this season and top
it off with a championship. In fact, not many people get to experience it at
all, period, let alone with your father alongside. To have he and my mother Debbie alongside me in Knoxville and to go to work every day and
share the love we both had for the thrill of chasing victory was something I’ll
never, ever forget. You sometimes don’t realize when unforgettable things and
moments are happening to you, but this season and the way it ended will surely
be one of those moments for dad and I. Seeing how much he cared about our
players and how hard he worked to accommodate everything he could for them sure
made me proud.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguqM7xjbdk1FSziZR9TIzPsULZeyCFPQAtGiTq-p2l8Es6koNtYDDLoRP2qZqqYn7Ujr_Y9g9MFSqkvsjVFIBb0RjmKvj0muNWyfAFhrIKZEnUTsz5fdwF4wxaWSco30nsHh4RVMY54Dvc/s1600/mikeybob.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguqM7xjbdk1FSziZR9TIzPsULZeyCFPQAtGiTq-p2l8Es6koNtYDDLoRP2qZqqYn7Ujr_Y9g9MFSqkvsjVFIBb0RjmKvj0muNWyfAFhrIKZEnUTsz5fdwF4wxaWSco30nsHh4RVMY54Dvc/s320/mikeybob.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">The family resemblance is striking isn't it? What happened to all my hair?</span></b></div>
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That about wraps
things up for me here today guys, I know this was a bit lengthy but you can
understand how easy it is to start crunching words together when you’re writing
about remembering something that was so much fun. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I hope everyone
in Ice Bear Nation has a great summer and I'll leave you with a few images that you should enjoy. We’ll see you in October – let’s do it
all over again huh?<br />
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<o:p></o:p><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVVyy3NfTwsrK_TbkdPcEdZdxCGpuqjsNK_cWWzdklKRXehayK6vOnsflmdo-AsEPPUHwYJ2BkSGQO2KkCz2M4cvOyRHFS8vXqLOuOSC8PRf0k5voeWwVjWkrM79dl0fyDFqarFKF0TSQp/s1600/cup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVVyy3NfTwsrK_TbkdPcEdZdxCGpuqjsNK_cWWzdklKRXehayK6vOnsflmdo-AsEPPUHwYJ2BkSGQO2KkCz2M4cvOyRHFS8vXqLOuOSC8PRf0k5voeWwVjWkrM79dl0fyDFqarFKF0TSQp/s320/cup.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The President's Cup after celebration</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaoNFD_b3jsrorwWep_aHJHBtvecJL74AJzfweC1RI14Ap1QVkCSLfc3UGShchuJOnVMePzoGfFJpRDw15hhfh6iCve9Bmlrktsq8itzQ4ZSwNutkVJO8rUBfcy8RplbfT-MFYB7Kyij8B/s1600/room1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaoNFD_b3jsrorwWep_aHJHBtvecJL74AJzfweC1RI14Ap1QVkCSLfc3UGShchuJOnVMePzoGfFJpRDw15hhfh6iCve9Bmlrktsq8itzQ4ZSwNutkVJO8rUBfcy8RplbfT-MFYB7Kyij8B/s320/room1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The Morning After - KIB locker room</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjksUBBWfL1iR5KUACQOm97i8TfyJsmtKARSp8i8ysYWP7i8NuvvVHqsm81RTkNANCypJcaZ0nNe-metbtveVX-3tNk2ed2cf1bC4Ug194eBcaH8MmQ-oNvv0_pBdq9n53atfwrntMq4hAW/s1600/poohbears.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjksUBBWfL1iR5KUACQOm97i8TfyJsmtKARSp8i8ysYWP7i8NuvvVHqsm81RTkNANCypJcaZ0nNe-metbtveVX-3tNk2ed2cf1bC4Ug194eBcaH8MmQ-oNvv0_pBdq9n53atfwrntMq4hAW/s320/poohbears.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>A warm welcome sign from our friends at the Cajundome</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgduwYIzMdV0nnhtluQvj8n52WE-WLFkXDMuG1ayZV93kV34ILo8KMegC93orhCkbCyWQcQd2rs0LZb3noaBqwvG-9dw6GwarLGZrps5TZVTCsG22qipV3sRrXw79R3ZWu7Zdko5-lDUFU3/s1600/room2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgduwYIzMdV0nnhtluQvj8n52WE-WLFkXDMuG1ayZV93kV34ILo8KMegC93orhCkbCyWQcQd2rs0LZb3noaBqwvG-9dw6GwarLGZrps5TZVTCsG22qipV3sRrXw79R3ZWu7Zdko5-lDUFU3/s320/room2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Some pictures tell all the story</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHczVVqcj-d-lR8iuYdvo1bRXiHtnEbSa1FNUDDJyXA44m4nDTl4GfqAYQxYTXUy8C9aQGrt5c56D6RNBBwhkeTCD3sjnQstdH6SMxR8XfHpyRzaCkB6zpKfzqWUuMGexZviB1VT5v31v7/s320/fathers.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b> Dry Erase Board Truth</b></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4394253541245983462.post-59865671480869856852015-05-19T12:47:00.000-07:002015-05-19T12:47:02.275-07:00PLAYOFF CULTURES - SPHL AWARDS SEASON<div class="MsoNormal">
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One of the many fantastic things about living in East
Tennessee is the sampling we get of each of the four seasons. Our summer is
long and warm. Our spring – my absolute favorite – is quick but probably the
best weather of the year. Our fall is gorgeous with all the color transitions
and temperature and we even get a little bit of winter (a lot sometimes) so everyone
can pull out their cold weather attire a few times.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The downside to the beautiful spring weather we’re
experiencing right now is just that; it’s beautiful. The nicest time of the year
to be out in the fresh air, baseball has started, golf season is in full swing
no pun intended and folks are starting to get their boats into the water for
the lake weather approaching. Hockey has quickly become an afterthought at a
time when it’s never more important for those who play it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have spent almost 10 years involved with minor
professional hockey in the South and have stubbornly come to realize that our
product at this level is no match for the weather. We can promote the games, we
can try different things to bring folks in, we can have fantastic teams and
still…… our attendance will drop severely once the spring weather arrives and
our casual or occasional fans entertainment choices expand. <o:p></o:p></div>
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More traditional hockey regions have the benefit of
literally hundreds of years of culture that has ingrained playoff hockey and
its importance into the sporting mentality of the fans who live there and
attend games. It’s the same reason the University of Tennessee can jam 108,000
+ into Neyland Stadium over and over again year after year; those people don’t
all love football, they all love tailgating, they all love UT and just grew up
in a culture where that’s what you did.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I grew up in Canada where my parents had skates on my feet
before I was three, we played road hockey on the street in the summer and then
ice hockey on frozen lakes all winter. You got to choose between the Toronto
Maple Leafs or the Montreal Canadiens where I lived, and by the time you were
old enough to make a conscious decision about where you spent your time and
money, you loved hockey and you loved going to hockey games. That was the
culture I grew up in and it was the foundation for my love of hockey and
further to that, playoff hockey.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A wonderful sport that is jammed full of intensity, speed,
skill and physicality gets even more intense with more speed, more skill and
more physical play. If you’re new to the sport and you come to a playoff game,
you will come back without a doubt. I love it. And we’re excited that it is
just around the corner so we can treat our fans who continue to show up at the
Coliseum through the spring weather to some of the most passionate, hard-working,
emotional and determined athletic competition in the world.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Playoff time also means the regular season is coming to a
close. The SPHL has yet again set the table for a final weekend full of playoff
implications and posturing. It seems like every single season we have to wait
for the final game to be played before we can begin to prepare for our first
round opponent and this season is no different.<o:p></o:p></div>
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With the closing of the regular season also comes the
announcements of the 2014-2015 Awards. Everyone will always say they don’t care
about the personal accolades and nobody will openly admit that it’s on their
mind this time of year if they may or may not be in the conversation to win
some of the SPHL hardware, but they are all lying.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The SPHL passes out these individual accomplishments based
on 24 voting members, I think. Each team will cast 3 ballots on behalf of their
organization, or at least they are supposed to; 1 from the head coach, 1 from
the general manager and 1 from a designated media member. You cannot vote for
any player on your own team, only the other 7 teams in the SPHL. Much debate
always erupts after the awards are announced, but with the current system and
it’s guidelines you’re going to get some wide-ranging opinions when it comes to
the voting. For example, how many teams have a media representative who cover
every game or even travels to a single game and can fairly evaluate opposing
players? We’ve only seen Pensacola play in Knoxville twice all season and
ballots are due in the league office before the Ice Bears have even played a
single game in Lafayette. To that same point, what media representative in this
league, at this level is a true hockey reporter capable of evaluating
individual performances and their impact? No offense intended to anyone, but
there aren’t a lot of paid full-time hockey columnists in the South and these
awards should be based on more than just what you see on Pointstreak in my
opinion. More should go into the selection than goals, assists and plus/minus.
How many assists are secondary? How many minuses came down on the player you’re
looking at that they had no possible impact on? How many of the points came in
blowout games that were mailed in? These ballots will look significantly
different depending on who is submitting them, and that’s the reality of it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Either way, I cast my ballot this morning and thought I’d
make my selections public this year with a bit of dialogue about what went into
the decisions. I’ve also included some unofficial awards of my own for your
enjoyment to help celebrate another great year of hockey. KNOXVILLE FANS – I
wasn’t allowed to vote for my own team, please keep that in mind before you
e-mail me <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">2014-2015
SPHL REGULAR SEASON AWARDS<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<b><u>MOST VALUABLE
PLAYER</u></b> – Kyle Rank, Peoria.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This was the most difficult selection of all the categories
for me. An MVP is tough to select because each position is so different and
each of the guys in the mix played such different and specific roles for their
respective teams. If I have learned one thing after 5 seasons of coaching, it
is this; your goaltender is your most important player during 60 minutes of
hockey. Always. You can do whatever you want in the other end of the ice, you
can run whatever d-zone system you choose, but without a great goaltender you
cannot be a successful hockey team. It also came down to head to head
competition for me, I didn’t get to see Max Strang much, I didn’t see a lot of
Peter DiSalvo, etc. Ranker was always solid and more often than not,
spectacular when we played Peoria. He gave them a chance to win every game, he
was in net for 75% of the 1<sup>st</sup> place team’s wins and he was a horse
with 41 games played and over 2300 minutes. Statistically, did some other
goalies have better years? Yes. But from where I stood Kyle Rank was more
valuable to the Peoria Rivermen than any other player was to their team this
year. Ranker has developed into a premier goaltender in this league and I’d be
lying if I didn’t look back and question myself for the day I sat him down in
my office and told him I was placing him on waivers. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>GOALTENDER OF THE
YEAR</u></b> – Kyle Rank, Peoria.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you’re the league MVP, you’re also the top goalie.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>DEFENSEMAN OF THE
YEAR</u></b> – Andrew Randazzo, Mississippi<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Big minutes in all situations, a great first pass, a
quarterback of their powerplay and always a focal point of our pre-scouting and
preparation prior to playing the Riverkings. Andrew’s stat line is impressive,
his minutes are always efficient and he’s the centerpiece of a really nice
d-core in Memphis.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>ROOKIE OF THE YEAR</u></b>
– Bryce Williamson, Columbus<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Columbus is a helluva story this year. To go from the start
they had to in contention for 1<sup>st</sup> place overall going into the final
weekend is simply unbelievable. Bryce came in from Reading on November 1<sup>st</sup>
and has done nothing but produce since he got here. He was an electric addition
the top line in Columbus with Matt Gingera and Neilsson Arcibal, he is
dangerous whenever he is on the ice and he’s one of 5 – yeah, count em’ 5 –
Columbus rookies in the SPHL top 10 who have helped them to a great season.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>COACH OF THE YEAR</u></b>
– Jean-Guy Trudel, Peoria<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m not gonna lie – I can’t stand Guy. Nothing to do with
him as a person at all, but everything to do with how well coached his Peoria
Rivermen are. They play the same 60 minute game night in and night out and he
has had that group bought into playing tight checking playoff style hockey
since October. He’s had to contend with being a prime call-up location
geographically and rarely having all his top guys in the lineup, he’s had his
team systematically ready through some ridiculous travel scenarios and he has
them poised to win a regular season championship. Look at the leading scorers
in the SPHL this year, 1 Riverman in the top 10 and three in the top 20. They
have banged out wins with a complete team approach. Eff you Jean-Guy, you and
Tuck’ have done a great job.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>SPHL ALL-STAR 1<sup>st</sup>
TEAM<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(G) Kyle Rank<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(D) Andrew Randazzo<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(D) Andy Willigar – probably not going to see Andy on many
other 1<sup>st</sup> team All-Star ballots, but having faced Columbus as much
as we have and doing so much video already with them as a potential 1<sup>st</sup>
round opponent, I have come to appreciate his game immensely. He competes so
hard 1 on 1 down low in the d-zone, he clears out the front of his net and has
great body position defensively all the time and he mixed in 8 goals from the
backend to go along with a plus 14. One of COL’s unsung heroes, but I’m willing
to bet he’s not if you follow the Snakes.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(F) Adam Pawlick – I almost couldn’t find a place for Adam
on the 1<sup>st</sup> team simply because we don’t play Pensacola much – ever.
But it’s impossible to ignore 31 goals, 224 shots and a league leading 65
points. Pawlick is a 3-zone player too, which I think gets overlooked by a lot
of people who submit ballots. He’s great in the faceoff dot, he has a very high
compete level and is a trusted player on the ice late in games for Pensacola.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(F) Matt Gingera – I close my eyes when Matt Gingera gets
the puck in our end, for real. He’s as offensively gifted a player as we have
in the league right now. A great shot, quick feet that go from 0 to 100 mph in
seconds and a nasty side that makes him very tough to play against. 6
gamewinning goals, 14 tucks on the powerplay and an eyelash away from being my
pick for MVP.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(F) Matt Whitehead – So skilled. Whitey has the tools to
singlehandledy take a game over with his speed and skillset and he did it once
or twice against us this season. His open ice, flat out speed and ability to
make plays at full tilt make him a nightmare to cover 1 on 1. He has developed
his game into a much more 200 ft style and the results are evidence of that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>SPHL ALL-STAR 2<sup>nd</sup>
TEAM<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(G) Andrew Loewen, COL<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A big game goalie who keeps his team in long enough to get
results. Off-nights or weak goals just aren’t part of his game. Again,
statistically he wasn’t the 2<sup>nd</sup> best goaltender in this league, but
Pointstreak doesn’t have a category for how many “big saves” or game changing
plays he was a part of for Columbus. He’s a consummate pro and and embodies
everything this level is about.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(D) Stuart Stefan, HSV</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A converted forward who has transformed his game from a
top-line center into a gifted offensive defenseman this year. Stu makes probably
the best first pass in transition of any d-man in the SPHL and has worked very
hard to make sure his gap control and net front awareness in the d-zone is
acceptable. During a pretty frustrating year in Huntsville he kept his game at
a high level every night and chipped in 11 goals as a d-man.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(D) Cole Ruwe, PEO<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A veteran guy who put his work boots on night in and night
out. Ruwe does so many little things over the course of a game that go
unnoticed and unrecognized by the casual observer. He is excellent in his
d-zone, he is a great leader for the 1<sup>st</sup> place team in the league
and he plays against top match-ups every single night. He has also played most
of this season injured and has really battled hard for Peoria.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(F) Bryce Williamson, COL<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(F) Alex Hudson, PEO<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another guy who isn’t going to make many other ballots, but
a player who was a wrecking ball against my Ice Bears and a no-brainer to put
on my ballot. To me, Hudson was the most complete player in the league this
year. From his dominance in the faceoff dot, to his physical presence, whether
it be taking the body or dropping the gloves at the right time, he fills
quality minutes and adds great depth to the Peoria lineup.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(F) Leo Thomas, MSR<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another guy who plays the entire ice from end wall to end
wall. Leo is beast when he’s on his game and can really take over shifts. His
+25 is a great example of just how hard he battles without the puck and then
his vision and skillset when he or his Riverkings have it. A great leader and
an all-situations centerman who can play several different styles depending on
what is needed on a night to night basis.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>SPHL ALL-ROOKIE
TEAM<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(G) Kevin Murdock, FAY<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gave Fayetteville some heart & soul starts this year and
helped them pull points out of many games that it didn’t look like they would.
Just a thoroughbred puck stopper who uses all parts of his body and never, ever
gives up on the notion that he can make the save.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(D) Reid Campbell, MSR<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Old school style d-man who did a great job this season in
Mississippi. Similar to COL, MSR got off to a rough start and Reid was a big
part of the change in play they went through. Great first pass, always has his
head up and low turnover rate. Great rookie campaign.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(D) Christian Weidauer, PEO<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A kid I personally recruited and moved to PEO in a
mid-season trade. Chris is a big-bodied guy who has great reach, soft hands and
a lot better shot than most people know. He has come so far since October and
is really a true rookie with a 1993 birthdate. With the ECHL merger and quality
defensemen getting snatched out of almost every SPHL lineup, I was shocked
Weids’ didn’t get a look at the AA level this year.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(F) Bryce Williamson, COL<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(F) Shawn Bates, COL<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another great rookie thriving in Columbus. Shawn’s hardwork
and north/south game really came along in the 2<sup>nd</sup> half. He has great
speed and isn’t afraid to go to the dirty areas for his goals. Brought
extremely good depth to the COL forward lineup.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(F) Trever Hertz, FAY<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A big strong kid who was heavy on his stick and got some
prime minutes in Fayetteville to spend his rookie season. I liked Trever’s game
immediately when I saw him play for the Surge in the 2014 playoffs and he
continued that strong play into this year. Always a threat to shoot the puck
and very strong on his stick around the net.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u>Coach Craigen’s
‘Unofficial’ SPHL Awards<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Best Arena Overall</u> – Von Braun Center, HSV<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Always a pleasure to
go to the VBC. Great staff, great ice, top notch security and an overall
fantastic game night atmosphere.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Best Visiting Locker Room</u> – Carver Arena, PEO<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>A very simple but
perfect set-up. Individual stalls, separate changing area, plenty of hot water,
lots of supplies with regard to toiletries and amenities and the most private
locker room area in the league.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Best Visiting Bench</u> – Von Braun Center, HSV<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Spacious, clean, great
sightlines and minimal opportunity for fans to make bad decisions. Again,
always a pleasure going to Huntsville.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Best Visiting Coach’s Office</u> – Landers Center, MSR<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Carpeted, chairs and
couches, personal bathroom including shower, highspeed internet and cable tv.
