Patience, honesty key to leading Canadian junior hockey team: coach
For head coach Tim Hunter, honesty and patience are the keys to getting the best out of his players on Canada’s junior hockey team.
“I’ve learned that patience really pays off,” he said in Vancouver this week, where the squad is playing in the world junior hockey championship.
“I believe in the group, I believe in the personnel, I believe in the system they’re trying to accomplish.”
Hunter’s system is working three games into the tournament, Canada remains undefeated and is improving in the areas he’s identified as needing work, including specials teams and the performance of some young athletes.
The Canadians went into Saturday’s game against the Czech Republic 1-for-8 with the man advantage, but emerged with a pair of power-play goals.
“I told you guys it would get better,” Hunter told reporters after the 5-1 win. “We were patient with it. They got better because we were patient with them, we stuck to what we believed in.”
The 58-year-old Calgary native also seems to have lit a fire in two of his youngest players. Days after Hunter publicly critiqued 17-year-old Alexis Lafreniere and 18-year-old Joe Veleno for their play, the pair stepped up in Saturday’s victory.
Lafreniere scored his first goal of the tournament and Veleno had an assist on another play.
“It’s a learning process for these guys to figure this out,” Hunter said. “And all we do is communicate with them and we’re up front and honest with them and treat them like men and they give it right back to you in spades.”
Lafreniere, a forward with the Rimouski Oceanic in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, said Hunter had been right in his critique.
“He’s a really good coach,” he said. “When you’re doing something wrong, he’s going to tell you. And when you’re doing something right, he’s going to tell you, too. I think he’s a really honest coach and it’s really nice for the players.”