Scout
05-28-2008, 07:11 PM
Chiefs’ coach savours Memorial Cup win
By Aaron Bell
Coaches always say that it’s the players that win championships, but for the Spokane Chiefs, their path to the Memorial Cup championship was clearly laid out by their coach Bill Peters.
Peters came into the national championship tournament as a bit of an unknown commodity, especially to people in Ontario. He was the only one of the four coaches that hadn’t competed in the MasterCard Memorial Cup, but he didn’t let his inexperience get in his way.
Peters enlisted the help of as many people as he could find to help him get ready for the tournament after the Chiefs swept their way past the Lethbridge Hurricanes to win the Western Hockey League title and the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
He said that he used the time – and advice – to make sure that he was prepared to compete against four teams that they had never played before. It was a challenge after winning the WHL championship against four clubs that they knew pretty well.
“When you play the same teams over and over, it’s almost like you could go and coach them because you know them inside out,” Peters said. “When you‘re facing an unknown opponent, it’s not intimidating, but it makes you work as a coach. I don’t know what my phone bill would be, but I was on the phone to guys in the Q(MJHL), guys out in Ontario, past coaches in the Western Hockey League that had been to the Memorial Cup. I was just trying to get as much information as I could. We had a plan and obviously it worked.”
Even with his homework done, Peters didn’t make many adjustments to his game plan before the Memorial Cup. The Chiefs were successful all season because they were stifling to play against in their own end but had enough offensive firepower to keep the opposition honest.
It was clear throughout the tournament that every player on the Chiefs’ roster completely bought into that system.
“It’s all about the team,” Peters said. “We don’t want all the guys going off on their own page and being individualistic. It doesn’t work in this sport. It’s the ultimate team game in my opinion. You’ve got to be able to play offence and defence. You have to be a well-rounded player and that’s what we preach to our guys. The better you play on defence, the more ice time you get because now the coach can trust you. If I can’t trust you, I’m not going to play you very much.”
It was fun to watch Peters work with his team throughout the tournament. He conducted upbeat practices that kept his players thinking, despite being through somewhere in the neighbourhood of 250 practices since September. His message never got lost on the players.
“He’s a fun coach to play for,” said standout sophomore Mitch Wahl, one of the best forwards in the tournament despite being just 17. “He knows the game very well and he runs a good system here. I think that all of our guys are on the same page and we’ve gelled to his system and it’s worked out well for us. He’s a great coach.”
Peters was an assistant coach with the Chiefs under current Detroit Red Wings’ bench boss Mike Babcock before leaving in 2002 to coach the University of Lethbridge. He came back to the Chiefs as their new head coach in 2005. The Red Deer, AB native said that he spent a lot of time listening to Babcock and other coaches that he was worked with and against to develop a style that works for him.
“As you get older, you get wiser hopefully and you learn from other people,” Peters said. “I just talk to a lot of good coaches and I just try not to talk very much when I’m around them. You have two ears and one mouth so try to do twice as much listening as you do talking and you’ll get better. I’m no different than a player. I challenge my guys to get better whether it’s fitness or skill acquisition. As a staff, we’ll also challenge ourselves to get better.”
Peters did a masterful job of getting his players to believe that they could beat any team in the tournament.
In their opener against the Belleville Bulls last Saturday, they jumped out to a three-goal lead before the Bulls stormed back with four goals to go ahead. The Chiefs tied the game late in the third and then won it in overtime. The next night they gave up an early goal to the Kitchener Rangers before scoring a pair and sitting on a one-goal lead against the top rated team in the country for almost two full periods to clinch a bye in the final. Next up was the Gatineau Olympiques and a supposedly meaningless game for the Chiefs. A Gatineau win would have forced a tie-breaker game and they got on the board first but the Chiefs didn’t relent. They tied it with a powerplay goal early in the second and then went ahead later in the period. They locked down the Olympiques’ impressive group of forwards the rest of the way and iced the win with an empty netter to finish with a perfect 3-0 round robin record.
In the final against Kitchener on Sunday, they gave up an early goal again but responded with a powerplay goal late in the first and then goals a little more than a minute apart in the second gave them an insurmountable lead even though they were facing some of the league’s top offensive players on their own ice.
Throughout the tournament, the Chiefs were the one team that looked like they were playing with nothing to lose. Peters said that they never felt any pressure to win and that might have been the difference between them and their opposition in what was a tightly played tournament.
“There’s no pressure,” Peters said earlier in the week. “We are young guys. We’re in the Memorial Cup championship. We’re hockey players doing what we love to do with a group of people we love to be with. Where’s the pressure there? There’s no pressure. Just go out and have fun and play hard. If that’s pressure then we’re in trouble. Pressure is when you don’t have the money to make the mortgage and things are going south that way. These kids are athletes. They love what they are doing.”
Jared Cowen iced the championship game with an empty-net goal in the final minute, giving the Chiefs’ the second Memorial Cup championship, following one that Pat Falloon and Ray Whitney helped them win in 1991.
Peters said the winning the Memorial Cup was a dream come true and a fitting end to a sensational season for the Chiefs, who have enough key players coming back next year that they may be able to make a repeat appearance in 2009 in Rimouski, Quebec.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Peters said minutes after hoisting the Memorial Cup. “It’s overwhelming. I’m just so happy for our guys. They’ve been through a lot together. It’s the first time I’ve ever been able to walk off the ice and say that I won my last game. I’ve been close a few times but this is the first time and it’s an overwhelming feeling. I have a lot of pride for our organization and our city and especially the 24 guys.”
