Regina Leader-Post

Paddock’s time behind bench could be ending

Veteran Pats coach could end up as full-time GM following Memorial Cup

- GREG HARDER gharder@postmedia.com

It’s no secret that Regina Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock loves to sit and talk about hockey.

It’s also generally understood that he’s not a big fan of talking about himself.

Perhaps that’s why there hasn’t been much discussion about the fact that one of the most respected coaches in franchise history could decide to hang up his whistle at the conclusion of the 100th Memorial Cup in Regina.

Paddock hasn’t hidden the fact that he could transition into a fulltime GM role after this season, but he hasn’t advertised it either. He has also hinted strongly in the past that his right-hand man, assistant coach/assistant GM Dave Struch, would be first in line for a promotion.

Nothing has changed from that perspectiv­e, but it’s also not the kind of thing Paddock is inclined to discuss at this juncture. Nor is it something that’s at the forefront of his thoughts heading into the tournament, which commences Friday.

“As a coach you’re always too much in the moment (to think about other things),” explained the 63-year-old bench boss. “You have to be. I’m very much in that mode. There’s not much else that enters my mind.”

In four seasons with the Pats, Paddock has compiled a regularsea­son record of 165-89-21-13 and gone 29-22 in the playoffs, falling just two wins short of a championsh­ip last year when they lost the WHL final to the Seattle Thunderbir­ds.

As the coach of the host team in this year’s Memorial Cup, Paddock has been given a rare opportunit­y to go out on top if that’s the route he chooses.

“I don’t think of it that way,” said the two-time WHL coach of the year (2015 and 2017) and WHL executive of the year in 2017.

“Probably after the fact, whenever the last game is, you can look back (and reflect). But right now, just because you’re trying to win, you don’t have any other job to do. I think that’s why we like our jobs so much in hockey, whether you’re playing or coaching or managing. It’s 24/7. That’s why Dave and I hit it off before we even started together, because we talk hockey all the time.”

Paddock has a lot of stories to tell after a lifetime in the game. The

I’ve sort of come full circle from playing in junior hockey to spending a lot of time in pro and now you’re coaching

(in junior).

native of Oak River, Man., played 10 pro seasons — including 87 NHL games — before he transition­ed to the coaching ranks in 198384, winning a Calder Cup title in his first season at the helm of the Maine Mariners.

Paddock went on to win two more AHL championsh­ips as a head coach — in 1988 with the Hershey Bears and 2000 with the Hartford Wolf Pack. He also came close at the NHL level, reaching the Stanley Cup final as an assistant coach with the Ottawa Senators in 2007 and the Philadelph­ia Flyers in 2010.

“It seems like a long time since I won the last Calder Cup,” he said. “It’s not like the chances weren’t there (to win another championsh­ip after that), but they are few and far between. I know I’m not getting younger. There was a stretch from the ’77-78 season through maybe the ’85 season that I played or coached in the finals six out of eight years or nine years, something like that. When you’re involved in that, it’s like you think that’s always going to happen.”

But it doesn’t, which is why he plans to savour the experience in Regina over the next 12 days.

Regardless of what his coaching future holds, this year’s Memorial Cup could be his last.

“I’ve sort of come full circle from playing in junior hockey to spending a lot of time in pro and now you’re coaching (in junior),” added the former Winnipeg Jets head coach and GM. “Now you have an opportunit­y to be at the pinnacle of it. It’s going to be important for the organizati­on to revel in it because this opportunit­y doesn’t come around very often.

“You have an opportunit­y to win your last game of the season. That’s really all I think about.”

NOTE: Pats forward Jesse Gabrielle has been ruled out of the Memorial Cup due to a foot/ankle injury he suffered in the final game of the regular season.

 ?? TROY FLEECE ?? “You have an opportunit­y to win your last game of the season,” said John Paddock of the Pats’ participat­ion in the 2018 Memorial Cup tournament.
TROY FLEECE “You have an opportunit­y to win your last game of the season,” said John Paddock of the Pats’ participat­ion in the 2018 Memorial Cup tournament.

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