Hands down the best in the league. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Best Post-Game Meal</u> – Huntsville Booster Club, HSV<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>You really never know
what you’re going to get in this category from night to night in the SPHL, but
the Huntsville Booster club is amazing with the selection and quality of
post-game meals. Honorable mention to the Columbus Booster club and hoping to
add the Macon Mayhem Boosters to this list next season if they’re anything like
that Macon Trax crew.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hope everyone has enjoyed another season and heres to
hoping the playoffs continue to crank up the intensity and entertainment level
of the SPHL.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Have a great weekend everyone.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4394253541245983462.post-2645925952588433682015-05-19T12:43:00.000-07:002015-05-19T12:43:06.160-07:00NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS & THANK YOU SEAGS<div class="MsoNormal">
We are just under a month into 2015 and already my
“resolutions” have dissolved into merely good intentions and I’m left trying to
choose between either a more focused attack toward the same personal goals or
simply some readjusted, more attainable resolutions. I don’t think I’m alone in
this dilemma as certainly there are some others who lasted less than month with
their 2015 self-betterment plans and I’m also certain that it’s probably not
the first time this has happened to us. The key is all in the “paradigm” – as I
often like to tell my players – and how you’re able to adjust your point of
view in different situations as they pertain to different times of the day, of
the week and of your life. It’s no different for a hockey team and most
definitely no different for our Knoxville Ice Bears, especially given the peaks
and valleys we’ve witnessed thus far in our season throughout shifts, games and
weeks.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Take our home
record for example; there is no way in heck that an 8-7-1 record through our
first 16 home games would have been something deemed “okay” in our pre-season
goal setting. Not for a franchise that prides itself on dominant home play and
hang our hats on having one of the best all-time home winning percentages in
all of professional hockey. <i>(think I’m
just using that because it sounds good – check the stats, the Ice Bears have
banged out home wins at a ridiculous pace over the past 13 years.) </i>But for
the sake of a paradigm adjustment, let’s have a look at our road record during
our first 17 games of the travel schedule. 12-4-1 and a .676 winning percentage
away from home is a series of numbers that myself and the guys are very proud
of. It’s hard to win on the road, especially given the travel between games and
other challenges associated with leaving the arena you practice in every day.
Our ROAD record is better than anyone else’s HOME record and the main reason
we’re fortunate enough to be sitting in 1<sup>st</sup> place right now. Are we
happy with our play at home? No. Do we wish that we’d given our home fans a
better showing so far this season at the Civic Coliseum? Of course. But instead
of looking at things through the viewpoint of <i>“I wish we had’ve</i>” the guys and I are surely using the <i>“good thing we did”</i> attitude moving
forward for the next 23 games of our SPHL schedule. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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I wish we had’ve won just a few more home
games or games against Peoria, but we brought home 25 out of a possible 34
points on the road and it’s good thing we did!<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Every off-season
the NHL coordinates a camp called their “Research & Development Camp” at
which they try out new ideas to help better the game, make it more fan
friendly, etc. I usually cringe at some of the ideas and thoughts that come out
of it because I like to – biasedly - consider myself a hockey traditionalist. I
like 2-1 games, I enjoy a bit of obstruction hooking in the neutral zone, I
like seeing contact with the goalies when they’re out of the crease and I like
races for loose pucks during touch-icing situations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But every once in
a while the sharpest minds in the hockey business churn out a few things that I
can get behind. I like the new offensive zone faceoff rules that keep the draw
in-zone if a puck goes out of play off the crossbar/post or glass and I’m a big
fan of the more lenient rulings in regard to a player “directing” a puck into
the net as long as he doesn’t kick it. I also think there are other areas and
adjustments that we – the SPHL – should talk about to try and make our game at
this level more enjoyable and fan friendly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First of all, our
3 on 3 overtime is great. I hate it. 3 on 3 is for hockey on a frozen pond, not
professional hockey. Oh but I love it. I think the SPHL’s 3 on 3 overtime model
will make its way up to the NHL very soon and when it does, get ready for some
amazing displays of skill and creativity. Imagine Crosby, Malkin and Letang
against Towes, Kane and Keith 3 on 3……. That is entertainment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So here’s my
creative pitch to make SPHL overtime even greater; this is conjured up from way
back in my tyke days when I was playing for the Haliburton Huskies and using
oversized winter mittens as my gloves because no one made any real hockey
gloves small enough for me. When the original 5 minute 3 on 3 is over, before
we go to a shootout… throw in what I call “<i><u>Sudden
Death Elimination</u></i>.” Put 3 minutes on the clock and for the 1<sup>st</sup>
minute, teams resume 3 on 3. Then the horn goes at the 2:00 mark and the teams
drop down to 2 vs 2 for another minute. Then at the 1:00 mark, each team sends
1 skater out for a 1 on 1 finale for the final minute. If no one has scored,
then the shootout will begin as usual. Exciting right? Maybe not…. But I
remember it being a pretty great viewing spectacle back in the day when it was
7 year old kids doing it, let alone grown professionals. Worth a try? Maybe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I would also love
to see a dry scrape or flood done between overtime and our shootout format here
in the SPHL, just down the middle lanes of the ice where the players handle the
puck for the shootout. I think shootouts are designed for goals and fans want
to see players score lots of goals, so why not give them the foundation to do
that with a few fresh lanes of ice to work with? Most nights by the time you
get to a shootout, the ice is so chopped up that most of the “moves” players
have practiced leading up to that aren’t even an option.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another area I
believe the SPHL can take steps forward are our shot clocks. Shot clock totals
are highly visible in all arenas for both players and fans and shots on goal
are a primary variable in a goaltender’s save percentage statistic. I believe
they need to be measured on a more consistent basis in each arena. Some places
consider a shot on goal to be anything directed in the vicinity of the net
while some consider a shot on goal something completely different. I’m not pointing fingers at anyone in
particular, trust me – the struggle is real in our building too! But it has
been quite evident on many nights that the SOG stat is not accurate one way or the
other. Understanding that the off-ice officials who keep these stats are all
volunteers (<i>and likely fans of the team
playing in the city they live</i>) and the addition of the Pointstreak “Game
Live” element also adds a degree of challenge to the situation, but I still
think we can get better and more accountable here.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Lastly, I’d like the rulebook to eliminate
the broken stick slashing penalty and the player losing his stick during a
battle penalty. Too many good, hard 1 on 1 stick battles that result in one
player’s stick breaking or being dropped are ending up with one team a man
short. These sticks are light as a feather and it has been hockey stick
manufacturer’s goal every year to make them lighter and more precision, so
obviously the durability is going to suffer from that. If a player deliberately
takes a hack and breaks his opponents stick or slashes it out of his hands,
sure… it’s a slash. But just two players going at it for a puck resulting in
one guy losing or breaking his stick, I think that needs to be a judgment call
from the official. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll segway from
1 on 1 battles into the next section of this blog because the person I’m going
to devote the next 1000 words to could possibly exemplify a “battler” above and
beyond anyone else I’ve ever encountered in my career, on or off the ice.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I met David Segal
unofficially during a recruiting call in the summer of 2006 when our coach Jim
Bermingham gave me his number and asked me to call and sell him on the Ice
Bears organization. I will never forget the conversation as even back then
David’s reputation as a scrappy, hotheaded kid preceded him. His tone on the
phone call was anything but hothead or scrappy….. he was polite, very genuine
with his questions and statements and yet he had a firm air of confidence that
was unmistakable. I knew right away that he would be a character guy, but I had
no way of knowing when I was speaking to this 20 year old from Vancouver that
he’d end up pouring his professional career into our organization.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Seags’ showed up
at camp with baggy pants, a straight brimmed hat, tattoos all over his body and
earrings in both ears – not exactly the prototypical rookie showing up for his
first pro camp – but his work ethic and attitude on the ice was also impactful
immediately. I will never forget a moment during one of our first workouts when
we were doing 1 on 1 battle drills in the corner and Bermy tossed a puck to
Terry Dunbar’s right and said “Craigen”, “Segal”…… that meant the two of us
were to battle for that puck one on one until someone either put it in the net
or the whistle blew. It was 9 years ago, but I won’t soon forget the level of
intensity that followed. He just wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t give me an inch,
wouldn’t stay down. He was all of 160 lbs soaking wet and I pounded on him with
everything I had, trying to show this rookie who was the resident toughest
little guy in Knoxville. It finally ended when Berm’ blew his whistle and
everyone on the ice banged their sticks on the ice in appreciation for what
they had seen. I would have never told him at the time, but David Segal was a
tougher hockey player than I’d ever imagine being.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His toughness was
displayed almost nightly on the ice during his career. From fights, to
bodychecks, to injuries that he played through…. He became known – and you’ll
hear him described his way likely forever – as “<i>pound for pound the toughest kid I’ve ever seen</i>.” But it wasn’t
just his willingness to drop the gloves with literally anyone of any size
(remember Anthony Pisano, 6’6/250…. Jason Hamilton 6’3/240… to name a few) it
was his toughness and genuine good-natured kindness to people off the ice that
drew folks to him. David played here for 6 ½ seasons and made Knoxville his
home back in 2011 and touched the lives of literally thousands of people during
that time. He reached out to anyone interested in the game of hockey and made
you an instant fan, he gave you the time of day no matter what his schedule
looked like and when you spoke to David Segal you truly believed that he was
listening. He was tough as nails when the doors closed and the puck dropped,
but he was passionate and caring everywhere else. He was the first guy to stand
up for a teammate who he thought needed him in a scrum in the corner and the
last guy to judge someone in need off the ice. As great a competitor as he was
and that amazing warrior’s spirit that all our fans grew to love, he was and
still is twice as good a friend as he was a hockey player.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The time came for
me this season to make an agonizingly tough decision for this organization in
regard to David’s future with us on the ice. It was my professional opinion
that his injuries from playing 1000X bigger than he was for 6 years had finally
taken enough of a toll on his body that he was unable to contribute the way he
wanted to and the way we needed him to. And trust me…… David wanted to. There
was nothing he wouldn’t try to do for this hockey team and he will go down as
one of the most popular and no doubt hardest working Ice Bears of all time. I
hated seeing David reduced to a minimized role and in the end decided that,
given my honest opinion on the situation, it was my responsibility to the
organization to move forward with it. My relationship with Seags’ as an old
friend and teammate and the admiration and respect I had for him could not play
a factor in the decision that I felt needed to be made for the Ice Bears.
