Post by Kazreema on Feb 18, 2006 13:21:40 GMT
More from The Cool Cat, issue 6 this time. Massive long interview with Mike that's absolutely fascinating. Full of very interesting snippets, many of which are fun to read with hindsight! I'd be interested to hear what people think of many of his comments, now that he's back with us.
From issue 6, special Wembley edition, spring 1994
Facing off with:
Mike Blaisdell
Blazer tells it like it is
What teams did you play for in the NHL and who stand out for you as the best players?
I played for Detroit Redwings, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and then 20 or 30 games with Toronto Maple Leafs. I had the pleasure of playing with Mario Lemieux and I think he was by far the best talent I have ever seen. I played against Gretsky a few games and he was certainly a close second if not an equal. Those two stand out more than anyone. Some of the toughness you see is quite amazing, some of the players - their strength, speed and aggressiveness. A guy like Vincelette over here now - you can see that he’s played in that league for so long that he’s used to rashing and bashing. People don’t appreciate how big they are. Aside from a few players in each British team no one’s really big enough to even play there. The small players are very fast or they don’t play, and most of the defencemen are really big. Our defence would be average height in the NHL. That’s what I like about our defence - they’re big, they’re very big.
What are your best memories from that time?
I think playing in front of the big crowds is kind of unique and I always enjoyed it when my father and mother came to watch one of the games. I think it was more fun at the beginning - I have better memories of the first few years. As I got older it was more of a survival thing. I was never a superstar by any means. I had to go out each day and earn my job - it was quite stressful at times because you were wondering if you were still on the team day-to-day. It was tough because it’s big business - they change their players so quickly. There were only three years where I stuck with the senior team the whole year. The other years I bounced up and down in the minor leagues which is difficult - you get disappointed and then it’s tough to motivate yourself again. It would be like me sending some of my players to play for the Jaguars. Some of them wouldn’t perform because they’re playing in a smaller arena, there’s not so many people, and you know you’re fighting to get yourself back up. It was hard each time to go down and then have to claw your way back up again. But it was certainly an enjoyable lifestyle. The money’s good and you travel a lot, you see the US and Canada but it’s not as glamorous as it looks. You make pretty good money but you spend a lot with all the travelling. But it was rewarding, it toughens you up for a lot of other things, it prepares you for the rest of the world.
Did you have a reputation when you were in the NHL? You had a bit of a hard reputation when you were at Durham.
No, it was more difficult to be a tough guy in the NHL. Here I was bigger and stronger than most of the players, but over there I was just on an even keel. I wasn’t known as a fighter because there were certain guys that fought all the time and no one messed with them. Then there were guys who played hockey - I was more of a hockey player I’d say, but I wasn’t afraid to mix it once in a while. I had quite a few fights, but I wouldn’t say I went head-to-head with all the tough guys because they were very tough. If they started sending guys over here like Joey Kocur it wouldn’t be much of a contest. Some of the guys that come over here - like Mike Ware - weren’t tough enough to play in the NHL so you can imagine how tough some of these guys are. I was more of a defensive specialist in a way, I killed penalties and I played on a second or third line checking. I was against Gretsky, trying to make sure he didn’t score too many goals, that was the sort of player I was. It’s the same with Doug Smail. He never scored more than 15 goals in a year, but over here he can do things that he was never allowed to do in the NHL. Over there you’re assigned to do certain jobs. You go out for 40 seconds and your job is to bash into a few people and make sure they don’t score. Your chances of scoring get pretty slim.
Why did you first come over to Britain?
