Hitchcock has become known as a defensively oriented coach in the NHL with Dallas and Philadelphia, but that wasn't always the case.

Hitchcock blazed way to junior success
By John McGourty | NHL.com
Sept. 27, 2004

In his second season as head coach, Ken Hitchcock guided the Philadelphia Flyers to a 40-21-15-6 record and first place in the Atlantic Division in 2003-04. Hitchcock previously coached the Dallas Stars for more than six seasons, including the Stars' victory in the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals. Hitchcock took up where he left off in Dallas, helping the Flyers to a successful Stanley Cup Playoff run in 2004, losing to the eventual champion Tampa Bay Lightning by one goal in the seventh game of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Hitchcock's reputation as a defense-oriented coach was hard-earned as he was an early devotee of the 1980s Edmonton Oilers' high-flying style. Hitchcock graduated from the University of Alberta, sold hockey equipment and coached minor hockey in the Edmonton suburb of Sherwood Park for a decade. He had a 575-69 record with the Midget AAA team there and was honored as the Alberta Minor Hockey Association Coach of the Year in 1983-84 and the Minor Hockey Coach of the Year in 1982-83.

The small community of Kamloops, British Columbia, bought the Edmonton Jr. Oilers before the 1984 season, changed the team name and hired Hitchcock to replace Bill Laforge, who stepped up to coach the Vancouver Canucks. The decision dramatically changed Hitchcock's life, while the work he did there laid the foundation for one of junior hockey's most successful franchises.

Hitchcock coached six years in Kamloops, leading the Blazers to two WHL championships and a 291-115-15 record. He never had a losing season and was named the Canadian Major Junior Hockey coach of the year in 1990. He became a Flyers' assistant coach in 1990, then head coach of the IHL Kalamazoo Wings in 1993. In his third season there, he replaced Bob Gainey, who moved up to general manager, as coach of the Dallas Stars.

What was your motivation in moving from Sherwood Park to Kamloops?

I don't know why, to this day, I wanted to go there. We finished coming back from the national midget championships and I knew that former coach Bill Laforge moved up to the Vancouver Canucks as head coach and there was an opening in Kamloops. I knew I wanted to make a change in my life, other than work and coach minor hockey. I didn't know if I could do the job. I had no idea about the Western Hockey League. I found out when I got to Kamloops that I knew even less.

The one thing I always liked was teaching. I really liked building teams and competing and teaching. I loved all of the parts of coaching. The biggest attraction was the team building. After a while, your record runs together and you're left with your reputation. What kind of coach are you? I always found the part about practices, camaraderie, developing leadership and developing chemistry to be really intriguing.

I fit well into what was already put in place in Kamloops. We were a small town with a small rink with a very loyal fan base. It was us against the world. I really enjoyed that atmosphere.

A lot of those people were in place with Bill Laforge and some I coached against, like Stu MacGregor who was one of our scouts for Edmonton. Bob Brown, the chief scout for Alberta, became manager of the team. There was a lot of advancement from within in the organization. We were together for six-to-eight years, a long time. They knew what to expect of me as a coach and what kind of player couldn't play for the Kamloops Blazers.

One of the most interesting parts about playing for the Blazers is that you are in one of the closest-knit cities. You're treated like an NHL player. You have a high profile in the city. Everyone knows you. You're expected to conduct yourself in a professional manner. If you weren't ready to work and sacrifice, people knew about it right away.

During your years in Kamloops, you developed fine NHL players like Mark Recchi, Greg Hawgood, Rob Brown, Rob DiMaio and Darryl Sydor, some of whom played for you again in the NHL. What are some of the lessons you learned in Kamloops?

The other thing I learned was the camaraderie. We had camaraderie throughout everything in that organization, from the fans to the coaches to the players to the scouts. Everything about it had that strong feeling of camaraderie when I was there. Everyone had one thing in mind and that was the Kamloops Blazers and nothing got in the way. I loved working in that atmosphere. That atmosphere has stayed with me for a long time.

I always draw on things. The way that atmosphere was created was the work of a lot of unselfish people. The community owned the team and there was always an element of sacrifice. With the smallest rink in the league, we had to find ways to work together to raise money. I had to find ways to augment my own salary, with special fundraisers, speaking engagements and hockey camps. It was a 12-month job and I had to work really hard to augment everything to survive.

There's rumors you have very incriminating pictures of some of these guys but they have pictures of you in a dress?

(Laughs) We did some zany, crazy things to raise money, but they brought a bond together. For six or seven years we had the Miss Hockey Puck contest in which the players and coaches dressed up as if it were a women's beauty pageant. We had skits and everything. It was hilarious. Folks paid to come to the fundraiser banquet and dance. Those guys you named, they're all in them. They all wore the costumes. We did anything and everything we could to make that team a success. I did everything from selling advertising on the boards to selling ads in the program.

How did coaching midgets prepare you for junior hockey?

The Sherwood Park Midget AAA team played against good teams from Edmonton and Calgary and around northern Alberta. It was a good prelude from a competition standpoint. We had good players. Gerald Diduck was probably the highest profile guy. I developed friendships for life there. There isn't a city in North America that I don't run into a former player who's in business there, in entertainment, the medical and dental professions, anything. I run into them all the time and it's great to see them.

However, it was no substitute for the experience of working as a full-time person in Kamloops.

Did your style of coaching change much in junior hockey? After all, you were highly successful at the next level lower.

My style has changed a lot since I coached Kamloops. The style I brought from midget, in all of the ways our team played, was Edmonton Oilers' style, hard forecheck, always pressure the puck and we had the same philosophy in Kamloops for the six years I was there. It's funny because I'm known in the NHL for my emphasis on defense, but people who knew me in midget and juniors remember I was all for firewagon hockey, all-out offensive types of teams. One year at Kamloops, we had 496 goals in a 72-game season, almost seven goals a game. Those numbers reflect the way our team played, full-court pressure.

Things have changed. I've had to adapt in the NHL. I felt very strongly about that type of philosophy. The Oilers played with great risk and great reward, but they played in an era when, if they were at 50 percent, they were better than the rest of the teams. Now, there's parity in the NHL and great improvement in the quality of coaching. You can't play that way any more.

What lessons learned in Kamloops best prepared you for your NHL career?

Learning the amount of work that goes into building a team, that helped me. Also, working with the media. I was more of an antagonistic media person. I didn't feel it was their right to know what was going on with our team. Then, I realized how important they were in the overall selling of the game of hockey. It opened my eyes about how to deal with the media properly and how to make their job easier and more enjoyable.

Also, learning about the work ethic that's involved. Coaches don't win by accident. They are highly organized, attentive to detail and really work hard at their job. I realized how hard you have to work to get out of it what you want to get out of it.

Do you have a guy on the Flyers that you think is on the verge of moving to a higher level?

Our goatender, Robert Esche, has a chance to be an impact goalie in the NHL on a year-to-year basis. He has all the right qualities of personality and athletic ability. Simon Gagne has an opportunity to advance. Maturity-wise, he's really coming along. We'll see if we can't get Simon to the next level, leadership-wise.

Which Flyers' prospect really excites you?

Defenseman Joni Pitkanen is one that really excites me. Center Patrick Sharp is a very intelligent player who is able to score on a very regular basis in the AHL and showed flashes in the NHL. One more year of seasoning and confidence building and he could be a very good player in the NHL. Defenseman Dennis Seidenberg is at a stage, his third year as a professional, where he should really make a big jump. He gained experience and game wisdom from the World Cup so I hope he can take the next step.

All three of those guys have been impact players in the AHL so I'm really curious to see how they develop in the next 12 months.