Right outside the coaches’ office at Kraken Community Iceplex stands a bookshelf packed with writings on all kinds of topics. “The Celestine Prophecy” sits inches away from two books by famed NCAA basketball coach John Wooden. Gordie Howe’s “Mr. Hockey” is alongside Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense.” And each and every one has been hand-picked by head coach Dan Bylsma.
“In college, I read all the time,” Bylsma said. “When I got to pro hockey, I found idle time, and my mind wasn't occupied by hockey and homework (anymore, it was just hockey. So, I started reading a lot of books, whether self-help or self-improvement…just a lot of different books. (It was about) the quest for more knowledge in life and in myself and in my career.”
But as Bylsma kept reading, it became about more than taking in and referencing what he learned; it also became about sharing that knowledge. He’d take a book he read and get others to read it. When he became a coach, that action naturally folded in.