It was the year I played with the Canadian National Team. I’d travelled quite a bit and I was almost ready to hang the skates up. I’d gone home and was just about to start a job. I’d had a few injuries and I’d resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to play any more. Then I got a call from Nottingham - Alex Dampier phoned, said he was interested in signing me. I said I needed a couple of weeks to sort things out and he signed Todd Bidner. He needed a guy then - he didn’t know how I was going to react to Britain and here was a guy ready to play for him. It was just before the deadline when Durham contacted me. I didn’t really realise there was hockey in Britain although some of my friends had been over a few years before - Kurt Wickenheiser played in Streatham. He was a little guy and wasn’t that great a hockey player, so I thought the standard of hockey can’t be that good. But they made me an offer and there were only 21/2 months of the season left, so I thought why not go and see Britain. When I pulled up at Durham ice rink, I thought, what have I got myself into. But it was such a good atmosphere that year in Durham. We had such a strong team and we filled our rink every night - that’s half the battle. An ugly rink can look pretty nice when it’s full of people. It was fun, and I was one of the few imports that got along with Rick Brebant. Most of them wanted to strangle him after every game. He tells you everything and he’s an expert, but I enjoyed playing with him because he was so competitive. He wanted to win so bad and it rubbed off on everyone else. You’ll see wherever he goes they usually do well. And I enjoyed the Cooper brothers, they’re good friends of mine, and Mike O’Connor - that made Durham more enjoyable. I don’t like to talk bad about Durham even though I had some problems at the end, because there were some good times and the people there were really good. It’s easier being a player than a coach, you go out and play the game, then you go in the bar afterwards and everyone slaps you on the back. I used to get along great with all the fans. I was more social then, as a coach I find it more stressful. I prepare the team all week and it’s up to them to do the job on the ice. If we win or lose I never look at myself as being a major factor in it. I feel glad that the guys did well and did a good job but when they lose I don’t look at myself and say you’re a lousy coach. I look at my input all week, all year, and then it’s up to them to do the job on the night. Maybe I make a mistake, or maybe I yell at the ref and take a stupid penalty, that’s when I’m hard on myself. I’m just as tired after coaching a game because I watch everything. I see every move that each player makes and they know. One thing these guys will be able to say is that they can’t get away with anything because I can see when they screw up and I let them know. At the beginning of the year I don’t know if they accepted it - I’m quite vocal when they make a mistake - but on the other hand I give them a pat on the back when they do something right, and after a while they may get tired of hearing me yell. We’ve progressed quite a bit, they’re making less mistakes now and it’s showing in our goals against. They’re starting to play very disciplined, which I’ve wanted to do all year. It may be the same every year when they start, but some of them seemed to want to play their own game and then you’re not working off each other. We were losing games by 1 goal against teams I didn’t think had close to the talent we had, before we hit some of the injury problems. I certainly wasn’t happy with the way the first third of the season went. But since then it’s a little more relaxed.
We saw a quote recently that you said you gave the Wasps a more intimidating aura. Is that what you’re trying to do with the Panthers?
When I signed on as coach, I entertained thoughts of getting either Mark Pallister or Perry Doyle. I think some of the directors didn’t agree, but I think that’s one of the advantages of being a player, you know some guys can be intimidated. Hockey’s a very physical sport. People see the home games and they think everyone should just be rushing around out there, free wheeling, having fun and sticking the puck in the net, but it’s a little different when you go up into a cold rink like Fife or Durham and you’ve got a Mark Pallister trying to run you right through the boards. Guys get a little timid sometimes and then they’re beating you to the puck. I knew that from what I saw of the Panthers in the past. I know they had Selmar last year, who was quite an intimidating factor, but then he was an import. So I said we’ve got to get a tough guy. A guy that will stick up for his team mates and who would make some of the younger guys feel a little more comfortable. Perry’s been excellent. Right from the start he’s shown that he would stick up for any of our players and he’s also improved 100% hockey-wise since the beginning of the year. When he started out he had trouble turning a certain way, and he couldn’t carry a puck more than five feet without it bouncing off his stick. He cost us so many goals at the beginning of the year, but I had to be patient because I figured this is the kind of guy that you can develop, he’s got the raw strength and intimidating nature. I don’t want them to play dirty or fight - I’ve never told them that. Our team gets in a few scuffles because one of the rules I have is that if you are going in on a puck you should never turn away from the player, even after he passes it. It’s legal in hockey to take him out of the play for three or four seconds after he makes the pass. I used to love playing against teams where you make a pass and the guy that’s coming at you turns away. You don’t get hit, I mean it’s fun out there. When you’re playing against Dorion, Scotty Morrison or Claude Dumas, if they think that you’re not going to hit them when they pass the puck or they go in for a shot then they can be great players, but if they’re playing a guy like Lambert or Premak, Doyle, Malo, Waghorn or Trickett, they know that every time they do something they’re going to get hit. After a while it sinks into their brain - this isn’t much fun. And then they think we’re playing the Nottingham Panthers tonight, I might have a night off because I can go home tomorrow when we play Basingstoke, and I can score seven goals and everyone will still love me.
That’s exactly what Dorion was like for us. He couldn’t play against Stephen Cooper. The first time Cooper had him against the boards that was it.
That’s what I wanted to instil in these guys and I think it’s starting to pay dividends now. Like Malo, he throws some crunching checks. We’ve got four huge defencemen and as these four come down on those guys they start thinking twice about going to the net. Like Waghorn crunches guys as well - those guys are monsters back there.
A lot of work has gone into this team and they’ve improved beyond belief. Like Trickett and Smurf, they’re good little hockey players now. When I came into this team I didn’t want to have a line of kids that would scramble around for 40 seconds, all hell would break loose in our end and the other team would score a goal. I saw that happen in Durham but if someone got injured and one of the kids got thrown onto the first or second line then I could see the strides they made. All year I’ve been trying to integrate guys in with the two lines, and it’s paid off. Trickett and Smurf are confident enough to carry the puck and they’re making plays. Now I can put them out with Ross, and I could put them out with Adey, and they don’t look out of place. The first half of the year maybe some sacrifices were made in order to do this and I look at it as more long term. I could easily have gone for the wins earlier in the year and played the life out of my imports but it’s been geared to finish strong and go into the play offs. On paper you’re not going to beat Cardiff for the league title but you can catch them on a one off game. I never thought we’d win the league at the beginning of the year but I think every coach in the country wants to win Wembley. You know Cardiff won the league this year and I don’t think it was a big deal to them. We won it twice in Durham and once we didn’t even realise we’d won. We clinched it in Fife and no one even cared. We had to fake the picture in the dressing room, act like we were excited. I can see it would be exciting if you won it on your last game at home, which I’d love to see happening in the Premier League. I don’t feel the league trophy means a big deal because people knew before Christmas that Cardiff was going to win the league. I think Cardiff would gladly trade in their league trophy to make sure they got Wembley.
