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A throwback to David Quinn’s first season as Boston University head coach

On Wednesday afternoon, the New York Rangers announced that Boston University men’s hockey head coach David Quinn would become their next head coach. I went back into my archives and found a draft of a profile of Quinn I wrote for the Boston University men’s hockey program back when he took over in 2013. A tightened and cleaned up version of this appeared in the Terriers’ program in the fall of 2013.
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Kevin Shattenkirk’s freshman year was not going exactly as planned.

The blueliner was struggling through the first games of his Boston University career in the fall of 2007. He was playing every game, but he and his entire team were floundering at the blue line, dropping four of their first five regular season games in and letting up 21 goals in the process.

Then David Quinn, then in his fourth year as the associate head coach of the Terriers, intervened.

“A month into my freshman season, I was doing poorly,” recalls Shattenkirk, now a fourth year NHL defenseman with the St. Louis Blues. “Coach Quinn pulled me aside and told me that I could do better, and that I would get better and he knew how to do it, but that it was not going to be easy.

“He told me he was going to push me, but he wasn’t going to baby me. It was then that I realized that I needed to grow up and handle hockey and school differently. He got me playing at a higher level.”

Quinn’s ability to motivate and mentor high talent players like Shattenkirk are what made him an ideal choice to succeed Jack Parker as the 11th head coach of the Terriers. The Cranston, Rhode Island native and College of Arts and Sciences graduate has demonstrated the ability to coach and develop players at a variety of levels bringing experiences from across USA Hockey, Division I hockey, the American Hockey League and the National Hockey League to his first Division I head coaching job.

Through all of his experiences, it was Quinn’s time as a member of the Terriers defensive corps from 1984-88 that shaped how he would approach leading young hockey players. He realized how much his own coach influenced him when Parker brought him on board as an associate coach in 2004.

“It really struck me how similar our coaching styles were,” explains Quinn. “I knew I had learned a lot from playing here, but I really realized how much I learned from him when I started coaching with him. So much of my coaching philosophy was shaped by playing for him.”

What Parker imparted on an young Quinn was that coaching student-athletes is a lesson in shaping the entire player. Being a supportive ear during the tumultuous times of young adulthood is as much of the position as setting up lines of forwards. Quinn did not realize this completely until his junior year, when he was diagnosed with Christmas disease, a blood clotting disorder that made playing hockey, especially at one of the most physical positions, defense, extremely dangerous. His playing career came to an end years before he expected it to.

“My career ended so abruptly after my junior year, so I kind of was a lost 20 year old,” admits Quinn. “I was trying to figure out what I was going to do because I had anticipated I was going to be playing hockey for the next 15 years. I wasn’t thinking about anything else, but after going through a difficult time, I knew I wanted to stay in the game in some way, shape or form.

“Because I think of what my personal experience was, if Jack Parker only cared of me as a player, God knows what I would be doing today.”

Quinn caught the coaching bug from his first coaching opportunity. The chance came in 1994 from the man who recruited him to play on Commonwealth Avenue, former BU assistant and Olympic Team coach Ben Smith. Smith had moved on to serve as head coach of a familiar foe: Northeastern.

“Ben lost his assistant coach in August. By luck and friendship, he offered me the assistant coaching job, which was an incredible opportunity,” recalls Quinn. “And from that point on, I knew it was something I loved. I knew in my life how impactful my coaches had been for me, and I wanted to do the same for others.”

After two years on Huntington Avenue, Quinn moved on to help build the Division I program at University of Nebraska-Omaha from the ground up as the top assistant coach. Unlike many in similar positions, he never had a chance to cut his coaching teeth on a non-Division I program – he was thrown into the college hockey elite immediately.

Looking back, Quinn notes that there may have been a bit of a learning curve.

“There was a lot of uncertainty. When you’ve never coached, and all of a sudden you’re coaching a Division 1 team, it can be a little overwhelming and intimidating,” says Quinn. “I always thought to myself, ‘It’s hockey, and I’m dealing with people.’ If you can stick to that and don’t get distracted by the other stuff, no matter what level you’re coaching at, you are good.”