Hockey is an amazing game and this business will give you everything you want
from it most of the time if you work hard enough and stay honest, but it also
has the capacity to break your heart at anytime, and this was definitely one of
this times.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
So to David Segal
and his 314 professional hockey games and his 92 goals. To his unmistakable
laugh and his uncanny ability to crawl around undetected beneath restaurant
tables. To his 185 fighting majors and 1,917 penalty minutes. To his leadership
by example and always unselfish play ……. Thank you for being a great teammate,
thank you for being an even better friend and thank you for being a Knoxville
Ice Bear.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4394253541245983462.post-61303987636150629832015-05-19T12:40:00.001-07:002015-05-19T12:40:12.897-07:00WHAT A START and We Miss You Brenda Cox<div class="MsoNormal">
If the first
month of the Knoxville Ice Bears 2014 season is any indication of things to
come, I would think our fans are in for a memorable, challenging and exciting
hockey campaign in Tennessee this year. Before all of our Season Ticket Books
were even picked up from the front office, we had won a game against Huntsville
9-7 that featured the boys coming from 3 goals down two separate times and
scoring 6 unanswered goals. We had capuchin monkeys riding border collies on
the ice at the Coliseum in a Cowboy Monkey Rodeo. We had given up 9 goals in a humbling
home loss to Peoria. We had an unfortunate accident involving our beloved
mascot Chilly falling down a flight of stairs, on Teddy Bear Toss night no
less. And through all the chaos and unexpected surprises/disappointments, the
Ice Bears are off to their best start in franchise history with a record of 10
wins and 3 losses, good enough for 1<sup>st</sup> place in the Southern
Professional Hockey League as the first quarter of the season finishes up.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I know, I know……
it’s early. And I know, I know….. there are lots of teams off to a good start
who are right behind us and within immediate striking distance. But if I’ve
learned anything in my time behind the bench and as a player within this great
game, it is to enjoy the high points of your season when you can. Expectations
are always high at the start of every year and capitalizing on the buzz and
anticipation of a new season by winning some games and generating a great deal
of excitement within our fan base has been very enjoyable so far. So we’re
going to do everything we can to continue that enjoyment for everyone involved.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One thing that
has been really unexpected to this point though has definitely been the number
of pucks that have entered our net on home ice. As of the day I wrote this
blog, we had given up the most goals in the SPHL at 41 and 22 of them had come
in 5 home games for an average of 4 ½ per game. Yuck. For a team that has
traditionally been very strong on home ice and very stingy when it comes to
giving up scoring chances in our smaller building, this is something that was
not only confusing but very disappointing. Thankfully, as of today we had also
scored the most goals in the SPHL and our offense had glossed over some of the not-so-nice
defensive performances we’ve had.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The good news
about our defensive situation is this; it’s easily fixable. First of all, I
really like the situation and the healthy competition we have with our
goaltenders. Bryan Hince and rookie Braely Torris are going to push each other
week in and week out and that’s a very encouraging scenario for us. Secondly,
our offensive style isn’t a high-flying system that leads to defensive
breakdowns and scoring chances against and our players aren’t irresponsible 1-dimensional
guys who don’t care enough about playing on the defensive side of the puck.
That hasn’t been the case thus far at all. The goals we have given up to date,
for the most part, have been very small individual or group mistakes that can
be fixed through practice, video and more situational reps that should push
those errors out of our game. Lastly, I really like our core of defensemen. Led
by Jason Price and Joe Tolles who log big minutes back there for us on a
nightly basis, everyone back there has a great deal of pride in the defensive
zone and I believe we’re all on the same page in terms of getting better on
that side of the puck.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For example, the
2 clips below show similar defensive situations, one from our 9-3 loss to
Peoria and 1 from our 5-4 win over Fayetteville. In both clips we have
excellent back pressure support from our backchecking forward. You’ll notice in
clip 1 that our strongside defenseman takes the attacker who drives the net,
leaving the puck carrier open to walk in and score a goal. In clip 2, our
weakside defenseman correctly takes the net drive and lets the strongside focus
on the puck carrier, minimizing the time & space he has to make a play. A
very simple adjustment that comes from communication and familiarity with
teammates.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMA1Dfcz_ug">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMA1Dfcz_ug </a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Another area of
our overall franchise that has been missing has been a piece of our hearts with
the passing of our longtime team “mom” Ms Brenda Cox. I met Brenda back in 2005
when I first joined the Ice Bears and I was immediately taken back by just how
welcoming and genuine this lady was toward me. We bonded immediately over our
love of animals and by the time that first season had drawn to a close, Brenda
and her entire family were a constant part of my KIB life that I came to depend
on for the consistent care and love they brought not only to me but to all of
my teammates new and old.<div>
<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Brenda and her
family used to set-up prior to every home game outside our locker room with a
spread of food fit for kings. From lasagna and other pasta, to veggies and dip,
chicken spreads, desserts and just about anything else anyone could imagine or
had asked for. It was truly amazing the time and effort put into these meals,
and I’m not talking quick little Sam’s Club large party meals, these were from
scratch and painstakingly prepared by Brenda herself. It was an enormous load
off the player’s mind to be able to spend $0 on a post-game meal and know that
they’d be well fed, especially if we were going on the road right away or
playing the next day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It wasn’t about
the food for Brenda though, not at all. She loved the comradery, she loved the
extended family and she really loved those players and the passion they showed
for the game of hockey. It didn’t matter if you were in your 8<sup>th</sup>
season with the Ice Bears or your 8<sup>th</sup> game, Brenda was there for a
hug, words of encouragement and a plateful of food every single night. I can
say without a moment’s hesitation or thought that in the 9 years I knew Brenda
Cox and through all the winning, losing and everything in between, that she
never once said a negative thing about her hockey team or the way they were
playing. Brenda’s favorite and most often used phrase was, <i>“I really think we’re gonna win this one tonight.”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Earlier this
season and after a long and painful fight with cancer, Brenda finally took her
last breath. It was bittersweet for all of us who knew her because it was clear
she was in a lot of pain from her treatments and having lost her son Larry
earlier in 2014, she was struggling day to day. It’s still strange not to see
her food table set up behind our locker room and it’s still a little emotional
not seeing her up in her seats behind our bench, but we all know she’s peaceful
now and without a doubt happier.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wanted to tell a quick story about Brenda
in closing that I’m sure my readers will find pretty entertaining. During the
2006 season I went through a prolonged scoring drought that had extended to 16
games without a goal and I was starting to become beyond frustrated. Aside from
the standard fixes like going to the net hard, shooting the puck from
everywhere and staying after practice shooting pucks, I had tried changing
sticks, eating a different pre-game meal, standing in different spots during
warm-up…….. it was a superstition nightmare because everything I had come to
know was failing me. </div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OEVrtTv62aDf-MPcIdIlEXIWekO0z1gyNRVKRMhvLwELGBQnUtgkiFr27fXdcFuhLndlDOuSOjiD3VR6q524nEgjFiYp3uS4NJE08QqxM95jAukBpckkIdIg2KiPwbbHGAfWw63JRMXA/s1600/BRENDA+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OEVrtTv62aDf-MPcIdIlEXIWekO0z1gyNRVKRMhvLwELGBQnUtgkiFr27fXdcFuhLndlDOuSOjiD3VR6q524nEgjFiYp3uS4NJE08QqxM95jAukBpckkIdIg2KiPwbbHGAfWw63JRMXA/s320/BRENDA+1.jpg" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Ms Brenda Cox - Team Mom</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;"> Leading into the
17<sup>th</sup> game of my goal-less-ness, Brenda and I were chatting before
the game as we always did while I snacked on her food spread, and she said <i>“I’ve got something that will make you score
tonight Mikey.”</i> I smiled and told her I appreciated any help she could give
me and I was willing to try anything at this point so she came over and gave me
a big hug. As she was gripping me in what I thought was a good luck hug, I felt
something slimy slip into my ear. Apparently Brenda wasn’t stopping with the
hug, she was pulling out the big guns to get me out of this slump and had stuck
her tongue directly into my ear! I jumped out of sheer surprise and Brenda just
laughed and said, <i>“go get em’ honey” </i>while
I frantically tried to find a napkin to wipe her saliva out of my ear and the
rest of the guys hanging around rolled on the floor with laughter.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t know if the wet willy via tongue had
anything to do with it or whether it just got my mind off of anything other
than a 60 year old woman sticking her tongue in my ear, but I went out that
night and not only ended the 16 game slide with an early goal, but added two
more for my first professional hat trick on top of it to officially close the
books on the longest slump of my career.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t know what
was funnier; Brenda’s reaction in the stands, my teammates reaction on the
bench (<i>you can imagine the ear licking
attempts for the rest of the season after that</i>) or the look on my
girlfriend at the time’s face as we were leaving the arena and an overjoyed 60
year old woman in a Craigen jersey came up behind us and stuck her tongue in my
ear again!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We miss you Brenda and we hope you are up
above waiting to help us hoist another banner next October.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4394253541245983462.post-361460047924252632015-05-19T12:33:00.000-07:002015-05-19T12:33:11.567-07:00FIGHTING TO KEEP FIGHTING IN HOCKEY<div class="MsoNormal">
If I was technically savvy enough to employ an embedded
audio file into this blog that blared Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys are Back in Town”
all of my readers could be rockin’ out while they ingest some of my latest
thoughts and ramblings. Sadly I am not. However, the boys are most certainly
back in town as several Ice Bears began trickling into the 865 this week
sporting car loads of everything they’ll need for another season in Knoxville,
Tennessee. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s exciting for everyone around town and the organization
because the arrival of players can really only mean one thing; it’s time. As of
this evening as I write this blog, the clock reads roughly 11 days and 13 hours
until our first ice session of the 2013 training camp. That’s less than two
weeks – just over two work weeks – and depending on who’s counting it could
also be considered soon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before the contracted players arrive though, my staff and I
have a 3 day Free Agent Showcase mini-camp that will kick off on Friday evening
down at the Civic Coliseum. That is of course if Mickey, Minnie and the gang
don’t tear up the ice too badly over the next few days during Disney on Ice. I
was down at ice level this afternoon watching some of the performers warm up
and I can report that, wow, they were impressive on many levels with their
athleticism and control.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our Free Agent Showcase will feature a record number of Ice
Bear hopefuls from all over the world who have paid their way to Knoxville in
an attempt to be seen and earn an invite to our main camp. Just to break that
down a little bit for those who are unfamiliar with the difference in the two
camps, it’s fairly simple. Our Free Agent Showcase is for non-contracted Free
Agents and anyone from anywhere can register provided they are 18 years of age.