You seemed to enjoy the game against the Russians, do you miss playing?
I dreaded that game because I thought I wasn’t fit. But it was fun, I enjoyed playing with my players. It was a good night and I had some laughs. I would rather have played against Billingham or somewhere instead of the top Russian side because it would have been nice to score a goal. When I pulled the Panthers sweater on it felt good, I can’t describe it. I have a lot of pride in this team and everything we’re trying to do, but when I actually pulled the sweater on over my own head it just felt good. It’s hard to explain, but then to go out and hear the crowd again. No one ever cheers a coach, but all of a sudden some people were clapping for me when they announced my name which felt good because I wasn’t sure how they’d react. We hadn’t had the greatest of seasons although I still say we haven’t had that bad a year considering. We are also in a league that is a lot more competitive than most years and all of a sudden they throw Sheffield into the picture and good Durham and Fife sides. It’s tough, it’s a competitive league.
What do you think of Sheffield?
I like a lot about Sheffield. The arena’s beautiful and I think they’ve got a good hockey team, they have a lot of talent in that team. I don’t like the media and the hype that surrounds the team, I think they cheapen the sport. A lot of sports writers have never been to a hockey game but now they’re feeding information to a bunch of people who also don’t know anything about hockey. People have sent me articles that have appeared in the local press and I just can’t believe that they get away with it. At least we have someone in Mick Holland who knows the game a bit. They’ve got some clowns up there who wouldn’t know what a good play was. I read the game report that one guy wrote and I thought - was he at the same game I was? And every time Sheffield scores a goal it was beautiful and such skill involved - they scored about three goals against us in our rink, I think one bounced off a shin pad and changed direction, another one went trickling over with a bad bounce on the goalie - they see what they want to see and they feed a lot of misinformation to their supporters. I don’t think it will change for a while. You’ve got a lot of new supporters up there that have never really watched hockey and they’re in it for the big show. You go to rinks like Durham, Fife, Murrayfield or Nottingham, and there are knowledgeable people who applaud good plays and good defensive plays. Sheffield fans cheer like crazy when their goalie makes a save from about 100 feet out. Then when it’s a low scoring game they’re totally bored. You know it was as quiet as a church when we went in there and it was 5 to 3, but it was still a well played hockey game. As the standard goes up in Britain, the scores go down. Who wants to see the likes of Oxford getting beat 27-1 or something. Anyone who thinks that’s good hockey is out of their mind. Division 1 teams that are used to that, when they come up to the Premier and they’re out against Premak and Doyle and the next shift Malo and Waghorn, they find it’s not so easy to score 7 and 10 goals a night.
When we interviewed Smurf’s parents they told us that you’d talked to a group of parents about the hard work that the Coopers had put in when they were at Durham. Most people don’t see that, they just see the well paid superstars. Can you tell us more about it?
