In a previous life I coached kids hockey with some buddies in Detroit. None of us had kids on the team, rather we thought it was a good way to give back to the community, work with some kids and have a good time. We did it for three or four years working our way up the travel program in Michigan. By the end of our run, we were coaching at a fairly senior level. I stopped coaching for a couple of reasons. First, I moved, first back to Toronto and then shortly thereafter to Miami for law school. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, I realized at the ripe old age of 25 that I was way too competitive.

When my son asked me to coach his soccer team some 10 years later I reluctantly gave in, again for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I didn’t know the first thing about soccer (how much trouble could I get in?), secondly, I was bored out of my mind whenever we went to the field for his games, thirdly, I hoped I had mellowed a little bit and could use this as a test for hockey should he ever ask me to coach his hockey team and finally and more importantly, for the simple reason that he asked.

So, this past spring when we signed up for the 2009-2010 hockey season when he asked me to coach him, I agreed. This time for 2 reasons. One, cause I learned in soccer that indeed I had mellowed and yes, more importantly, because he asked. To date I have had a complete blast. I am not the head coach so I have been fortunate enough to only play a small role as one of two assistant coaches. The coaches and parents on our team are extremely lucky. There isn’t a bad kid or parent amongst us. There isn’t a parent or kid in the group that doesn’t have their head in the right place. Everyone is there 100% for their kids to have fun. We all want our kids to learn the importance of team sports, and want our kids to have fun. i have yet to see with this group any thoughts, notions or ideas of grandeur. It’s a relief to say the least.

Tonight, I was reminded however, of the evils that lurke in arenas teaching our kids. I saw first hand the reason why we have problems in hockey here in Canada. I saw a coach with such an ego that he has lost all grip on reality. It was the prototypical case of what we as hockey parents should avoid like the plague, the worst part is the person exhibiting these behaviors has no clue what exactly he is.

Here is what happened. My team, a group of 7 and 8 year old house league boys had a practice scheduled at a local arena for 6:10pm. Our head coach wasn’t going to attend. So myself and the other assistant coach showed up to run the practice. We got to the rink early and immediately found there was a problem. We found a scheduling problem existed on the specific rink we had been told was reserved for us. Another team from our league was also there getting ready to practice. Now, in the grand scheme of things, this type of “conflict” isn’t a big deal right? I mean, keeping in mind the purpose of the exercise, the focus on the kids, how hard could it be to resolve the issue? I mean, even the 7 year old boys could suggest a proposed solution- split the ice.

So when the other assistant coach and I approached the coach from the other team, one would think that given reasonable minds a resolution could be achieved quickly. Instead, this coach, decided in less than 3 seconds, that his team was more important than ours, and that there was NO WAY his team wasn’t going to practice as scheduled. He looked at us and said, without batting an eye, oh no, my team is practicing, we have a playoff game tomorrow. He turned away, walked in to his locker room and slammed the door.

He did this in front of his players, his players parents, our players and our players parents. I mean isn’t this the guy you want to leave your kids with to teach life lessons? This guy had his priorities completely out of whack. Trying to talk to him was like trying to reason with a baby. It didn’t matter that we tried to tell him that he wasn’t in the wrong. It didn’t matter that we suggested that our association double booked the ice. The coach on multiple occasions actually wanted to fight over the ice! Can you imagine that this guy is allowed 10 seconds with the youth of today? In less than 30 seconds he decided that we were wrong and that his team was more important than his.

Finally, he asked us, what exactly we would suggest as a compromise. When we suggested something novel I guess, i mean a really innovative idea called SHARING the ice; splitting it in half, his response was, “that’s really tough to do”! Have you ever heard anything more inane? Unless his kids are lining up for the provincial championship that will decide their entire fate, no 1 practice can be that important to a group of under 10 year olds! I mean who was this guy at the rink for, his kids or his own ego? If this is as freaked as he gets about something so stupid as this, how does he react on the bench when a kid, i don’t know, scores on his own net (you know kids sometimes do that)?

