Ottawa Citizen

NEW 67'S COACH CAMERON PREACHES COMMUNICAT­ION WITH YOUNG PLAYERS

- KEN WARREN kwarren@postmedia.com Twitter.com/Citizenkwa­rren

Now 62, incoming Ottawa 67's coach Dave Cameron says his age likely means it's unrealisti­c to think he could ever climb back to the NHL again.

At the same time, though, Cameron's fresh new gigs as the bench boss of the 67's and Canada's world junior team mean he'll be working one-on-one with teenagers again.

He readily acknowledg­es that the communicat­ion channels have changed drasticall­y from his first OHL head-coaching job with the Soo Greyhounds in 1997-98.

“I think we could have a whole documentar­y on that,” Cameron said Thursday in a Zoom call, officially reintroduc­ing the former Senators head coach to Ottawa. “In terms of coaching, the biggest change is they want to know the why. When I first started coaching, it was quite simply, you told them. Nobody questioned you. It was kind of like, a little bit, I would use the word `dictatorsh­ip' maybe.”

For the signs of that change in action, look no further than the poise and polish displayed by the parade of top prospects at the NHL draft this weekend. In general, they're more confident and not as guarded in talking about themselves or expressing opinions publicly.

“Kids have changed for the good,” said Cameron, whose last junior hockey assignment­s came with the Mississaug­a St. Michael's Majors and Canada's 2011 world junior team. “They're smarter. You have to convince them that it's (about) more than hockey, that you genuinely are interested in them as a person.”

Cameron comes to the 67's from the Vienna Capitals of Austria's Erste Bank Eishockey Liga profession­al team. The position required plenty of interactio­n with teenagers.

“The Capitals are an academy,” he said. “They have programs for under-16, under-18 and under-20 and I was involved in that, too. And the pro team was made up of kids from 18 years old, all the way up to the early 30s.”

Cameron has always prided himself on his communicat­ion skills and he's not concerned about a potential generation gap.

“It's an interperso­nal world,” he said. “You need the same skills, it doesn't matter what age you're communicat­ing with. Somebody is talking and somebody is listening.”

When Cameron was working with the Senators, he often chatted about his earlier days in junior, when he wore many hats to make sure players were as balanced as possible in all areas of their lives, including their education.

As much as every junior player dreams of playing in the NHL, the chances of making it to the big leagues are small, and there must be life after hockey.

He hit on those themes again Thursday, saying one reason he agreed to the position was because of the 67's strong history in taking care of players.

Cameron wants to win as much as any coach — he has never won an OHL championsh­ip, and there's “unfinished business” after losing the 2011 world junior gold medal game to Russia — but he isn't losing sight of the bigger picture.

“The biggest pressure for me when I coach junior hockey is when I look mom and dad in the eye and I tell them I'm going to look after their kid, on the ice and off the ice,” he said. “That's not a one-man job. That's an organizati­onal job.”

After a coaching career that had previously spanned the

OHL, AHL and NHL, he suggests Austria was good for him because it took him out of his comfort zone, allowing him to see a different culture and brand of hockey.

“It's not rocket science, there's no bolt of lightning that hits any coach where you turn the whole hockey world upside down,” he said. “I just think I'm more experience­d and probably better balanced.”

 ?? TONY CALDWELL FILES ?? Former Ottawa Senators coach Dave Cameron says he'll bring experience, communicat­ion and balance to his new position as bench boss for the Ottawa 67's.
TONY CALDWELL FILES Former Ottawa Senators coach Dave Cameron says he'll bring experience, communicat­ion and balance to his new position as bench boss for the Ottawa 67's.
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada