Views from Section 8 - More than a 4-0 loss to the Wolves

Darren Turcotte addresses the media at the Hall of Fame room at Memorial Gardens Wednesday afternoon. Photo by Chris Dawson.

"Views from Section 8" is a new column written by Don "Butch" Turcotte. The former Trappers Junior "A" coach and father of former NHLer Darren Turcotte will be chiming in with his thoughts here on BayToday.ca. In this edition Butch gives us an intimate look at the rough side of hockey from a Father's perspective.

Well, I may have to change my column heading from Views from Section 8 to Views from the Parking Lot. But in life you have to move on and hope that your decision(s) will make you a better person.

I went to the Skyhawk practice yesterday afternoon and saw Darren sitting in my section.

"Are you taking the day off Turk?" I asked.

"No Dad, I have resigned from my head coaching duties and I want to see how the boys are going to re-act to my decision," he said.

"What?" was my mouth opened reply.

"This has been on my mind for the past 10 days and I think for the betterment of the team and the players, it is A decision that I had to make. The team play is not up to its capabilities and I will take the blame for that. I have not been myself lately. I hope to be able to continue helping out with the club in one way or another but I want a few days to think things over," Darren said.

Wow, that was a shock but I had a gut feeling that something was happening. For the past week-or-so I have had a few discussions with General Manager Guy Blanchard. About a week ago we chatted at one of the practices. He had recently returned from a 10-day business trip. He told me that he thoroughly loved his job at Boart-Longyear and the hockey team was interupting his love for his job. He told me that his days with the club were numbered.

"It is time for me to get on with life away from the game."

I asked him (Darren) about the incident in Iroquois Falls when he was tossed after the hit on Scott Britton. "You have to know when you play in Abitibi, you start the game being down 2-0. That's the way it has been up there. When Scott got hit, there should have been a penalty for checking from behind no doubt. But there was no call and no stoppage of play while our player was flat out on the ice. I can see Darren getting upset and as he was quoted as saying he was trying to protect his player(s). But remember we are in I.F. and that is expected up there. Then the referee gave Darren a two minute penalty for yapping. Darren continued and the referee's hand went up to say 'No more'. Darren kept it up and was tossed. You have to know where your limits are" NOTE (referees only know how to add and not subtract).

The game versus Sudbury on Sunday was like a story book tale. The outcome seemed to be in the records before the game started. It was aboriginal night and the lads from Sudbury were pumped. Scott Restoule, Jordan Cheechoo, Brenden Biederman and Shane Innes were being honored on that night. There was no way, even at their best, that the Skyhawks were going to win that game irregardless of who was coaching the Hawks. That Wolves are loaded with talent and Scott, Jordan, Shane, Brenden and crew were at their best. 'To boot' they must have had that particular referee before because he was not up to standards and they knew what type of game he was going to call.

Following the 4-0 loss, I remained in Section 8 while the fans cleared out. Guy comes to visit me (which he never does on a game night). He was terribly upset with the results. "Do you have 10 minutes?" he asked.

We discussed the game and I basically told him what I thought(above).

"I can't get through to Darren," Guy told me.

"He doesn't want to listen to me. This team should be playing with a little more grit especially against Sudbury. He has to step up his practices. Communication between him and I will have to improve."

So Darren tells me yesterday (Tuesday) that they met on Monday and for the best interest of the club he would step down from the Head coaching position.

I emailed Darren late Monday night not knowing that his decision had already being made. He did not want to 'spill the beans' to anyone (including myself) prior to letting the players know of his decision at Tuesday's practice which I think is quite professional on his part. In my email I mentioned that:

1. he had to open communications with the GM and himself.
2. he had to give the C's and A's some input by having regular meetings with them.
3. he had to cut down on the ice chalk talk and use the dressing room for some of that talk.
4. he had to run the practice in a classroom manner where everyone (including the coaching staff) had to be attentive to the discussions. (I have been to many of the practices and it upsets me to hear pucks banging off the boards or the glass by the staff while the players are focused on the instructions).

My email arrived too late, his decision had already been made.

THUMBS

Like father-like-son, I once stepped down from my coaching position from the North Bay Trappers (OPJHL) in the mid 70's. I was able to get Dino Macaluso (North Bay native) a full scholarship to Rensaeler Polytech Institute (RPI), a Division One University in Troy, New York. The management, at the time, was upset at the decision as they felt that they had invested in him for the past year and wanted him to continue his Junior carreer with the team rather than lose him to a university. I caught the drift and stepped down from my coaching position.

I may have lost an ice rental for my outdoor backyard rink as I hosted the club for an informal outdoor activity one winter night last winter. It was probably the coldest night of the winter. Even had a bonfire going to warm-up the 'wimpy' Americans.

Hope that Karen's sons (2 +1) still have some shots for me.