What I said to the parents, and I’ve said to the players, is that the opportunity for a British player to become a real superstar is there for the taking for any of them. It comes down to self sacrifice, if you want it bad enough. I don’t preach that these guys should never go out on a date or out to a night club and have a few too many pints. But I tell them from Thursday on they should be pretty dedicated because it’s there for them. If Smurf Twaite scores 60 goals next year because he watches what he eats and drinks, and he goes to the gym and gets stronger and faster - can you imagine a Nottingham lad tearing the league apart and scoring like Tony Hand? Imagine how he would be respected in this community. He’d be very well paid, because if we got a British guy who could score like an import we wouldn’t bring an import in. There are guys at our club who have the potential, like Trickett and Hunt, but it’s whether they want it badly enough. I can only do so much to see if they want it. I just know what the Coopers were like. They wouldn’t think of going to a bar the night before a game or even Thursday night. They’ve done very well and there’s a reason for it. Every time there’s ice time they’re there, working on little things. They both have a well rounded game and they want to win. When I first got here a couple of times I really got upset at the players - when we lost to Durham 7-6, with a little more effort we would have won. Two minutes after the game there was a bunch of them just laughing and joking like nothing had happened, and even when we got beat up at Billingham. It was like a funny thing to some of those guys, and I weeded some of them out, because I knew the ones who were the main culprits. Give me a guy who is competitive and wants to win over someone who has more talent and I’ll work hard with him and try to help him. Like Perry Doyle. He doesn’t want to lose - he puts in effort every practice. I’d rather have 13 guys who really want to win than 13 who want to win and 4 who don’t give a poo poo, because that will rub off on some of the others. Since Christmas every one of those guys listens. They respect what I have to say, and I think they all know that I want the best for the team. When I yell at them and tell them they’re doing something wrong they don’t turn round and say what an asshole for yelling at them. They know I can help them. The bottom line is I want to win. You know no one wants to win more than the coach. They’ve got to come down and give me intensity and devotion - I don’t ask for miracles from these guys. They’re doing well and I’m proud of them all right now. I think they know that I’m fair as well, I’ve got no favourites. I play every guy. They’ve all got a chance to be on powerplays and they know that. We’ve got some guys that are more talented than others but don’t play quite as much. When we have a powerplay everyone’s got assignments to do and if one guy goes off and plays his own game, the whole thing just crumbles. And then it’s hard on the other four guys that are out there because the fans start getting upset. You know there’s times when Malo has gone behind our net waiting for the four of them to come into a certain area before he leaves. Then the fans start booing him, but it’s not his fault, it’s because the other idiot has not done what he’s supposed to do. When they start missing assignments they wind up on the bench. There’s been times when some of our best players have sat on the bench watching the game go by and we’ve still gone on and won. I have no time for anyone who wants to and play their own game and that’s imports included. They know they’ll get a hard a time of it from me as the British guys. That’s the only time I come down hard on these guys. One of the problems we had at times this year, we played brilliant games on Saturday night and beat someone like Murrayfield, and then we’d go up to Humberside or somewhere and there would just be no effort. Two or three guys worked hard and the other ten didn’t. But what can you do? You can’t sit ten guys on the bench and play three. It hasn’t happened since Christmas. They’re having fun now. I think it’s important to keep training sessions varied and interesting . It’s all new and it challenges them a little. You respect the coach when you think he’s dome some homework on the evening’s skate. It’s fund to come out and try a new thing - it keeps your mind alert. I’m happy with then now and I certainly hope that we see a lot of them back.
I don’t think there’s many fans who think that you’re not the right man for the job now.
I can honestly say that I care about the team and I put a lot of effort into it. Every waking hour I’m thinking of what we can do this weekend, and there’s been times when I was almost burnt out. This week I gave the guys three days off because a lot of them were hurting, but I needed it more than anyone. I was getting pretty frazzled with the financial problems and injuries one after another. I was thinking someone up there doesn’t like us right now. When Adey went down, that was hard. That week I never slept more than three hours. I just thought why? I hate to see one of my players getting hurt and then for your top scoring import to go down, your captain, and a couple of weeks past the deadline. Then I have to look at a guy who is fighting for his career. It was very hard. I feel for these guys, you get personal with them all, and I hate to see anyone get hurt. That’s why I go a little wild on the bench sometimes, and why we’ve got someone like Perry around to discourage that type of thing. With all the financial problems - can you imagine if we had folded our tents and called it a year when Paul got hurt. People trying to raise money for the club, and the team going through the motions and not really entertaining anyone, it could have been disastrous. That’s why these guys deserve a pat on the back, especially guys like Lambert who’s played through the injuries, and some of the young guys, the way that they’ve come on. We were hammering teams, without Paul, I couldn’t believe it. We really gave it to Humberside and Durham were never in the game until the last five minutes. I can hardly wait for the play offs - but I can also hardly wait until next season. I can’t imagine what some of these guys will be like next year. Like Twaite and Trickett, they’ll grow more and be stronger. And then there’s Tait, he’s another one, we’ll put a little meat on him this summer. I’m going to get him on a weight programme - I want to get him a little stronger and bigger, because he has got some major potential. It’s just a matter of keeping them all though. That’s the hardest thing about being a coach. We put a lot of time and effort into Perry Doyle, and then someone else comes in for him. We put hours and hours into trying to improve his skills and turn him into a big strong hockey player which he is now, and he’ll get even better. By the end of next year, I swear he’ll be on a par with Waghorn. And Butler will be a good goalie as well, if we could get him to live here and get shots all week.
And then there’s the imports. You look at Sheffield - Selmar’s injured, and I don’t rate Shudra, so what do you think? They could offer Premak a little more money than we can give him. It’s a shame, but I tell you what, I think some of our guys hate them enough not to want to go there. If the rules aren’t changed they’ll probably have ten Canadians on their team, so at least we won’t need to worry about them stealing any of our British guys. They’ll take the easy way, I know that.
What about Sheffield saying “We don’t care what the BIHA say, we’re doing what we want to do”?
Well they’re getting a little bit too - what do you call it around here - they think they’re the bees knees? In Canada we say “They think they’re the cat’s arse!” They think they can do what they want because they’ve got solicitors as their sponsors.
