New coach Fitz the bill

Midwestern Conference coach of the year looking forward to taking over the reins with Falcons

POSTMEDIA NEWS

Last place the new head coach of the St. Catharines Falcons wants his players’ heads is up somewhere lost in the clouds.

But the Cloud is the first place Dan Fitzgerald wants them to focus their eyes.

Fitzgerald, a strong proponent of using video as a teaching tool, hopes that in the not-to-distant future, all of the junior B hockey team’s videos will be Cloud-based, accessible in a few keystrokes at a player’s convenience.

When you know where someone is going to be on the ice, you don’t need to be Gretzky to get them the puck.”

New St. Catharines Falcons head coach Dan Fitzgerald

“We’re going to see if we can get that going, but regardless the players are going to see what they are doing well and the things that they aren’t doing so well.”

Though Fitzgerald, who turns 30 next month, wasn’t on the receiving end of video when he played junior hockey and at the senior level with the now-defunct Niagara Whalers, he firmly believes video has to be “a huge part of teaching today’s player.”

“It’s something that the players really need to see, it’s a fantastic teaching tool,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s great for systems, it’s great for individual players, it’s great for recruitment, it’s great for exposure.”

Falcons fans need not worry the players on their favourite team will spend more time in front of the screen than on the ice. Fitzgerald said video sessions will complement, not replace, ice time at team practices.

“If we have a two-hour practice, we’re going to be on the ice for those tours,” he said in describing video as another component in a player’s development.

“Just like working out in the gym or good nutrition. It’s all part of development.”

Fitzgerald wasn’t exposed to video when he was playing defence mostly at the junior C level and, briefly, in junior B.

“No, no, not at all,” he recalled with a laugh.

He remembers watching a VHS tape of one of his team’s games while playing minor midget in Brantford.

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JULIE JOCSAK/POSTMEDIA NEWS Dan Fitzgerald, the new coach of the St. Catharines Falcons, is photographed by the team's dressing rooms at the Jack Gatecliff Arena in St. Catharines on Thursday.

BERND FRANKE/POSTMEDIA NEWS St. Catharines Falcons prospects scrimmaging at a tryout held recently at Seymour-Hannah Sports and Entertainment Centre in St. Catharines.