Reply To: 2010-2020 Coach Discussion Forum

[Tom Molloy]

Life Happens on the Way to the Dream

I posted a manual on Transition Games yesterday and watching players in some of the videos made me think of what happens to them on the way to their dream of playing in the NHL. Some made it and some didn't for various reasons. I will write about some of the better prospects to show that there are a lot of hurdles on the way and even when you get to the top things aren't always easy.

I started coaching a lot my first year of teaching PE in Junior High school. We had a school league and a hockey option where the kid's got three ice times a week. Ten years later I was head coach in college and we played the U of Calgary. The captain of both teams were in my hockey class. One went on to play pro in Germany and the other got a few tryouts with the Flames but his skill wasn't enough to to make up for being about 5'9" and 165 lbs..

During that era I coached a lot of summer camps and spring teams. One group I worked with was exceptional. It was coached by someone I played Jr. A with who played some minor league but quit when his future wife called and told him it was either her or hockey and he chose her.

Three players from that team were first round NHL drafts. I coached one of them a lot each summer, one when I was in Austria and one just that spring team. Here is what happened in their way to the dream.

The first played went NCAA then made the NHL and had a pretty good first year. He ended up with concussion problems.. He went up and down NHL-AHL for years. I helped get him a contract in Europe that he backed out of. He didn't play last year.

Player two was the highest ranked of the three when they were playing U18 but got a stomach muscle tear. He decided to go Major Junior and went 5 or 6 seasons that he played less than 10 games and then the injury came back. He finally played a full season in the American League but now he was about 26 and ended up playing for us in Austria and then played in the KHL and all over Europe. I saw him at a rink a few weeks ago and he is retiring.

Player three is someone I coached every summer from the first time he was on the ice at 5 until he was 17. He skated with the various Korean teams I was a guest coach for each summer in the 90's. He ended up drafted 2nd overall and had a great start to his career. He bought a high powered car and a motorcycle cut him off and the car crashed into a barrier and got cut in half severing the seat belt anchors. He was really injured and everyone knows what happened to his friend. He had major surgery to reconstruct his shoulder and knee. I thought his career was done but he was one of the top scorers in the NHL from about 2003 until 2011, He played in two Olympics and was the top player in a few IIHF World Championships. He needed to have both his knee and shoulder redone and had groin problems and lost a few steps and now plays in Europe.

Next are players from the 85ers team that demonstrates a few of the transition games in the transition game videos. A year ago six of them were still playing pro. Some are retiring now.

Player one was a second round draft choice. He was in that 2003 draft and played for Canada in the World Juniors in North Dakota. Unfortunately he got injured at practice and didn't play much. He was a part time NHLer up and down between the NHL-AHL. He played in Europe and now coaches there.

Player two was really skilled but small. He went NCAA and won the Hobey Baker. Unfortunately he stopped growing at 5'6" and about 165 lbs. He is very skilled and I recommended him to the team in Austria and he has made a career there except for one season where he played in the AHL. He did well but without an NHL contract he wasn't used on the PP because they want their players practicing in those situations, so he went back to Europe and has made a very good career there.

Player three was also drafted in the second round and went NCAA for two years before turning pro. He is one of the really small 85er players in the video who skated bent over like Gretzky. He grew to 6' but only about 175 lbs. He had a good start to his NHL career and scored 25 goals and went to the Stanley Cup final but got hit in an awkward position in the corner and broke his back and ended up in a full body cast. He trained hard and came back and has been playing mostly in the NHL since taking one year contract where he scored 19 goals then a three year deal but got bought out and just signed a two way for next year.

The other small guy had a dad that always complained and he ended up quitting and was the only one on that team to not play at least Jr. A. The two big early maturing defensemen in the video ended up not growing much after and played Major Junior as smallish 5'10' skilled D. I worked a lot with another 85 born player with good size and skill. He played 4 years of Div. 1 and in the minors and Europe. His dad insisted on calling the coaches to tell them how to use him and of course this went around and he couldn't get a contract. Another 85er who I coached the most had a Major Junior coach come watch him and tell him he was definitely good enough to play on his team. He was 6' 140 at the time and the day before main camp he decided he was too light and didn't attend the camp. He skated in a 3 on 3 camp with all major Jr. players and doubled the points of the next scorer. So skill is only one of the factors.

An 87 born player who always attended my camps and played as an underage affiliate on some of my teams was drafted in the second round, played NCAA and on two Canada world junior teams. He scored 125 goals in Pee Wee and did his last two years of high school in one year then went to college. I don't know what happened but they seemed to coach the offensive creativity out of him and he became a hard nosed defensive specialist who hit and fought as a 5' 10" 175 lb player. He kicked around the minors and I got him a tryout in Europe but he didn't have the offensive confidence anymore and retired.

When I was assistant coach at university we had a player who played Major Junior scored 135 points one year and 162 the next with 81 G and 81 A. He was the WHL player of the year. The problem he was 5' 9" and 175 lbs. but wasn't a fast skater. He could only get goals and assists. Every season we would have players who attended NHL camps but this player was never asked. I wondered why no team even tried to see if he could be a PP specialist. I think he still holds the record in Major Jr. for PP goals and that is over all the famous players you can think of.

I did three skills sessions a week at a local sports school to pay for my son's tuition and hockey fee. I only knew the boy's first names because they got bused to the rink and I was waiting there for them. Three made the NHL, one just signed with another team, one is skilled by undersized and played a while and now plays in the KHL, a third won the ROY and is a top two D.

I more or less got into coaching female hockey in 2003-04 season at college for 5 years, went to coach for the Red Bulls in Austria, then pro women for 2 and then Bantam boy's and back to Midget AAA girl's until last season. Many of the girl's have gone on to play college hockey.

In 2008-09 when I coached in Austria and had a 93 born Finnish D man on my U17 team. He is undersized at 5' 11" and about 175 but may be the best skater I have coached. He won ROY in the Finnish Elite league two seasons ago and attended an NHL camp. He should end up in the NHL but he needs to be with the right organization. Another 93 born player in that group was ROY in Austria's top pro league.

Watching TV I saw another former player who played for me in Midget AA in the 82-83 season. He is GM of the NHL team from the 'Land of 10 000 Lakes' and has done very well for himself.

So size, skating, women, bad luck, injuries, parents, confidence are all important factors that happen on the Way to the Dream.

Every one on these players who didn't make it are successful in business. So the struggles and successes on the ice have transferred well to life after hockey.

'The Game is the Greatest Coach'
'Enjoy the Game'