We’ve got a great bunch of guys and that’s why I’d like to keep this whole team together and build on it. I don’t think we have to go out hunting for better British talent, I think we’ve got quite a bit here and we can work with it and see it improve. That’s the joy of it.
From issue 6, special Wembley edition, spring 1994
Facing off with:
Mike Blaisdell
Blazer tells it like it is
What teams did you play for in the NHL and who stand out for you as the best players?
I played for Detroit Redwings, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and then 20 or 30 games with Toronto Maple Leafs. I had the pleasure of playing with Mario Lemieux and I think he was by far the best talent I have ever seen. I played against Gretsky a few games and he was certainly a close second if not an equal. Those two stand out more than anyone. Some of the toughness you see is quite amazing, some of the players - their strength, speed and aggressiveness. A guy like Vincelette over here now - you can see that he’s played in that league for so long that he’s used to rashing and bashing. People don’t appreciate how big they are. Aside from a few players in each British team no one’s really big enough to even play there. The small players are very fast or they don’t play, and most of the defencemen are really big. Our defence would be average height in the NHL. That’s what I like about our defence - they’re big, they’re very big.
What are your best memories from that time?
I think playing in front of the big crowds is kind of unique and I always enjoyed it when my father and mother came to watch one of the games. I think it was more fun at the beginning - I have better memories of the first few years. As I got older it was more of a survival thing. I was never a superstar by any means. I had to go out each day and earn my job - it was quite stressful at times because you were wondering if you were still on the team day-to-day. It was tough because it’s big business - they change their players so quickly. There were only three years where I stuck with the senior team the whole year. The other years I bounced up and down in the minor leagues which is difficult - you get disappointed and then it’s tough to motivate yourself again. It would be like me sending some of my players to play for the Jaguars. Some of them wouldn’t perform because they’re playing in a smaller arena, there’s not so many people, and you know you’re fighting to get yourself back up. It was hard each time to go down and then have to claw your way back up again. But it was certainly an enjoyable lifestyle. The money’s good and you travel a lot, you see the US and Canada but it’s not as glamorous as it looks. You make pretty good money but you spend a lot with all the travelling. But it was rewarding, it toughens you up for a lot of other things, it prepares you for the rest of the world.
Did you have a reputation when you were in the NHL? You had a bit of a hard reputation when you were at Durham.
No, it was more difficult to be a tough guy in the NHL. Here I was bigger and stronger than most of the players, but over there I was just on an even keel. I wasn’t known as a fighter because there were certain guys that fought all the time and no one messed with them. Then there were guys who played hockey - I was more of a hockey player I’d say, but I wasn’t afraid to mix it once in a while. I had quite a few fights, but I wouldn’t say I went head-to-head with all the tough guys because they were very tough. If they started sending guys over here like Joey Kocur it wouldn’t be much of a contest. Some of the guys that come over here - like Mike Ware - weren’t tough enough to play in the NHL so you can imagine how tough some of these guys are. I was more of a defensive specialist in a way, I killed penalties and I played on a second or third line checking. I was against Gretsky, trying to make sure he didn’t score too many goals, that was the sort of player I was. It’s the same with Doug Smail. He never scored more than 15 goals in a year, but over here he can do things that he was never allowed to do in the NHL. Over there you’re assigned to do certain jobs. You go out for 40 seconds and your job is to bash into a few people and make sure they don’t score. Your chances of scoring get pretty slim.
Why did you first come over to Britain?
It was the year I played with the Canadian National Team. I’d travelled quite a bit and I was almost ready to hang the skates up. I’d gone home and was just about to start a job. I’d had a few injuries and I’d resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to play any more. Then I got a call from Nottingham - Alex Dampier phoned, said he was interested in signing me. I said I needed a couple of weeks to sort things out and he signed Todd Bidner. He needed a guy then - he didn’t know how I was going to react to Britain and here was a guy ready to play for him. It was just before the deadline when Durham contacted me. I didn’t really realise there was hockey in Britain although some of my friends had been over a few years before - Kurt Wickenheiser played in Streatham. He was a little guy and wasn’t that great a hockey player, so I thought the standard of hockey can’t be that good. But they made me an offer and there were only 21/2 months of the season left, so I thought why not go and see Britain. When I pulled up at Durham ice rink, I thought, what have I got myself into. But it was such a good atmosphere that year in Durham. We had such a strong team and we filled our rink every night - that’s half the battle. An ugly rink can look pretty nice when it’s full of people. It was fun, and I was one of the few imports that got along with Rick Brebant. Most of them wanted to strangle him after every game. He tells you everything and he’s an expert, but I enjoyed playing with him because he was so competitive. He wanted to win so bad and it rubbed off on everyone else. You’ll see wherever he goes they usually do well. And I enjoyed the Cooper brothers, they’re good friends of mine, and Mike O’Connor - that made Durham more enjoyable. I don’t like to talk bad about Durham even though I had some problems at the end, because there were some good times and the people there were really good. It’s easier being a player than a coach, you go out and play the game, then you go in the bar afterwards and everyone slaps you on the back. I used to get along great with all the fans. I was more social then, as a coach I find it more stressful. I prepare the team all week and it’s up to them to do the job on the ice. If we win or lose I never look at myself as being a major factor in it. I feel glad that the guys did well and did a good job but when they lose I don’t look at myself and say you’re a lousy coach. I look at my input all week, all year, and then it’s up to them to do the job on the night. Maybe I make a mistake, or maybe I yell at the ref and take a stupid penalty, that’s when I’m hard on myself. I’m just as tired after coaching a game because I watch everything. I see every move that each player makes and they know. One thing these guys will be able to say is that they can’t get away with anything because I can see when they screw up and I let them know. At the beginning of the year I don’t know if they accepted it - I’m quite vocal when they make a mistake - but on the other hand I give them a pat on the back when they do something right, and after a while they may get tired of hearing me yell. We’ve progressed quite a bit, they’re making less mistakes now and it’s showing in our goals against. They’re starting to play very disciplined, which I’ve wanted to do all year. It may be the same every year when they start, but some of them seemed to want to play their own game and then you’re not working off each other. We were losing games by 1 goal against teams I didn’t think had close to the talent we had, before we hit some of the injury problems. I certainly wasn’t happy with the way the first third of the season went. But since then it’s a little more relaxed.
