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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.

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When Bylsma became head coach in Coachella Valley, a bin of books was available to any player who wanted to peruse the titles or grab a book to read on their own time. In year two, a bookshelf brought structure to the collection, and now, again in Seattle, Bylsma’s bookshelf stands near his office. Every book on it is available to any player that wants to read it.

“As a coach, I think personal growth and personal well-being is part of being a pro,” Bylsma said. “I don’t make a big deal about the bookshelf… it's really more just about an opportunity to continue to grow as a person and find that somewhere…it might be in a book.”

John Hayden has played for Bylsma both in the AHL and NHL. He’s someone who has gravitated towards the books that his coach has shared starting with the specific title Bylsma gave to every member of the Firebirds team each of his two years there. First, it was “Legacy: What the All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life,” and last year, it was “Life’s Greatest Lessons: 20 Things that Matter” by Hal Urban.

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“Each year, a book was waiting in our stall for us to read,” Hayden said. “There were really good lessons in those. The story of the All Blacks (a New Zealand rugby team) was more applicable to improving as a team, and the other was more focused on the individual.”

The Firebirds had a group conversation about Urban’s book, but that was the extent of discussion about the books in the hall. Hayden says it’s never forced or expected that any player read any of them; they are just there. And the forward, whose brother also always gives him a book to read every Christmas (this year, it was “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”), found himself combing through titles to find something to read.

Hayden says he’s stuck mostly to non-fiction. A smile broadens as he describes the books he’s enjoyed from Bylsma’s collection. There was “11 Guiding Principles for Men” and “Move Ahead with Possibility Thinking,” – one that Hayden is currently reading again. And then there was one that was “so old, with a ton of notes in it,” that the Yale grad was worried about damaging it, so he returned it to the “library” and bought a copy of his own.

And sometimes those books spur conversations. Bylsma lists off players like Hayden, Shane Wright, and Jacob Melanson, among others, who’ve had discussions with their coach about what they’ve read, and while those talks aren’t something Bylsma seeks out if they happen, they can turn into pretty cool experiences.

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“The joy of coaching for me personally is seeing the growth in the player and them getting to their best or getting to their potential on and off the ice,” Bylsma said. “So to get a note from someone this summer saying, ‘hey, I'm reading this book on stoicism….’ …those are good moments for me.”

They’re good moments for the players involved, too. Hayden says diving into a book is a great change of pace from technology and “everything else.” He’s constantly referring back to what he’s read from the pages housed in Bylsma’s library.

“It's cool that Dan has the collection. “He reads a ton, he's written books before. I think it just says a lot about him still being a student. And I think that's something that he believes in for hockey and life, that everyone's always evolving, and you're never really at the finish line. I think he's it's pretty clear from the last two years that he believes in development for every age group. So, it's that growth mindset. I think the bookshelf is a microcosm of that mentality.”