Our Main Camp consists of contracted players (tryout contracts that is) who I
have recruited and invited to Knoxville for our training camp.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I really enjoy the environment that’s created by the arrival
of our Free Agent guys and I look forward to it every season. After a long
summer of recruiting players, negotiating contracts and trying to convince guys
to come to Knoxville, it’s nice to then sit back and watch players who are
doing everything they can to convince us that they should be in Knoxville.
Definitely a nice change of pace along with a great way to establish
perspective towards how lucky we are to be able to do what we do on a daily
basis.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s no secret to anyone – even the players themselves –
that making the Ice Bears roster out of the Free Agent Camp is somewhat of a
longshot. In the 3 seasons that I have run this camp, 11 players have been
selected to go through to the main camp and only 1 has seen SPHL game action
for us. Longshot or not though, this camp serves as an opportunity for players
who don’t have a strong enough resume or don’t have the connections in the
hockey community to get a main camp tryout. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We’ve certainly had our fair share of excellent stories over
the years come out of this camp, and I’m hoping that trend continues. Players
like forward Aaron Blades from California who showed up to camp with 3 years
ago with skates that were so broken down and beaten up that he had to borrow a
pair to finish the weekend. Finish it he did alright and not only did Aaron
play in 3 SPHL exhibition games, but after being the final cut from our Main
Camp he went on to achieve his dream of playing pro hockey for the Troy Bruins
of the AAHL later that season. Or maybe a pair of Canadian hopefuls from last
season in Matt Varnes and Matthew Jacobucci who stood out above the pack during
the mini-camp and one week later found themselves taking a pre-game skate at
Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This edition of our Free Agent Showcase will feature over 50
players who will infiltrate Knoxville, Tennessee for a shot to play pro hockey
and who knows…. Maybe this is the year one of them skates out onto the ice at
the Coliseum on opening night. I sure hope so.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Moving on, let’s chat about Main Camp for a few minutes.
With a league enforced limit of 30 players in camp at one time, it makes the
next few weeks vitally important for coaches at this level. Not only do you
need to recruit the best possible prospective rookies, but also keep in mind that
with ECHL camps kicking off on October 4<sup>th</sup> that there will be a
large number of players who get released from those camps during the first week
of our camp, or even earlier. It makes your practices and camp scrimmages
extremely big for first year guys who need to make impressions in a hurry
before that first wave of ECHL cuts comes pouring in. That’s not to say that
every player released from an ECHL camp gets an automatic ticket into an SPHL
city – though some feel that they should – and it doesn’t even mean that every
SPHL camp is affected by ECHL transactions. But it does add an element of
available options if your first impression of some guys isn’t overly good or
you’re definitely looking to upgrade in certain areas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Take last season for example. In an NHL lockout season that
saw the largest number of available free agents that I can ever remember which
lead to an equally large number of ECHL releases, the Ice Bears roster was only
altered during training camp by two ECHL transaction. Those transactions were
Jon Higgins being released from the Alaska Aces camp and Mike Towns from Idaho.
Both players were inserted into our line-up and reciprocating releases were
made to accommodate them. The year before that during our 2011-2012 training
camp, not a single ECHL release had an impact on our line-up, so you really
never know how many players you’ll absorb from year to year. I can say that as
of right now, I have several players who have signed tryout agreements with the
Ice Bears and several others who I’m targeting who will be attending Coast
camps and I will definitely be bringing in – or at least attempting to bring in
- should they not make their respective teams. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As of today, returning players who will be reporting to our
camp on Sunday, October 13<sup>th</sup> for physicals are the following; Mark
Van Vliet, David Segal, Jon Higgins, Brett Valliquette, Peter Neal, Jeremy
Klaver, Eric Satim, Nate Peterson, Brad Pawlowski and Bryan Hince. We will have
an extremely established defensive core starting the season in front of Hincey
and most of the question marks and job availability will come up front with our
forward line-up. To help fill some of those holes, some non-rookie players have
been invited to camp after spending time elsewhere in the SPHL last season. Keep
an eye open for forwards Brent Tamane and Jay Pietrasiak who will be looking to
earn jobs on our top two forward lines. All in all, this training camp will be no different from any
other as many new faces will be in town hoping to earn themselves a spot on our
opening day roster.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lastly, I thought I’d weigh in on one of the latest hot
button, water cooler hockey discussion topics involving the place of fighting
in the sport of hockey. I’ve gotten what seems like hundreds of emails, social
media messages, texts, etc about this current surge of anti-fight activists and
the future of fighting in the game of hockey. This is usually the time of year
when everyone is simply excited for the return of hockey and most conversation
and media buzz surrounds projection and early season favorites, etc. Right now
though, with a scary and unfortunate injury suffered by Montreal Canadiens
enforcer George Parros during a fight on opening night vs the Maple Leafs, the
vocal minority have grabbed their pitchforks and lit torches to storm the gates
of the hockey fraternity.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My position is fairly straight forward and simple on this
one and I’ll refrain from a lengthy, drawn out, politically correct fence
sitting statement; I support fighting in professional hockey. I don’t just
support it because I spent most of my career trying to find my gloves, stopping
bloody noses and icing knuckles along with foreheads, jaws and anywhere else
someone popped me. And I don’t simply support it because I am quite entertained
– like millions of other hockey fans - by two guys slugging it out while
balancing on 1.5 mm steel blades. And I promise I don’t just support fighting
in the game because I’m Canadian and well…. that’s how we were raised eh? I
support the inclusion of fighting in professional hockey because it maintains a
level of accountability to every player on every team by serving as a built-in
reminder that when you’re playing a sport at such a high speed and you’re
permitted to carry a stick, you’re dealing with more than a whistle if you
don’t respect the game and your opponents. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Talking heads and philosophical journalists scoff at the
mention of hockey’s “code” and how it’s out of control and ridiculous that the
NHL and other leagues don’t do something about it every time someone gets
injured. Casual fans of the game will publicly state how silly it is that
hockey allows fighting, yet they continue to watch and call their friends into
the room when a fight breaks out. Even some retired players themselves have
jumped into the action and gone on record to say they think something needs to
be done, yet every campfire story they tell at the local watering hole starts
off with, <i>“I remember one night down in _______ …. We squared off and he hit me
with a left right over my eye…</i>” or something along those lines. Come on guys,
leave it alone. If you’re that opinionated about it and it drives you crazy
enough that it’s ruining hockey for you, just go and watch NetFlix, you've got
lots of family friendly options there.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bottom line for me, and this will make lots of people
roll their eyes, is that as much of the culture of violence and fighting in
hockey that stirs up all the conflict is the same culture that makes our game
so unique. Hockey is a beautiful game and there is no one in the world that can
argue against the skill, physicality, speed, precision and character that high
level hockey exhibits. But the X factor and what makes this game so different
and so fiercely addictive to those who love it is that at any point, this
beautiful symbiosis of skill and speed can explode into an all-out battle. No
other sport on earth allows it and no other sport on earth can match that
combination in my opinion. As a result of this, and I’m not going to try and
skirt this, injuries happen and will continue to happen. Trust me guys, if the
players who have been dropping the gloves all these years and will continue to
didn’t think it was worth the risk, they wouldn't do it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I won’t sit here and tell you that every single fight in a
hockey game is necessary or even really a good idea. Sometimes it’s stupid and
sometimes pointless. But you have to step back and understand that with
everything good and everything entertaining usually comes some backlash. If you
want to maintain hockey’s edge and that element of physicality that is so
unique, you have to accept that sometimes the pot bubbles over and makes a mess
on your stovetop. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Every sport has its Achilles Heel. Small and larger
debatable issues like concussions in football, fan riots in soccer, steroids in
baseball and we’ll always strive to improve and be better in every area that we
can be as fans and contributing members of each sport. But some sports need to
be left alone and just enjoyed, because if they’re not and those pitchforking,
torch carrying folks finally gather enough strength to produce some results,
you might be left wondering what happened to that sport you used to love.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I’ll leave it at that and continue to look forward to
those moments in a hockey game when intensity bubbles over, one teammate steps
up to defend another or set a precedent or two extremely tough hombres decide
to scrap just because they feel like it. Those who agree with me will jump out
of their seats and fill arenas with noise, YouTube fights at the office the
next day and buy tickets the next time a “scrappy” opponent comes to town.