Thankfully, the parents on his team, who were watching this all unfold, were able to speak some sense into this guy. The damage, was already done. While someone was talking to him on his team, we told our kids to go home. It wasn’t really worth it. After about five minutes, we were waiting to make sure that no more of parents showed up, he approached and said that we could share his ice. This was after he showed us his blackberry with the email confirming his ice time. We tried to explain to him that we never questioned whether or not he was told he had the ice. We told him that weren’t made about the mix up. Shit, as they say, happens. We were mad that a fellow coach would act as immaturely has he had. The message appeared to be lost on him. it wasn’t until 5-10 minutes passed and some more folks from his team talked to him that he tried to apologize to us. The damage was, already done.

This is where the problems in hockey start. Within each organization is a person like this. It’s not that they don’t have the right credentials. They aren’t bad people per se. They just don’t see the big picture. They don’t understand that there lessons are being monitored by the kids they are coaching. Their words and actions have huge impacts on the kids. It really isn’t only about winning. Teaching kids how to win and how to lose is equally important.

Proof? I have tried to tell my kids that falling in sports isn’t necessarily a bad thing. When they first learned to skate or ski, I told them that when they fell it meant that they did so because they were trying really hard. In fact, not falling could at times be a sign that they weren’t trying hard enough. I have told my son that practice in hockey for him is more important than the games themselves. It is in these practices where he learns the most. Our coaching group talked up this practice as being important because it was on the eve of our last regular season game. So, as my son and I walked out of the arena, my son looked and me and said, “if we lose tomorrow dad, will it be because we didn’t practice tonight?” Our kids listen, they hear everything we say, even in jest or in passing. The next time you hear the question, whats wrong with hockey in this country, take a look inside the locker room of your nearest arena. I suggest that inside you will find someone coaching a team like I did tonight. That my friend is the problem, that is the evil face of youth hockey. That is where this lack of respect starts. If it is happening at this age, can you imagine how much worse it is as the kids get older?

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

Had Brian Burke taken over the Leafs gig two summers ago, then his second offseason would be worth evaluating. Attempting to evaluate Burke today on his one year anniversary is nuts. I mean, the guy may fail, and he may fail miserably, but come on. He started a year ago, just over a quarter into the season. He has had 1 draft and one free agency, one trade deadline, and we are going to write a story entitled “Jury Still out on Burke”. One friggin year and you are drawing conclusions like that? The problem is the article by David Shoalts of the Globe and mail is only bad because it says NOTHING. The title is brutal and totally misleading.

“One of the things Brian Burke promised when he took over as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs was a sea change from the country-club atmosphere that settled over the team in previous years.

With the Burke era officially beginning its second year today with a game against the Buffalo Sabres, opinions are divided about the success of his first year – but most of the critics agree the players work much harder than they did in the past. However, no one should take that as a sign that a change in culture is complete.

True culture change, say those who took on the burden of doing it, takes years, sometimes more than a decade to complete. It takes a lot more than getting rid of a few lazy players who may be a bad influence on their teammates and bringing in some hard-workers.”

Rise your hand if you are care where the Toronto Maple Leafs are after his first year, or after his 5th or 6th. Who is going to spend the time and evaluate him at this point of the season. Let’s at least give him until the end of this season don’t you think?

““If you’re looking at the change to an elite team, it was probably 10 years,” Holland said. “But if you’re talking about going from what was the worst team in the world, as it was in 1985, to a playoff team, then you could say five years.””

Exaclty! So why even bother writing the article in the first place? I mean, if that is the gist of the article, and it is, then why bother. Shoalts makes all the arguments on why these takes time…5 to ten years in some cases, and yet the headline is that jury is out? What did people expect? Burke himself said this was going to be a long process.

“The key to success with youth, Holland said, is patience. That is an issue in Toronto, given defenceman Luke Schenn’s struggles in his second NHL season.

“The odd 18-year-old kid can change the fortunes of your team, but they’re named Gretzky and Lemieux,” Holland said. “For most of them, it takes a long time.