We saw a quote recently that you said you gave the Wasps a more intimidating aura. Is that what you’re trying to do with the Panthers?
When I signed on as coach, I entertained thoughts of getting either Mark Pallister or Perry Doyle. I think some of the directors didn’t agree, but I think that’s one of the advantages of being a player, you know some guys can be intimidated. Hockey’s a very physical sport. People see the home games and they think everyone should just be rushing around out there, free wheeling, having fun and sticking the puck in the net, but it’s a little different when you go up into a cold rink like Fife or Durham and you’ve got a Mark Pallister trying to run you right through the boards. Guys get a little timid sometimes and then they’re beating you to the puck. I knew that from what I saw of the Panthers in the past. I know they had Selmar last year, who was quite an intimidating factor, but then he was an import. So I said we’ve got to get a tough guy. A guy that will stick up for his team mates and who would make some of the younger guys feel a little more comfortable. Perry’s been excellent. Right from the start he’s shown that he would stick up for any of our players and he’s also improved 100% hockey-wise since the beginning of the year. When he started out he had trouble turning a certain way, and he couldn’t carry a puck more than five feet without it bouncing off his stick. He cost us so many goals at the beginning of the year, but I had to be patient because I figured this is the kind of guy that you can develop, he’s got the raw strength and intimidating nature. I don’t want them to play dirty or fight - I’ve never told them that. Our team gets in a few scuffles because one of the rules I have is that if you are going in on a puck you should never turn away from the player, even after he passes it. It’s legal in hockey to take him out of the play for three or four seconds after he makes the pass. I used to love playing against teams where you make a pass and the guy that’s coming at you turns away. You don’t get hit, I mean it’s fun out there. When you’re playing against Dorion, Scotty Morrison or Claude Dumas, if they think that you’re not going to hit them when they pass the puck or they go in for a shot then they can be great players, but if they’re playing a guy like Lambert or Premak, Doyle, Malo, Waghorn or Trickett, they know that every time they do something they’re going to get hit. After a while it sinks into their brain - this isn’t much fun. And then they think we’re playing the Nottingham Panthers tonight, I might have a night off because I can go home tomorrow when we play Basingstoke, and I can score seven goals and everyone will still love me.
That’s exactly what Dorion was like for us. He couldn’t play against Stephen Cooper. The first time Cooper had him against the boards that was it.
That’s what I wanted to instil in these guys and I think it’s starting to pay dividends now. Like Malo, he throws some crunching checks. We’ve got four huge defencemen and as these four come down on those guys they start thinking twice about going to the net. Like Waghorn crunches guys as well - those guys are monsters back there.
A lot of work has gone into this team and they’ve improved beyond belief. Like Trickett and Smurf, they’re good little hockey players now. When I came into this team I didn’t want to have a line of kids that would scramble around for 40 seconds, all hell would break loose in our end and the other team would score a goal. I saw that happen in Durham but if someone got injured and one of the kids got thrown onto the first or second line then I could see the strides they made. All year I’ve been trying to integrate guys in with the two lines, and it’s paid off. Trickett and Smurf are confident enough to carry the puck and they’re making plays. Now I can put them out with Ross, and I could put them out with Adey, and they don’t look out of place. The first half of the year maybe some sacrifices were made in order to do this and I look at it as more long term. I could easily have gone for the wins earlier in the year and played the life out of my imports but it’s been geared to finish strong and go into the play offs. On paper you’re not going to beat Cardiff for the league title but you can catch them on a one off game. I never thought we’d win the league at the beginning of the year but I think every coach in the country wants to win Wembley. You know Cardiff won the league this year and I don’t think it was a big deal to them. We won it twice in Durham and once we didn’t even realise we’d won. We clinched it in Fife and no one even cared. We had to fake the picture in the dressing room, act like we were excited. I can see it would be exciting if you won it on your last game at home, which I’d love to see happening in the Premier League. I don’t feel the league trophy means a big deal because people knew before Christmas that Cardiff was going to win the league. I think Cardiff would gladly trade in their league trophy to make sure they got Wembley.