Those who don’t agree will do the same, but then turn up their nose and poo-poo
it from their Twitter and Facebook feeds after the adrenaline has died down.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I know I don’t represent every hockey player, coach or fan
but I know the majority of them are with me in this fighting stance. If you try
to take it out of professional hockey it should come as no surprise to you that
we’ll drop our mitts and fight to keep it in.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4394253541245983462.post-13036855946864980762015-05-19T12:28:00.000-07:002015-05-19T12:34:13.779-07:00THE DREADED TRICKLE DOWN EFFECT - CHL LOSES MORE TEAMS<div class="MsoNormal">
The off-season surrounding minor professional sports – and
hockey more specifically – is a lot like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates. The
considerable difference being that you can always find another piece or box of
chocolate if you’re unhappy with your first selection. When it comes to
professional hockey organizations however, and the staff, players and fans who
provide their infrastructure, you can’t just reach in and pick another one.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yesterday was an
extremely challenging day in the history of the Central Hockey League and via
the trickle-down effect, all of minor pro hockey. Amidst rumors all over the
internet about folding, merging and everything else that has been spitballed
over the past few months, there were obviously a couple of teams who saw that
the end was near, at least for now, and no doubt exhausted all options prior to
yesterday’s announcements that the Denver Cutthroats and Arizona Sun Dogs were
ceasing operations for the 2014-2015 season.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s bad news,
without a doubt. No league ever wants to lose member franchises and no fans
ever want to lose their local team. Unfortunately it’s a clear and present
danger at this level and Denver/Arizona will not be the last teams to close up
shop. We saw the Mississippi Surge do it this summer in the SPHL not long after
the Bloomington Thunder left the league as well. We saw the San Francisco Bulls
turn the lights off mid-season last year in the ECHL and everyone is aware of
the St Charles Chill starting the landslide for the CHL this summer by folding
after one season of play.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The unfortunate
timing of this also heaps challenges upon the CHL who, no matter how much
forewarning they had, will be reeling to recover with under 2 months to go
before their regular season kicks off. Things like scheduling, travel,
regulations, etc will dominate the next while for league officials as they try
to salvage some positivity out of the rest of August and September leading up
to camp.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As it always
does, this is going to have a ripple effect over the rest of the minor hockey
world. Along with the 40 or so fewer jobs it has left the CHL to offer players
– similar to a company laying off 40 employees – those players who were already
under contract to Arizona and Denver will now fan out and start looking for
employment elsewhere. We experienced the exact same thing in the SPHL this
summer when Bloomington and Mississippi’s players were declared free agents.
Less teams mean less jobs but the number of players looking for those jobs
never goes down, it only goes up, creating a very competitive market for
agents, players, coaches and anyone else involved in the business.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you’re a
player who has just graduated from college or you’re an overage JR player who
is no longer eligible at that level, I have some advice for ya’ and I hope you
find this blog online and take a second to read it; don’t panic fellas.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is certainly
a setback and having six teams fold and only one team added (<i>Indianapolis/ECHL) </i>no doubt makes things
a little unclear for your hockey career, ESPECIALLY if you don’t have a resume
built up yet as a rookie. But the important thing to remember right now is that
just like the overall landscape and business outlook of minor pro hockey is
turbulent, so are the day to day workings, performance and health of the teams
that makeup these leagues. Just because you don’t have a camp to attend,
doesn’t mean there won’t be an opportunity for you at some point over the next
few months. It’s inevitable; hockey teams need hockey players.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My advice to you
guys looking for jobs right now is this; <i>keep
it simple</i>. This is a pretty overwhelming time for coaching staffs as well
with all the unsigned players everywhere, so make it easy for them to identify
you and determine what your value level or potential may be. E-mail is usually
the easiest way to contact a coach right now and if even if you are able to get
in touch with a phone call, most guys are probably going to need some
information from you via email anyways. Basic facts and details about your
resume trump long emails that give your own opinion about your individual game.
Tell us where you played last year, tell us briefly what you bring to the
table, include some video if possible, give us a few references in the hockey
world we can reach out to if we’re interested and let your resume and contacts
do the rest of the talking. I completely understand that not every player has a
resume that is going to pique the interest of a coach, but it’s another reality
right now of the hockey world. Internet scouting and word of mouth is the
primary form of recruiting now simply because A level teams and even some AA
level teams don’t have the budget for much else.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you don’t have
a great resume? It’s perfectly understandable to have some down years, some
injuries or maybe even a situation with a certain team that didn’t allow you to
develop like you believe you should have. Coaches like hearing from other
coaches in that case. Personally, I love hearing the opinions of other coaches
about players. Nobody knows what it’s like on the ice, in the room or the ease
of working with someone like a coach, so have some of your old ones reach out
for you or include a letter from them in your email. Small little tip here as
well….. if you have a coach who you didn’t get along with and won’t have good
things to say about you, DON’T INCLUDE THEM!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bottom line right
now is this guys; every camp is getting close to being full. When you contact a
coach, he is going to do one thing first and foremost, every single time. He is
going to check out your resume or look you up on <a href="http://www.hockeydb.com/">www.hockeydb.com</a> or <a href="http://www.eliteprospects.com/">www.eliteprospects.com</a> to get a first
impression based on STATS ALONE. If your bio tweaks something in their mind and
they want more information they are going to look at who you played for, who
you played with and then they will begin making some calls. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If things are
still moving forward after the resume checks out, the references have lots of
good things to say and the type of player you are fits into what these teams
are looking for, you’re going to be offered a tryout. Don’t ask for a contract
and a guarantee! We can’t give you either. Feel free to ask questions and get
details on roster availability and what kind of opportunity you’re being
offered, that shows that you’re a mature guy who is realistic and knowledgeable
about how things work. I really like talking to prospects on the phone and I
like it even more when they are informed. I spoke to a player last week who I
offered a camp spot to and he said, <i>“I’m
a high energy guy who forechecks hard and is pretty responsible on the
defensive side of the puck. I play the wing most of the time but I am
comfortable in the middle and I take pride in my penalty killing. Do you have a
need for someone like that or should I try to find a team that does?”</i> I
love that. Maybe I don’t have a need for that style of player or maybe I do,
but what matters is that I know this player is legit and taking his career
seriously. Any coach who tells you as a rookie in August that you’re going to
be on his team 100% come October isn’t being truthful. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So now you’re exasperated and can’t get a
straight answer, commitment or even a reply from some places. It’s frustrating for sure, I know it is. As a
5 ft 5 rookie coming out of the OJHL with marginal stats in 2003 I got rejected
by <u>every single team</u> in the ECHL and the CHL – including the Ice Bears I
might add - and had to settle for a free agent showcase before earning a look
in Alabama of the WHA2 <i>(which, fittingly
to this blog has now folded.) </i>My
advice to you right now is just to keep playing. If you can’t find a main training
camp invite, maybe you need to swallow your pride and look into some free agent
opportunities. There are camps all over the United States hosted by lots of
different teams and although it’s a longshot to come out of those camps and
sign contracts, it’s not by any stretch of the imagination, impossible. (<i>See: <b>Lucas
Schramm</b>, Knoxville Ice Bears 2013. Attended my FA camp last year, which was
his <u>3<sup>rd</sup> FA camp of the summer</u> and caught some eyes. Enough to
sign a contract and play the entire season with us before a shoulder injury
ended his year prematurely.)</i> Making yourself visible, getting on the ice in
front of pro hockey staffs and getting face to face to establish a relationship
with them is crucial for you. Trust me, it’s a lot easier in December if I’m
looking for a player to come in and fill some holes if I have seen you play and
know exactly what you bring rather than staring at a resume and trying to
decide where you fit in mid-season.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finding a job as
a rookie or even a returning player in professional hockey is an absolute <i>gongshow</i> for lack of a better term right
now. No one will argue that and everyone understands the disheartening feeling
of not knowing where you are going to play……… but professional hockey is a
lifestyle and an experience worth the energy and emotion you’ll put into
overcoming these challenges and I think if you ask around to anyone who has
done it themselves, they’ll tell you the same thing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
See you around the rink.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4394253541245983462.post-86906017490166515832015-05-19T12:25:00.001-07:002015-05-19T12:34:26.570-07:00ROAD TRIP LIVE BLOG - READER BEWARE<div class="MsoNormal">
56
games into a 56 game season and I was finally struck by the urge to put
together a roadtrip blog for all of the Ice Bear fans who have been asking for
one all season. It’s not that I don’t enjoy blogging and it doesn't have
anything to do with a lack of content – this year’s edition of the Ass Bears is
good for many entertaining story worthy moments – it’s simply due to the fact
that I spend most of my hours on the road hoping that we don’t end up along the
side of it. One of the truly consistent and realistic parts of coaching a team
at this level is the fact that transportation, scheduling and everything that
lies in between usually require an “<i>it is what it is</i>” mindset to get through
it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Ice
Bears travel on a Prevost bus that, to put it nicely, is roughly 500,000 miles
past its prime. The organization purchased “the pig” 6 years ago and though it
has served honorably during its tenure as our primary transportation and we've
had the luxury of owning, not leasing over that time period; I’ll be motioning
that we trade it in for a box of Fruit by the Foot and some seat cushions for
the Coliseum this summer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This
morning’s road trip kicked off in style with veteran forward Matt Pierce
pulling the wool over Kevin Flather’s eyes in convincing fashion. Since the
trip to Desoto County is too long for one driver to make the trip up and back
in one day by himself, we use a back-up driver to cover the couple of hours
that remain in excess. Our back-up driver Jeff Christian sits in the navigation
chair up next to the driver and when Flats’ stepped up onto the bus he was a
little confused by the new face. He turned to Piercey and said, “<i>who’s that
guy?</i>” Without missing a beat and with a straight face Piercey answered, <i>“Mikey
brought in a new forward for the playoffs.” </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For
those reading this blog who are familiar with the culture of professional
hockey, you’re already chuckling a little bit. For those of you who aren’t,
well….. the daily life of a hockey player at this level consists of constant
roster moves, job uncertainty and regular doses of humble pie and self-doubt.