Quinn soon found himself leading the USA Hockey’s Under 17 developmental program in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and found himself with what was his biggest coaching challenge to that date: the unique perspectives of 16 year olds.

“That was my first head coaching experience. The two things I knew I improved on dramatically were my patience level and my communications skills,” chuckles Quinn. “I was amazed at how little 16 year olds knew.”

The teenagers gave him perspective that would serve him well when leading hockey players a decade older.

“The thing I took from that experience that I’ve tried to apply to the higher levels is that you have to be patient,” explains Quinn. “You have a vision of how you want your team to play, the perfect way you want them to do things, but you can’t hold them to that standard every day. You have to think to yourself, ‘Well if my team made 20 mistakes on Monday, and 19 mistakes on Tuesday, that was a good day.’ You have to consume yourself with the progress instead of consuming yourself with the finished product. “

Quinn’s increased patience paid off and his Under-17 squads succeeded under his tenure. He lifted them to a 10-3 record internationally. Domestically, his team was finally a playoff contender among other teams in the North American Hockey League, many of which were made up of players an age group older.

Soon, another former college coach of Quinn’s came calling: Parker. He became associate coach and lead recruiter for the Terriers. His touches were seen especially on defense, where he coached several of the program’s recent professional defensmen: 2009 Hobey Baker winner Matt Gilroy, Brian Strait and Shattenkirk.

Quinn’s ability to mold student-athletes into solid pro prospects and solid people caught the eye of Craig Billington, the Assistant General Manager of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. He was keeping an eye on his team’s draftees on for the Terriers, including ‘07 pick Shattenkirk, and was impressed by Quinn’s tutelage.

“I found a man who was passionate for developing players, about communication skills and passionate for the game of hockey,” recalls Billington. “His read on people and his ability to communicate creates a good environment for the young men in his program.”

Shattenkirk credits Quinn’s environment for preparing him to play pro hockey. “I think what was so important to us was how detailed he was,” says Shattenkirk of his time at BU. “At practice everyday, he never accepted less than our best. If you were having a bad day, you had to put that aside. That is definitely how it is in the pro game.”

The level of detail Quinn imparts he sees as the key to coaching hockey players at the top of their games.

“The older the player you coach, the more thorough you have to be in your explanation,” explains Quinn. “The days of just telling someone to do something is over. There needs to be a reason behind it, and they have to understand why it needs to be done. It can’t just be I’m telling them to do it. If they understand why to do it, then they will do it again. They are going to have to do it instinctively because I can’t always be there, telling them what to do.”

Quinn’s work with BU’s Avalanche prospects earned him a head coaching opportunity with their AHL affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio, the Lake Erie Monsters. His developmental coaching philosophy led to success on that level as well, with the team amassing a 115-94-20 record over his three seasons. In 2012, Quinn was tapped to become fellow BU alum Joe Sacco’s assistant coach with the home club.

But college coaching, and the chance to succeed a man who came through for him when he needed it most, drew him back to Boston after just a year in the big leagues. Quinn enjoys being there for young men during a time when they are trying to figure out exactly how hockey is going to fit into the bigger picture of their lives.

“There are a lot of things going on in their lives,” says Someone might be having a girlfriend problem, which – people may laugh at that, but hey, they’re kids,” says Quinn. “They are emotional, they are probably having the first serious relationship of their lives. Or something may be going on with their family. Or they might be struggling with school. So when they are struggling or not grasping what you’re telling them, you have to do a little digging and see what’s going on.”

Quinn’s sincerity and experience will serve him well as he steps into a head coaching role that it seems like his entire career has been building towards. While his goal is to maintain the strong tradition of BU’s hockey success, he also hopes to create successful men off the ice.

“I would love them to love me when they’re here, but if they don’t, they love me a lot more when they’re 25, and then I think we’ve done a good job.”