You seemed to enjoy the game against the Russians, do you miss playing?
I dreaded that game because I thought I wasn’t fit. But it was fun, I enjoyed playing with my players. It was a good night and I had some laughs. I would rather have played against Billingham or somewhere instead of the top Russian side because it would have been nice to score a goal. When I pulled the Panthers sweater on it felt good, I can’t describe it. I have a lot of pride in this team and everything we’re trying to do, but when I actually pulled the sweater on over my own head it just felt good. It’s hard to explain, but then to go out and hear the crowd again. No one ever cheers a coach, but all of a sudden some people were clapping for me when they announced my name which felt good because I wasn’t sure how they’d react. We hadn’t had the greatest of seasons although I still say we haven’t had that bad a year considering. We are also in a league that is a lot more competitive than most years and all of a sudden they throw Sheffield into the picture and good Durham and Fife sides. It’s tough, it’s a competitive league.
What do you think of Sheffield?
I like a lot about Sheffield. The arena’s beautiful and I think they’ve got a good hockey team, they have a lot of talent in that team. I don’t like the media and the hype that surrounds the team, I think they cheapen the sport. A lot of sports writers have never been to a hockey game but now they’re feeding information to a bunch of people who also don’t know anything about hockey. People have sent me articles that have appeared in the local press and I just can’t believe that they get away with it. At least we have someone in Mick Holland who knows the game a bit. They’ve got some clowns up there who wouldn’t know what a good play was. I read the game report that one guy wrote and I thought - was he at the same game I was? And every time Sheffield scores a goal it was beautiful and such skill involved - they scored about three goals against us in our rink, I think one bounced off a shin pad and changed direction, another one went trickling over with a bad bounce on the goalie - they see what they want to see and they feed a lot of misinformation to their supporters. I don’t think it will change for a while. You’ve got a lot of new supporters up there that have never really watched hockey and they’re in it for the big show. You go to rinks like Durham, Fife, Murrayfield or Nottingham, and there are knowledgeable people who applaud good plays and good defensive plays. Sheffield fans cheer like crazy when their goalie makes a save from about 100 feet out. Then when it’s a low scoring game they’re totally bored. You know it was as quiet as a church when we went in there and it was 5 to 3, but it was still a well played hockey game. As the standard goes up in Britain, the scores go down. Who wants to see the likes of Oxford getting beat 27-1 or something. Anyone who thinks that’s good hockey is out of their mind. Division 1 teams that are used to that, when they come up to the Premier and they’re out against Premak and Doyle and the next shift Malo and Waghorn, they find it’s not so easy to score 7 and 10 goals a night.
When we interviewed Smurf’s parents they told us that you’d talked to a group of parents about the hard work that the Coopers had put in when they were at Durham. Most people don’t see that, they just see the well paid superstars. Can you tell us more about it?
What I said to the parents, and I’ve said to the players, is that the opportunity for a British player to become a real superstar is there for the taking for any of them. It comes down to self sacrifice, if you want it bad enough. I don’t preach that these guys should never go out on a date or out to a night club and have a few too many pints. But I tell them from Thursday on they should be pretty dedicated because it’s there for them. If Smurf Twaite scores 60 goals next year because he watches what he eats and drinks, and he goes to the gym and gets stronger and faster - can you imagine a Nottingham lad tearing the league apart and scoring like Tony Hand? Imagine how he would be respected in this community. He’d be very well paid, because if we got a British guy who could score like an import we wouldn’t bring an import in. There are guys at our club who have the potential, like Trickett and Hunt, but it’s whether they want it badly enough. I can only do so much to see if they want it. I just know what the Coopers were like. They wouldn’t think of going to a bar the night before a game or even Thursday night. They’ve done very well and there’s a reason for it. Every time there’s ice time they’re there, working on little things. They both have a well rounded game and they want to win. When I first got here a couple of times I really got upset at the players - when we lost to Durham 7-6, with a little more effort we would have won. Two minutes after the game there was a bunch of them just laughing and joking like nothing had happened, and even when we got beat up at Billingham. It was like a funny thing to some of those guys, and I weeded some of them out, because I knew the ones who were the main culprits. Give me a guy who is competitive and wants to win over someone who has more talent and I’ll work hard with him and try to help him. Like Perry Doyle. He doesn’t want to lose - he puts in effort every practice. I’d rather have 13 guys who really want to win than 13 who want to win and 4 who don’t give a poo poo, because that will rub off on some of the others. Since Christmas every one of those guys listens. They respect what I have to say, and I think they all know that I want the best for the team. When I yell at them and tell them they’re doing something wrong they don’t turn round and say what an asshole for yelling at them. They know I can help