Flather is a fairly new player for this organization having only been with us
for just over a month and that only adds to the uncertainty. After letting
Piercey’s information register for a minute, Flats’ began his investigation and
sat back listening to Jeff chat with the guys and Lynn, the other driver. To
try and paint a picture of Jeff’s “<i>demeanor</i>” for my readers, let’s just say
that if you listened to him talk for ummmm, let’s say 10 seconds, it would be
pretty clear that he’s a Southern fella. Jeff has an unmistakably heavy
Southern drawl and could be fairly referred to as a good ole boy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This
only confused Flats’ more. First of all, why would we be bringing in a new
player with 1 game left in the season? Second of all, why would he get one of
the prime seats on the bus? And thirdly, he seemed a little older than most
players at this level appeared to be. “<i>Where’d he play?</i>” Flat’s asked.
“<i>Somewhere in West Virgina. Old teammate of Oly’s</i>.” Answered Piercey. “<i>What’s
he play?</i>” Flat’s wondered. “<i>I dunno man. Power forward or something.</i>” Fired
back Piercey.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kevin
Flather processed this cruel joke for about 10-15 minutes in the back of the
bus after alerting all the rest of the forwards who were unaware that somebody
may be losing their job shortly before it finally dawned on him; it was a joke!
That little charade got us almost to the Watt Rd exit and 20 miles into our 400
mile trek. A good start to the day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another
staple of the Ice Bear Express would be the ongoing jockeying for bunk
seniority. The set-up of this particular interior allowed for only 12 sleeping
bunks and limited space for lounging, and more importantly, sleeping. The 12
most senior players on the roster from Olauson at the top plus whoever is the
starting goalie that night all roll into the bunks and take up vacancy. After
that there is “U” shaped couch in the back of the bus which is referred to as
the “rookie ranch” because it is usually home to a handful of least senior
guys. The ranch can sleep 2 on the couch and then a foam mattress is placed on
the floor to accommodate a 3<sup>rd</sup> body. This is always an entertaining
scenario as well because in order for the rookie ranch to achieve a complete
state of lights out and sleep, everyone has to be in agreement that it’s
bedtime. As you can probably guess, that is a rare occurrence. Some guys like
to stay up late after games, some guys don’t nap as much during the day trips,
some guys talk on the phone, some guys want to watch TV, and on and on. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With 12
bunks, 3 sleeping in the ranch and the entire front of the bus converted into a
lounge with no bunks, that leaves only one solution for the remaining 3 or 4
players; the floor. Now before you get the wrong impression – these guys aren’t
sleeping on the cold hard floor of a bus – they have foam mattresses too.
Thought not the most luxurious place to spend the night or the day of a
professional hockey game, they do the trick nicely for us and the guys have
gotten used to it. One thing they haven’t gotten used to though, are the ever
changing temperatures caused by foam mattresses and bodies jammed up against
the air vents and intakes along the base of the interior.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“BUSSY! TAKE A LOG OFF THE FIRE.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“CAN WE GET SOME A/C BACK HERE”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“IT’S 100 DEGREES ON THIS &%$#@!#$ BUS BRO.”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
solution is not usually as simple as flipping a switch to make it cooler
either. The problem is usually either the lack of air flow, a blown fuse,
leaking freon, a generator malfunction or all of the above. By the time the
problem has been diagnosed there are usually several sweaty, miserable hockey
players yelling at each other and bellyaching like three year olds in the back
while all of the staff in the front laugh. It seems funny while I’m typing it,
but there is certainly an uncomfortable level that we can all understand when
you’re cooped up on a bus along with 23 other people, there is nowhere to go
and the air conditioning goes out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This
particular bus trip was missing a key component and cast member of the squad
though with the absence of forward Brett Valliquette, who adds a certain
ingredient of his own to all situations. Vally is usually in the center of any
argument, discussion or story that takes place (whether he was involved
initially or not) on this bus and it usually ends with him being banished to
his bunk because he has annoyed everyone around him. It’s extremely hard to
escape or find any shelter from the Viper in such a small, tight area at the
front of the bus and Brett has a fairly short window of time to interact before
I kick him out. I think my favorite Valliquette-ism would have to be the trip
he tried to convince everyone that if you were judging his looks or level of
attraction to the opposite sex on a scale of 1 – 10, that he was unarguably a
12.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“Boys. Figure it out. I’m a 12 bro.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“Who told you that Vally, your mom?”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think that a certain number of miles and
years on the road kind of develops a certain attitude when it comes to the
situations that arise. Most players and a lot of my guys have seen their fair
share of bus trips and could fill 100 blogs with the stories that they have
heard or been a part of.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One
story that comes to mind from this season involves our equipment manager Mark
“Psycho” Williamson and the early stages of a stomach virus that began
spreading through the team. We had just won 3 games in a row, including back to
back overtime wins in Biloxi, so I thought the guys deserved a little time to
celebrate their hard work and success. We decided to spend a few hours at the
Hard Rock Casino on the Gulf Coast before we hit the highway and the night
turned out to be a great time had by all; until Psycho’s stomach started
turning on him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were
about 30 minutes up the highway en route back to Knoxville and most of the
staff including myself had traded out their seats in the front of the bus with
players who weren't quite ready to call it a night for bunks. Psycho was
wrapped up in his blanket and situated in the first bottom bunk on the right
and had just settled in for some rest when his guts began barking.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Picture
this: you’re in a bunk about 7 ft long and a foot ½ high locked onto a moving
vehicle full of hockey players who are enjoying the spoils of victory all
around you and probably not the most helpful of bedside nurses at the time. The
aisle that leads to the only toilet on the bus is a very narrow hallway and is
currently littered with bodies, items and all sorts of everything else. The
light in your bunk stopped working back in 1997, you can’t see, there is loud
music blaring and the stomach virus that you’re picked up isn’t waiting one
second longer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Have
you ever taken a new garbage bag out from under the sink and spent 3-5 minutes
trying to figure out which end is the top and which is the bottom? Once you
determine which is which, it’s usually another few minutes of squeezing the two
sides together to try and open it up. Well……. The boys gave Psycho a brand new
garbage bag to spend the night in his bunk with and well - - - - it was a rough
one.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“It’s
on me!”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i> “What
is that smell bro?”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i> “Vally
is puking.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i> “So is
Plow.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i> “Dude,
that reeks.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i> “I’m
gonna throw up.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i> “Pull
over.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i> “Is the
air conditioning working?”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are
approaching the welcoming city limits of Southaven, MS and some of the fellas’
are staggering sleepy eyed out of their caves after a long trip of slumber so I
will wrap things up for today, thank you for reading and enjoy the rest of the
day.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4394253541245983462.post-38035756058559771592015-05-19T12:18:00.000-07:002015-05-19T12:34:53.798-07:00"I'm a hockey coach" - "But what's your real job?"<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was at Trader
Joes the other day, checking out with my weekly load of groceries – if you
haven’t become enamored by Trader Joes on Kingston Pike yet, check it out – and
when the cashier checked my ID and noticed that I was from Ontario, Canada, as
usual…. a conversation ensued. She wondered what I was doing so far from home
and in between helping her stuff my bag with several containers of dark
chocolate almond cookies, I explained that I was the coach of the Knoxville Ice
Bears. Her immediate and completely honest response was; <i>“No, I mean your real
job. What do you do for a living?”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I suppose “<i>I’m a
hockey coach</i>” not being sufficient enough as a legitimate occupation around
here shouldn’t surprise me anymore, but it did give me a template for my next
blog, which I recognize is a little on the tardy side for all 11 of my avid
followers. A hockey coach is still a coach during the summer, and whether or
not they are on the ice running practices or behind the bench during a game,
there is a lot more that goes into the “job.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So what do I do
in the off-season? What does the coach of a hockey team do when there aren’t
any games and there isn’t even a sheet of ice at the Civic Coliseum? Well, obviously the main focus of the
off-season is to prepare and plan for the following season. I’m not going to
try and tell you that I spend all day, every day watching video and planning
out each road trip or practice for next year, but there are many things that
have to fall into place well before practices, rosters and road trips can be
considered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For example, this
morning I chatted on the phone for about two hours with several different
players. Three of them were prospective new Ice Bears and two of them were
returning players discussing contract terms and the direction of our team.
