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; “No, I mean your real
job. What do you do for a living?”
I suppose “I’m a
hockey coach” 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.”
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.
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.
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. (Waaaah, I have
to answer emails every day, waaaah, I have such a tough job.) 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.
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.
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.
So I can hear it
now – “so you talk on the phone and send e-mails all day coach? What do you
have to show for it?”
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.
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.
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.
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 3rd 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.
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.
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.
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
4th championship.
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.
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.
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 2nd
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.
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.
Hope to see you guys this weekend,
~Mikey~
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