them. The bottom line is I want to win. You know no one wants to win more than the coach. They’ve got to come down and give me intensity and devotion - I don’t ask for miracles from these guys. They’re doing well and I’m proud of them all right now. I think they know that I’m fair as well, I’ve got no favourites. I play every guy. They’ve all got a chance to be on powerplays and they know that. We’ve got some guys that are more talented than others but don’t play quite as much. When we have a powerplay everyone’s got assignments to do and if one guy goes off and plays his own game, the whole thing just crumbles. And then it’s hard on the other four guys that are out there because the fans start getting upset. You know there’s times when Malo has gone behind our net waiting for the four of them to come into a certain area before he leaves. Then the fans start booing him, but it’s not his fault, it’s because the other idiot has not done what he’s supposed to do. When they start missing assignments they wind up on the bench. There’s been times when some of our best players have sat on the bench watching the game go by and we’ve still gone on and won. I have no time for anyone who wants to and play their own game and that’s imports included. They know they’ll get a hard a time of it from me as the British guys. That’s the only time I come down hard on these guys. One of the problems we had at times this year, we played brilliant games on Saturday night and beat someone like Murrayfield, and then we’d go up to Humberside or somewhere and there would just be no effort. Two or three guys worked hard and the other ten didn’t. But what can you do? You can’t sit ten guys on the bench and play three. It hasn’t happened since Christmas. They’re having fun now. I think it’s important to keep training sessions varied and interesting . It’s all new and it challenges them a little. You respect the coach when you think he’s dome some homework on the evening’s skate. It’s fund to come out and try a new thing - it keeps your mind alert. I’m happy with then now and I certainly hope that we see a lot of them back.
I don’t think there’s many fans who think that you’re not the right man for the job now.
I can honestly say that I care about the team and I put a lot of effort into it. Every waking hour I’m thinking of what we can do this weekend, and there’s been times when I was almost burnt out. This week I gave the guys three days off because a lot of them were hurting, but I needed it more than anyone. I was getting pretty frazzled with the financial problems and injuries one after another. I was thinking someone up there doesn’t like us right now. When Adey went down, that was hard. That week I never slept more than three hours. I just thought why? I hate to see one of my players getting hurt and then for your top scoring import to go down, your captain, and a couple of weeks past the deadline. Then I have to look at a guy who is fighting for his career. It was very hard. I feel for these guys, you get personal with them all, and I hate to see anyone get hurt. That’s why I go a little wild on the bench sometimes, and why we’ve got someone like Perry around to discourage that type of thing. With all the financial problems - can you imagine if we had folded our tents and called it a year when Paul got hurt. People trying to raise money for the club, and the team going through the motions and not really entertaining anyone, it could have been disastrous. That’s why these guys deserve a pat on the back, especially guys like Lambert who’s played through the injuries, and some of the young guys, the way that they’ve come on. We were hammering teams, without Paul, I couldn’t believe it. We really gave it to Humberside and Durham were never in the game until the last five minutes. I can hardly wait for the play offs - but I can also hardly wait until next season. I can’t imagine what some of these guys will be like next year. Like Twaite and Trickett, they’ll grow more and be stronger. And then there’s Tait, he’s another one, we’ll put a little meat on him this summer. I’m going to get him on a weight programme - I want to get him a little stronger and bigger, because he has got some major potential. It’s just a matter of keeping them all though. That’s the hardest thing about being a coach. We put a lot of time and effort into Perry Doyle, and then someone else comes in for him. We put hours and hours into trying to improve his skills and turn him into a big strong hockey player which he is now, and he’ll get even better. By the end of next year, I swear he’ll be on a par with Waghorn. And Butler will be a good goalie as well, if we could get him to live here and get shots all week.
And then there’s the imports. You look at Sheffield - Selmar’s injured, and I don’t rate Shudra, so what do you think? They could offer Premak a little more money than we can give him. It’s a shame, but I tell you what, I think some of our guys hate them enough not to want to go there. If the rules aren’t changed they’ll probably have ten Canadians on their team, so at least we won’t need to worry about them stealing any of our British guys. They’ll take the easy way, I know that.
What about Sheffield saying “We don’t care what the BIHA say, we’re doing what we want to do”?
Well they’re getting a little bit too - what do you call it around here - they think they’re the bees knees? In Canada we say “They think they’re the cat’s arse!” They think they can do what they want because they’ve got solicitors as their sponsors.
We’ve got a great bunch of guys and that’s why I’d like to keep this whole team together and build on it. I don’t think we have to go out hunting for better British talent, I think we’ve got quite a bit here and we can work with it and see it improve. That’s the joy of it.