But first, coffee: How a coffee shop set the table for the NWHL

In mid-December 2012, I was in a bind. As the women’s hockey columnist for New England Hockey Journal, I had to find a lead for my holiday break column that didn’t involve me interviewing a student-athlete.

Somehow – I’m not exactly sure where – I came across the story of a former Northeastern player who had just opened a coffee shop in New York City. I emailed for an interview, and she called me from her store within minutes. It was a great chat, making the story an absolute pleasure to write.

Embed from Getty Images Fast forward five years. That player was Dani Rylan, now commissioner of the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL), the first women’s hockey league to pay players. As of last week, the  four team league  has two agreements in place with NHL teams, and even has a corporate coffee sponsor in Dunkin’ Donuts. (I am sensing a caffeinated theme here…) The NWHL has had its stumbles, and I don’t necessarily agree with everything it has done, but I can’t deny that it has had a lasting impact on women’s hockey.

New England Hockey Journal has since purged its online archives, but I still have the version of the story on Rylan I sent to my editor on December 19, 2012. Enjoy!

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It’s 6:15pm, and former Northeastern University women’s hockey player Dani Rylan has been at work for just about fourteen hours. But she sounds as enthusiastic as ever.

“I’ve been here since 4:30am,” she explains, the till of a reconciling cash register ringing in the background. “And I have a hockey game at 8:30pm tonight. It’ll be my first hockey game since opening the shop. I don’t think my teammates will like my backcheck tonight.”

“The shop” Rylan speaks of is Rise and Grind, a coffee shop she opened December 17th in East Harlem, New York. The former forward for the Huskies found herself in the coffee business unexpectedly just months after graduating from Northeastern. The former GoNU.com reporter had one of her dream opportunities working for NHL Network placed on hold because of the pesky lockout, and found herself looking for work.

“I had moved to New York City to work for the NHL Network. My brother lives in New York City too, working as a coffee distributor. He had a storefront he wasn’t using, so we worked out a business deal. I got the storefront and a coffee distributor and opened up a shop.”

But unlike her hockey playing days, running coffee shop ownership is not exactly a team effort. “I am a one man band,” Rylan laughed. “I can’t afford to hire anyone else until I pay off my business loans, so it’s just me.”

Rylan isn’t just running the shop solo – she renovated the 200 square foot, eight foot space by herself as well. “My friend designed the shop, but I had to do all of the renovation work. I ended up laying tile and all of that.

“I compared (the renovations) to preseason. I was pulling twenty hour days to to get the shop ready. It was just like working incredibly hard in the preseason with the hope that it pays off during the season. I feel the same way about this.”

It may seem like Rylan is up against incredible odds, but odds have never stopped her before. Rylan played undergraduate hockey on the men’s ACHA club team at Metro State in Colorado after playing high school hockey with Assabet Valley and and ISL’s St. Mark’s. When it was time for graduate school, she found herself in the sports leadership program at Northeastern, which allowed her two years to play for the Huskies. Despite the brief length of her tenure, she made an impact. She tallied six goals and 14 assists in 70 games played for the Huskies. Rylan was named a tri-captain for 2011-12 and had assists on game-winners in some of the biggest games of the year, including Northeastern’s Beanpot championship.

“The Beanpot championship allowed us to be rockstars on campus for a little bit,” recalls Rylan. “We were wearing our 2012 Beanpot championship gear around campus for a few weeks.”

One of those pieces of Beanpot memorabilia has made it into Rise and Grind.

“I donate five cents of each cup of coffee I sell to Ice Hockey in Harlem,” explained Rylan. “I physically put the five cents in a stainless steel style mug we all got that says 2012 Beanpot champions on it. I keep it next to the register. It’s not a lot of money, but I hope it makes a difference.”

Even though she finds herself practically living at the shop, Rylan finds the time to keep up with this season’s Northeastern squad. “I talk to a lot of them still, and I keep up on GoNU. I just loved being on the team. I think they all got sick of my telling them how much I loved them all when I was captain.”