“People think next year you’re going to be twice as good, which is unrealistic. You go home for the summer and think you made it after your first year, plus your buddies are telling you, too. So, it is not until your second off-season that you hit the gym a lot harder than you did after the first year.”

I love that the Red Wings are again the blueprint of success. No one ever would have guessed that this would be the model of success years back. I remember when they were giving away cars at the JLA in attempt to get people to come to the arena. If they are the model, then shouldn’t others be afforded the same time to follow it? Let’s see Burke try to draft the same way Illitch’s team did and then we can talk right?

““We’ve got the work ethic, no one can say we don’t,” he said. “But we don’t have the talent like a team like the Red Wings. We don’t have a leader here who is out there doing the right thing all the time, a genuine Stevie Yzerman or Nicklas Lidstrom.

“[Yzerman] wasn’t regarded as a leader until he was about 10 years into his career. He got the captaincy early, but it was Scotty Bowman who basically brought it out of him and that took three or four years. That’s why if it’s Luke Schenn for us, it’s going to take three or four years.”

Exactly the point. So why the headline, and the intro to the article? Shoalts hit a homerun on the Coyotes. On the Leafs he seems to be striking out an awful lot lately.

Talk to you from Las Vegas

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia

So we are finally at the time when can start to look at the now, as opposed to looking forward. Summer is over. Most of our beloved reporters and media members will be back from vacation, Maple Leafs rookie camp is on, soon the big boys and the Raptors will be working out and of course, the NFL is almost ready to start up again. This week, there is going to be more news on the Coytoes and I would bet on the NHLPA. Follow that with Kessel, Heatly and it should make for an interesting week. Before we look at those items as they unfold, I thought it interesting to look back a little bit to see how far we have come.

It was 10 years ago, a search showed that we were hearing rumblings of the potential sale Of Maple Leaf Gardens. How sad I must say that not much has happened with the old building since the sale articles appeared in September of 1999. Only in this city can we sit on a historic building for so long. Look around at other cities with, dare I say equally if not more historical properties that either get restored or torn down in short order. Here in Toronto a building just sits. For my two cents, it doesn’t matter what is done with it as long as it gets done soon. If it were a movie theater, it would be cool to know you are sitting in the old gardens. If it were condo’s it would be cool to know that they were the old gardens. But for nothing to go on isn’t right. I suspect the city has held this up (way to go Mayor Miller) as there is nothing better for bureaucrats to do. It’s time me move on. Get this right.

Similarly, I read that it was 10 years ago that the Maple Leafs had 2 potential players as hold outs, Dimitri Yuskevich and Bryan Berard. What a difference 10 years make. When was the last time we saw a holdout with the Maple Leafs. Holding out these days will make it pretty difficult to play. If players hold out too long they won’t play at all. Funny in reading the articles back then to read the quotes of one Ken Dryden and of course one Wilbur Watters. My how their careers have changed in 10 years. Interesting also to read quotes from Dryden having to defend the Maple Leafs payroll of about 33-35 million back then. Does anyone miss the Dryden years? Does anyone miss the Watters years? The good thing about the Watters years was we knew the media would get lots of info and scoops. Watters was a great quote then, much as he is now.

Ten years ago I was just married living in Miami. We had a dog, but no kids. 10 years ago the Jays were bad, and well, not much has changed there either. It’s hard to believe how fast time has gone, yet equally so hard to believe how little has changed.

With all that has gone on this summer, it will be fascinating to look back and see where things are 10 years from now. Will the Jays be any better, will Burke’s Leafs have won the cup?? Where will the Coyotes play?

Interesting questions, any predictions where we will be in the year 2019?

By the way, did anyone catch Bob Elliott’s latest column in the Sunday Sun. He had a summary ala Simmons Last Word piece. I have to say it was damn good. Interesting how versatile the Jays writers are. Griffin has written some excellent non-Jays stuff I seem to recall, you all know where I stand on Jeff Blair and now Elliott. Do you think there is a reason for this? I do.

TSM

@yyzsportsmedia