Elite Hockey Shooters

One of the most important aspects of coaching is the ability to communicate with one’s players. They are young minds after all especially at the minor hockey and junior levels, trying to find their way up the hockey ladder to the NHL and are looking for as much guidance as one can offer.

Over the 35+ years that I have been coaching I have tried to be consistent on several things; say what you mean and mean what you say. A coach’s word has to stand for something and in the fast paced sport of hockey with so much emphasis on winning, this can be a difficult thing. This is due to the balancing act that a coach has to play between the demands and expectations of the parents, agents, general managers and owners. When navigating through all of this, I have never forgotten that the game is all about the players and at the higher levels, the fans.

Often coaches tell players that they will give them every opportunity to succeed, that if they do what the coach wants them to do, they will get more ice time. There are a multitude of  topics that come up during a season and/or a player’s career.They range from diversity of roles, skill level, size and strength, injuries to game comprehension. During all of these trying times I have tried to keep my word. It has not been easy for sure and that is why I say things very carefully to my players. I tell it like it is. Honesty, while it hurts is something players have come back to me and thanked me for.

Such an example took place during 2000, I had taken over a the head coaching role of a new expansion franchise Junior A hockey team. After being introduced to the team by the owner I arranged a meeting where  I could sit down with my players and discuss some of their concerns and communicate on how best to move forward. I explained to them that my primary focus as a coach was to help them improve and in doing so, the whole team would improve and being a young expansion team it was up to us as a unit to work hard and take on the challenge that was ahead of us.

After my initiate speech was over, I asked the final question: “What can I do to best help you as players moving forward so that both team and individuals goals can be met”. Their unanimous answer to me was; “communication and honesty”.  It was at this time that I explained what they were asking of me.

I explained that honesty in this sport can be a cruel thing.  It involves saying things that may not be what they want to hear; you don’t have the skill right now to play that position, you don’t have enough speed or quickness right now to be on the penalty kill, you are not defensively responsible enough to be out in critical situations when the opposition is pressuring or has momentum. I told them that I would always be honest with them but explained that the other part of the equation was that they had to be man enough to take the answer, even if they did not like it. I also stressed that it was my job to help them learn and I would do whatever I could to help them develop and get back on track so that they could participate in areas of the game that they so desired.

How my personal philosophy came to be and why  I have strived  always to keep my word when coaching and teaching can be attributed to my father Jim Johnson who was born in 1894 (his pictures below -I was adopted). I hope you enjoy it.

A Father’s Wisdom

It was early in the summer, the sun was moving higher in the sky each day and being so far north, the growing season was longer than southern climates. The days would gradually lengthen till the sun just dipped below the horizon leaving the night too bright for my liking before it started it’s climb back into the summer sky. For someone like my father who loved his garden, it was a great place to live.

I was a young boy, enjoying whenever possible, those special moments that I could spent together with my father. Our time together always ended up with a walk to the corner store for some candy or a bowl of vanilla ice cream on our front steps over looking the Alaska Highway where we could watch all the big semi-trailers rolling by on their way north. On this particular day, I was helping my father tend to his rather large garden in behind our small home. He cultivated potatoes, beans, peas, carrots, green onions, but his favorite garden patch was reserved for the strawberry’s and he would patiently arrange the runners so as to maximize the plant’s yield. It was one of his favorite pass times and of course just the thought of a bowl of fresh strawberries and ice cream would make my mouth water.

We had spent an hour or so removing weeds that had so earnestly appeared amongst the shoots and with the hot sun bearing down, father called for a time out and we retreated to the lawn swing that he had erected in the corner of the front yard. The canopy provided welcome shade and with a nice cool breeze blowing across the lawn it was refreshing indeed.

My father was a man of few words and when he spoke, he generally had something important to say. On this particular day, it would be no different but there was a slight change in his topic. We would usually talk about school, what I did at the local swimming pool, how my baseball was coming along but today was the day that the riddles started.

“Son”, my father started after pushing his cowboy hat up on his forehead. “I have a riddle for you today and if you can solve it, I will buy you the biggest bowl of ice cream you ever saw, are you interested?”.

Not wanting to miss this opportunity I eagerly answered a resounding “Yes!”

He had that twinkle in his eye and, prolonging the agony, took his old worn leather tobacco pouch out of his pocket and proceeded to roll himself a cigarette.

“Come on dad, what is the question?” I asked impatiently. He mustered a slight grin while the dancing flame set the end aglow, and after tossing the wooden match into the moist soil off to the side of the swing he sat back, looked me in the eye and asked,

“What is the easiest thing to give away but the hardest thing to keep?”

“Well”, I sputtered…”That’s money of course”. I could taste that cool bowl of ice cream already and looking at him with a confident smile stated matter of factually… “SO?”

Well, that twinkle in his eyes got a little brighter and after taking a long drag on his cigarette, grinned and then said “Absolutely not….but before you start spouting off a bunch of ideas, I want you to think about it and then tell me later this afternoon.”

I couldn’t believe that wasn’t the answer but holding back I agreed to give it some thought and with that it was back to the garden.

Well that afternoon came and went as did the next couple of days and no matter what answer I came up with, it was always wrong. The more I was wrong the more determined I became but with the inexperience of the young mind, I could not come up with the answer. Finally, in utter frustration I admitted defeat. We were sitting at the supper table and after dropping my knife and fork to the sides of my plate and after uttering a huge sigh looked over at my father and said…”Okay dad, I finally give up…what is the answer?”

Damn that twinkle in his eye….and the way he could grab my attention…he lifted his coffee mug slowly to his lips, took a long sip and after setting it down careful looked over at me and said, “Well it is your word of course”.

“Come on dad, it can’t be that..it must be something else!” I stammered in disbelief.

“Well son, when I was young most men couldn’t read and write very well so the only way that they could guarantee a contract was with their word. When one said that they would do something they were expected do to it and it was a sign of a man’s character, that he could be depended on. We took our word very serious and if we said something it was like it was written in stone. As the years went by, this attitude changed and people started to say that they would do things which they never did and then the written contract became the way of the world.”

He took another sip of his coffee and then with a steely gaze asked me. “Son, how many times have you said that you would do something and then not carried through with it?”

That was the beginning of my father’s little riddles. He had one for character, one for honesty, one for sincerity as well as many more. They became easier to understand and coming up with the answers were at times very difficult and at other times easy but I do remember the most important lesson of all, we need to teach our children well, the ways of the world, the ways of honesty and sincerity. How important is our word? How important is character?

Such a small riddle, talking so little time to ask changed a young boys mind. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I miss him deeply!

And to this day, those lessens run deep. I have never forgotten the lesson of a man’s word and many other such lessons that I will  share over time.