As much as the Utah Mammoth Development Camp is a chance to work with the organization’s prospects, it’s also an opportunity to grow the game. This year, Utahns Nick Fornelius and Garrett Metcalf were picked to be a part of the organization’s coaching internship program. Through this opportunity, Fornelius and Metcalf shadowed the Mammoth coaching staff, took part in daily coach and player meetings, and assisted the staff with on-ice drills.
“It’s been the most enjoyable of days,” Fornelius explained. “Being up here at the start, sitting in the war room, going over practice plans, just the amount of detail and preparation that goes into every drill (is awesome). Getting every coach on the same page, this is what we’re trying to work on, this is how we want to coach it. When you get eight or nine of the best coaches in the world in a room, I think the level of detail they can go into, even just simple concepts, that was my biggest takeaway from the week.”
“For me, it’s a little bit different because I’m so new to the coaching aspect,” Metcalf explained. “To get in and see it from this side, the biggest takeaway for me is the simplicity. When you’re a player, you see the finished products, you don’t really see behind the scenes of what goes into it. But I think being here, you see the simplicity and the preparation that goes into the product, instead of just seeing the actual product.”
Going through this experience together was helpful for both Utahns as they could share notes on everything they’ve learned in such a short period of time.
“We’re both going through this experience together,” Metcalf said on Fornelius. “At the end of the day when we’re driving together and we’re able to talk about our day (it’s great). He’s talking to different people than I am or maybe we’re having different conversations with the same people, but just to talk about it, relay the information to each other, and go through the experience together has made it so much more enjoyable.”
“I made a voice note that was about 30 minutes long of all the stuff that I want to remember,” Fornelius smiled. “Something I can listen back to, so I don’t forget anything, all the details.”
From that voice note and his observations from the week, Fornelius, the head coach of the University of Utah’s Men’s Hockey Team, has plenty to bring back to his team.
“There’s definitely some strategy stuff talking to the coaches that I want to take and apply to my team,” Fornelius explained. “I loved how in practices, they would skate with the skating coach in the first hour, and then the drills that we did in the skills hour built up those skating concepts and ideas. They just added layers and layers to it. They did such a good job building out a simple concept and I think that’s definitely something that I want to take to my team.”
The experience was invaluable for Fornelius and Metcalf. However, it’s only part of the impact this organization has had on the state. Both coaches have seen how the Mammoth have grown the game in their home state over the last 14 months.
“When you put the NHL logo next to a team, everyone knows what the National Hockey League is,” Metcalf shared. “To have kids at a young age be able to come here and watch the best players in the world, it’s great. Some of the best players from other teams that are coming through here – McDavid, Matthews – just to have that hype in this state and to be able to have the accessibility for those kids to watch, I think it’s going to motivate them to want to play more hockey and play hockey at the highest level.”
“I grew up here, I have lived here my whole life and never in my wildest dreams I thought we would have an NHL team,” Fornelius reflected. “When I heard that news, it was unbelievable. To see the impact it’s had on youth hockey, people that don’t play hockey that are picking up the sport, the adult hockey players, (it’s great).
“You feel a kind of energy about having this team here and I couldn’t be more grateful for it.”