Rylan considers this week her shop’s soft opening “to get the kinks out,” but will have her grand opening on January 2nd. It was not exactly what she had in mind when she thought of life after college hockey, but it is turning out to be something that excites her as much as hockey – and that’s not her coffee talking.

“My brother came by this afternoon when no one was in the shop and he caught me dancing behind the counter,” she laughed. “I told him I’m having fun! I wouldn’t be having as much fun if I were working for someone else’s coffee shop. It’s a lot more fun when you are doing things for yourself.”

The YouTube Vault: Peggy Fleming Meets the Los Angeles Kings

Sometimes the videos YouTube suggests for you hold great surprises.

That’s exactly what happened late one evening while I was catching up on work, and had YouTube streaming on the television. I let a suggested video pop up, and it turned out to be Here’s Peggy Fleming, the Olympic gold medalist’s 1968 award-winning NBC special.

I had never seen the special – it aired 14 years before I was born and had no way to see it before it was uploaded to YouTube. I wish this wasn’t my first introduction to it, because it includes a fun mash-up of two of my favorite sports – hockey and figure skating.

Filmed at The Forum in Inglewood, California, the segment includes the Southern California-bred Fleming having to share the ice with the then very new Los Angeles Kings, and the chaos it creates. The embedded video below goes exactly to the segment’s starting point.

 

It’s beautifully shot and impeccably directed. The whole special ended up winning a bunch of awards, and this quick scene shows why. Anyone who likes retro hockey or figure skating will find this a treat.

Your Women’s Hockey Crash Course

The opening faceoff of the 2013 Women's Frozen Four semifinal between Minnesota and Boston College. (Photo: Kat Hasenauer Cornetta)

The opening faceoff of the 2013 Women’s Frozen Four semifinal between Minnesota and Boston College. (Photo: Kat Hasenauer Cornetta)

You have probably been watching some morning Olympic women’s hockey games and want to learn more about the players you’re watching. Well, you are in luck. I’ve watched a lot of women’s hockey over the past few years, and for the last two, I have written about it. Here is a quick guide to some relevant pieces of mine that will help you learn more about the women’s hockey you are watching.

I spoke to US head coach Katey Stone and several members of her squad for an overall preview of their Olympic hopes. I also spoke to Stone when things weren’t looking too good for the US team this past fall.

Want to learn more about Kendall Coyne, who scored two goals Monday morning against Switzerland? Here’s a feature I did on her before her sophomore season at Northeastern University that speaks about her amazing work ethic.

You may have heard NBC commentators talk about Coyne playing with amazing Swiss goalie Florence Schelling (she really is one of the best you’ll ever see) at Northeastern. Here’s my story from their 2012 overtime women’s Beanpot win.

I’ve had quite a few chances to interview Alex Carpenter, who has a goal a game so far in the Olympics. Here’s a profile of her sophomore campaign at Boston College, and here’s an Olympic preview piece I wrote about her last week.

Amazed by the USA’s Amanda Kessel and Finland goaltender Noora Raty? I watched them play for the University of Minnesota last year as they closed out their undefeated season with a NCAA Championship. Here is some of my coverage. More can be found on my clips page.

You may have heard that the US and Canadian teams have quite the rivalry and have had some all out brawls in some pre-Olympic games. Here’s a piece I wrote this fall about a referee’s take on fights in women’s hockey.

Besides Stone, there are quite a few Harvard connections on this US Olympic hockey team. Here’s a piece I wrote about those connections.

Have questions about what you’re watching? Need someone knowledgeable to comment on women’s hockey? You are always welcome to email me or Tweet me (@sportsgirlkat). I am always happy to answer questions when I have the time.