Speaking to players, both new and old, is a part of my job that I still really
like and look forward to. Sometimes conversations become a little repetitive or
redundant, but most of the time the individuals you’re talking with share the
same drive and determination for success in the sport, and that usually makes
for some good conversation. I’ve never been the type of guy who enjoys talking
on the phone though – in fact, I actually dislike it to be honest – but if you
want to make a connection with players or you want to get real answers from
guys and decide whether or not they’re the kind of person and player you want
within your organization, phone conversations are a necessity. Then again,
sometimes that isn’t possible…. such was the case last summer with Mr Bradley
Pawlowski who used to call me from a payphone up in Marathon, Ontario and if I
didn't answer, well, that was that. Thankfully I started saving the funny
looking number that came up and was able to answer a few times. And for those
who are wondering, yes…. They do still have real payphones, though I can’t
imagine how many quarters it took Plow to call from Northern Ontario to
Knoxville, Tennessee.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After a few hours
of hockey chatter, I hit the world of electronic mail for some legwork. I call
it legwork not because it involves my legs in any fashion, but because it’s the
only real unenjoyable part of my day and yet it’s an extremely important part
of it to stay in contact and facilitate all the things going on in the cyber
world. The bottom line is that in our fast moving society these days,
multi-tasking and electronic communication are just the preferred method of
most people and you either embrace it or you get left behind. (<span style="font-size: x-small;">Waaaah, I have
to answer emails every day, waaaah, I have such a tough job</span>.) I know, I know.
Save it you guys. My e-mail inbox is usually quite full with a multitude of
different subjects and needs. This morning, I had seventeen messages from
players looking for training camp spots. Six messages from player agents trying
to land jobs for their clients. A couple from fellow SPHL coach’s concerning
some player transactions. Two messages from companies looking to have the Ice
Bears try out some products this coming season (a new grip tape for sticks and
some spray that guaranteed the elimination of smelly hockey glove hands). Eight
messages from parents of children attending our upcoming Youth Hockey Camp. One
e-mail from The Golf Warehouse.com trying to sell me a set of wedges, one from
an online dating website that said I’d meet the love of my life within a month
or my money back and to top it all off; forty three messages from my mother
ranging in content from a new tomato sauce recipe to a story about my dog Wyatt
hunting for bullfrogs up at the lake. By the time my 4-fingered typing system
got through all the responses to my daily inbox content, it was time for a late
lunch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After lunch it
was time to spend some time looking into a few of the Ice Bear’s corporate
partnerships. Being in the SPHL and in this market, our operating budget is
nowhere near that of the Predators or even some other lower level professional
organizations. The KIB employee roster is made up of 7 full-time employees
(that includes me) on a year round basis and when you come down to a game next
season and see all that goes into putting on the show we do 28 times a year, it
comes from the work of those 7 individuals. As much as I’d love to just be a
coach year round and worry only about players, games, goals, penalty killing,
etc…. I recognize that being a member of this small staff means that we all
have to chip in a little bit outside of what our job titles entail. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next it was back
to the phone for a few recruiting-type calls as I touched base with some
contacts about players and got a few scouting reports from my network of help
around the hockey world. This chewed up another hour or so and led me into
where I am now, which is in front of the computer again banging out this blog.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I can hear it
now – “<i>so you talk on the phone and send e-mails all day coach? What do you
have to show for it?”</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Well, I
definitely have some updates for you guys who are reading this due to an
interest in the team that I coach. Leading into the off-season it looked like
we had the potential to lose a lot of familiar faces and though there will
still be some recognizable guys not on our roster come October, there has been
some pleasant surprises in that area as well.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As our front
office released last week, Mark Van Vliet has decided to return for one more
season. This was fantastic news for me when Mark let me know and it didn’t take
us long to figure out a contract for him. Mark loves Knoxville and is engaged
to be married to fiancé’ Anna Fisher this coming October. The couple have plans
to relocate back to Canada after the hockey season, but due to the length of
time it takes after the marriage for Anna to become a Canadian citizen, it made
sense for them to stick around here while all the paperwork was completed. Mark’s
on-ice impact basically goes without saying as he will continue to set the bar
for offensive production from a defenseman and his leadership and experience in
our locker room can never really be measure. Mark loves to win, hates to lose
and walks an emotional line when he plays the game…… that emotion helps keep
his teammates accountable and I’m very happy to have that element back again.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Once Vlieter
signed for another year, the pieces started to fall in behind him. The day
after we added Mark, I also signed his D partner Jeremy Klaver for another
season as well. Jeremy is one of those guys who could easily be playing at a
higher level and probably continuing to climb the ladder of professional
hockey, but he has found a niche in Knoxville and values the commitment the
organization has made to him over the uncertainty of being in the ECHL or
elsewhere. The two of them together give us a defensive pairing at the top of
our depth chart that will play big minutes and be counted on enormously. I
think Mark and Jeremy give us the best puck moving, puck possession D-pairing
in the league and I know exactly what I’ll be getting from them night in and
night out.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Since both Mark
& Jer’ are offensive defensemen, it was time to add some balance to the
back end. That balance was quickly established when the previously mentioned
Brad Pawlowski re-signed with the Ice Bears. Getting Brad back means several
things, most of which I don’t even have to reiterate. He’s one of the toughest
players in the league, he plays a physical game and makes playing Knoxville
not-so-fun for opponents. I’m going to be looking for more from Brad this year
though, and heading into his 3<sup>rd</sup> season as a pro the expectations
are going to be higher. I’m hoping Plow can stay healthy this year, play more
minutes for us and continue to establish his cult-like following around this
city. For anyone wondering; he has not cut his hair or beard since he left in
April and could be cast in the next season of VIKINGS on the History Channel
with his current look.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Up front and in
terms of our forwards, things have been going relatively slowly with regard to
returning players. At the conclusion of last season I know there was a lot of
speculation about David Segal’s career and whether or not he would be back.
With a slew of continued injuries piling up, the health concerns were certainly
warranted and I highly doubt many players at this level have put on more hard
miles and endured more physical duress than Seags. That being said, David has
indicated that he wants to play again and though pen hasn’t been put to paper
yet with a contract agreement, I would guess that it’s only a matter of time
before #28 is officially welcomed back for another year.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Some of the other
players from last season who I’ve been chatting with over the summer and are in
the mix for new contracts to return to Knoxville are Jon Higgins, Nate
Peterson, Peter Neal, Ben Souders and Brett Valliquette. These aren’t the only
guys who are potential returnees, they’re just the only ones that I can really
comment on informatively right now. We’ll have a handful of players attending
ECHL or CHL camps and at this point in the summer that is their focus point.
It’s hard to talk SPHL contract with a player who is dead set on making it elsewhere
sometimes, so that is a slower process.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As you can see,
there is still a lot to fall into place and number of holes in our roster that
are going to require filling. We’ll be a different looking team, especially
with our group of forwards and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Change is
good and I’ll continue to look for the right pieces to help make us a better
hockey team than we were and one that will help us continue to work towards our
4<sup>th</sup> championship. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Too many times I
think people look for mass changes when goals aren’t accomplished and I will
admit to having the same thoughts in the moments immediately after defeat, but
that’s not always the case. I think it’s important to remember that you have to
maintain the pieces and assets that helped you have success as well as
eliminate the pieces that held you back. How many times have sports teams “got
rid of” certain guys and then found themselves in need of that exact type of
player during the next season. As fans and as the coach, we have to remember
what players made us good in certain areas and not just what we were missing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So change is
good…. Yes. But a complete overhaul isn’t what this group needs right now. The
Ice Bears were a great team last season that came up short and we are going to
return a solid core and the changes will come in the supporting staff that gets
added to that core.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I hope everyone
is having a great summer, as we’re pretty much at the halfway point of the
off-season and hockey season will be upon us before you know it. Please come
and join us this weekend on Saturday from 11-2 down at the Coliseum for our 2<sup>nd</sup>
annual Fan Fest and Open House. We’ll have some ball hockey set up for the
kids, some deep discounted merchandise from last season, locker room tours and
then the unveiling of our new 2013-2014 jerseys, which look fantastic.
Actually, they may be my favorite design in 12 seasons.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Also, don’t
forget the Ice Bears Youth Camp which will kick off Monday morning out at Cool
Sports. We’ve had a great surge of registration the past few weeks and I’m
excited to see all the kids out there joining myself, Vlieter, Seags, Jamie
Ronayne and Steven Barnard on the ice. There is still time to register your
child if you’re interest, just send me an e-mail and we’ll get it taken care
of.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hope to see you guys this weekend,<o:p></o:p></div>
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~Mikey~<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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