© Canadian Hockey League 2008
By Aaron Bell
Coaches always say that it’s the players that win championships, but for the Spokane Chiefs, their path to the Memorial Cup championship was clearly laid out by their coach Bill Peters.
Peters came into the national championship tournament as a bit of an unknown commodity, especially to people in Ontario. He was the only one of the four coaches that hadn’t competed in the MasterCard Memorial Cup, but he didn’t let his inexperience get in his way.
Peters enlisted the help of as many people as he could find to help him get ready for the tournament after the Chiefs swept their way past the Lethbridge Hurricanes to win the Western Hockey League title and the Ed Chynoweth Cup.
He said that he used the time – and advice – to make sure that he was prepared to compete against four teams that they had never played before. It was a challenge after winning the WHL championship against four clubs that they knew pretty well.
“When you play the same teams over and over, it’s almost like you could go and coach them because you know them inside out,” Peters said. “When you‘re facing an unknown opponent, it’s not intimidating, but it makes you work as a coach. I don’t know what my phone bill would be, but I was on the phone to guys in the Q(MJHL), guys out in Ontario, past coaches in the Western Hockey League that had been to the Memorial Cup. I was just trying to get as much information as I could. We had a plan and obviously it worked.”
Even with his homework done, Peters didn’t make many adjustments to his game plan before the Memorial Cup. The Chiefs were successful all season because they were stifling to play against in their own end but had enough offensive firepower to keep the opposition honest.
It was clear throughout the tournament that every player on the Chiefs’ roster completely bought into that system.
“It’s all about the team,” Peters said. “We don’t want all the guys going off on their own page and being individualistic. It doesn’t work in this sport. It’s the ultimate team game in my opinion. You’ve got to be able to play offence and defence. You have to be a well-rounded player and that’s what we preach to our guys. The better you play on defence, the more ice time you get because now the coach can trust you. If I can’t trust you, I’m not going to play you very much.”
It was fun to watch Peters work with his team throughout the tournament. He conducted upbeat practices that kept his players thinking, despite being through somewhere in the neighbourhood of 250 practices since September. His message never got lost on the players.
“He’s a fun coach to play for,” said standout sophomore Mitch Wahl, one of the best forwards in the tournament despite being just 17. “He knows the game very well and he runs a good system here. I think that all of our guys are on the same page and we’ve gelled to his system and it’s worked out well for us. He’s a great coach.”
Peters was an assistant coach with the Chiefs under current Detroit Red Wings’ bench boss Mike Babcock before leaving in 2002 to coach the University of Lethbridge. He came back to the Chiefs as their new head coach in 2005. The Red Deer, AB native said that he spent a lot of time listening to Babcock and other coaches that he was worked with and against to develop a style that works for him.
“As you get older, you get wiser hopefully and you learn from other people,” Peters said. “I just talk to a lot of good coaches and I just try not to talk very much when I’m around them. You have two ears and one mouth so try to do twice as much listening as you do talking and you’ll get better. I’m no different than a player. I challenge my guys to get better whether it’s fitness or skill acquisition. As a staff, we’ll also challenge ourselves to get better.”
Peters did a masterful job of getting his players to believe that they could beat any team in the tournament.
In their opener against the Belleville Bulls last Saturday, they jumped out to a three-goal lead before the Bulls stormed back with four goals to go ahead. The Chiefs tied the game late in the third and then won it in overtime. The next night they gave up an early goal to the Kitchener Rangers before scoring a pair and sitting on a one-goal lead against the top rated team in the country for almost two full periods to clinch a bye in the final. Next up was the Gatineau Olympiques and a supposedly meaningless game for the Chiefs. A Gatineau win would have forced a tie-breaker game and they got on the board first but the Chiefs didn’t relent. They tied it with a powerplay goal early in the second and then went ahead later in the period. They locked down the Olympiques’ impressive group of forwards the rest of the way and iced the win with an empty netter to finish with a perfect 3-0 round robin record.
In the final against Kitchener on Sunday, they gave up an early goal again but responded with a powerplay goal late in the first and then goals a little more than a minute apart in the second gave them an insurmountable lead even though they were facing some of the league’s top offensive players on their own ice.
Throughout the tournament, the Chiefs were the one team that looked like they were playing with nothing to lose. Peters said that they never felt any pressure to win and that might have been the difference between them and their opposition in what was a tightly played tournament.
“There’s no pressure,” Peters said earlier in the week. “We are young guys. We’re in the Memorial Cup championship. We’re hockey players doing what we love to do with a group of people we love to be with. Where’s the pressure there? There’s no pressure. Just go out and have fun and play hard. If that’s pressure then we’re in trouble. Pressure is when you don’t have the money to make the mortgage and things are going south that way. These kids are athletes. They love what they are doing.”
Jared Cowen iced the championship game with an empty-net goal in the final minute, giving the Chiefs’ the second Memorial Cup championship, following one that Pat Falloon and Ray Whitney helped them win in 1991.
Peters said the winning the Memorial Cup was a dream come true and a fitting end to a sensational season for the Chiefs, who have enough key players coming back next year that they may be able to make a repeat appearance in 2009 in Rimouski, Quebec.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Peters said minutes after hoisting the Memorial Cup. “It’s overwhelming. I’m just so happy for our guys. They’ve been through a lot together. It’s the first time I’ve ever been able to walk off the ice and say that I won my last game. I’ve been close a few times but this is the first time and it’s an overwhelming feeling. I have a lot of pride for our organization and our city and especially the 24 guys.”
© Canadian Hockey League 2008