Also, I urge you to seek out the work of the following media members who cover women’s hockey outside of Olympic years. I understand it’s easy to turn to higher profile writers who are currently paying attention to the Olympic tournament, but there are many writers out there who have devoted a lot of time to covering the sport and can offer some nuanced commentary. Here are their Twitter handles:

Gabs Fundaro, The Hockey Writers

Nicole Hasse, SBNation’s Bucky’s 5th Quarter

– Matthew Semisch, every publication on the face of humanity

– Arielle AronsonNew England Hockey Journal

– Candace Horgan, USCHO (USCHO also has a great women’s hockey writer named Arlan Marttila who I don’t think is on Twitter.)

Tim Thomas: The Negativity Of Success And Plotting The Escape

Tim Thomas announced Sunday that he would take the 2012-13 NHL season off. On his Facebook page (Thomas’s equivalent of Martin Luther’s doors to the church,) the 38 year old cited three F’s for being the reason for his absence: family, friends and faith.

When read the news, the first immediate comparison I had was to singer Mariah Carey in 2001 (and I tweeted as such.) For those who feel that the comparison is crass or silly, I beg to differ. Both had actual issues with celebrity and the claustrophobia success can bring. Their declines hit public consciousness in very public forums – Carey on the set of Total Request Live (TRL), where she exhibited eccentric behavior while promoting her film Glitter; Thomas when he made a very public issue of declining the Boston Bruins’ trip to the White House.

When one struggles with the inability to reconcile their success with the expectations of that success, they may start to feel like they are falling down an endless manhole with no end in sight. They know what most of the public’s bare minimum for living a content life is – family, friends and a roof over your head – but success leaves them unable to enjoy those basics. Life becomes much more complicated, be it through things the celebrity or athlete can control, or forces that they can’t stop.

And while some who have achieved grand success can take just a week off to recharge and re-motivate, others can’t seem to stop falling down the manhole. Thomas seems to be one. He’s a journeyman who suddenly didn’t have to journey anymore. That end goal he had for himself to motivate him through years of discouraging European hockey was achieved, and as much as a second Stanley Cup and Veniza Trophy could be motivation, that’s like going back to get a second undergraduate degree in the same subject. The experience still could be meaningful, but the practice itself is repetitive. You’re not building upon anything, and there is no opposition to motivate your fight. Sure, other teams would get in your way to another Championship, but to anyone who explicitly says, “You can’t,” you have the hardware to bust out to prove that you did.

Thomas’s cure to the lack of purpose and the mounds of expectation that success brings – taking the season off – appears selfish. It is. He has a contract with the Bruins that he needs to fulfill. But the act of escape is one that every elite athlete or other successful person who has reached their life goal has wished they could do at one point or another. In an 1981 interview of Olympic gold medal winning figure skater Scott Hamilton, Hamilton frankly complains about having to stay motivated after winning his first World Championship, especially with having to deal with the negatives and expectations that came with it. “I was really hungry for (the championship) before. Now that I’ve got it, it’s really hard to stay hungry.” Hamilton continued on to say that not just the repetition of preparing for something he already achieved bugged him, but that now experiencing the cons of success made the success somewhat less desirable.

Thomas wanted to win a Stanley Cup. He wanted to prove others wrong. He did that. Now that he has achieved what he set out to achieve, what is the point of enduring the cons of success when you seemingly don’t have to? Contracts be damned, Thomas is going off to reclaim the bare basics of happiness. He has the resources that many others who need such a refocus don’t have – the luxury to.

And while fans can hate it, teammates recoil in it, and media gossip about it, there is some legitimacy in it. Thomas reached the pinnacle, found the spotlight too bright and now wants to avoid it in a cave. It’s the adult equivalent of hiding in the deepest confines of the closet as a kid when you wanted to get away from your parents fighting or your teething baby sister’s wailing. It was the only quick fix you could think of at the time, and provided you had a closet in your house, you had the resources in which to find the escape.

But eventually, you had to peak out of the closet to face reality (which as a kid, was either boredom or hunger motivated.) And Thomas will eventually have to peak out of Colorado (where he allegedly has moved) to face reality.

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