Finally, the top ’Dog
Billy Burke named Niagara Ice Dogs head coach after eight seasons as an assistant
In Niagara there’s no better last name to have than Burke if you want a full-time job working with an Ontario Hockey League team. There’s no worse name either. Billy Burke said after being named the fifth head coach in the history of the Niagara Ice Dogs that being the son of team owners Bill and Denise Burke can be a doubleedged sword.
“It’s no secret that’s how I got the opportunity my first year, no doubt about it,” he said Monday. “But I started in the press box, it’s not like I started right behind the bench as head coach eight years ago.
“I definitely put my time in. It’s my ninth season.”
Burke, whose brother Joey is general manager of the Ice Dogs, said he was glad this reporter laid the nepotism card on the table early in the interview.
“Anyone who thinks that I’m here now strictly because of nepotism has obviously never met me and has no idea what they are talking about.”
Burke said while his last name first got him in the door, it’s everything that he has done on his own that has kept him inside the room ever since.
“My parents are extremly successful people for a reason,” he said. “My brother and I aren’t a couple of flakes who get everything handed to us, we worked for it, the Ice Dogs are our life.
“We bleed this. There are no days off, we are always talking about this, thinking about how we can get better.”
Bill Burke said his son brings a lot to the table.
“I don’t think anyone realizes how hard he worked behind the scenes and how hard worked behind with (former head coach) Marty (Williamson) and Dave breaking down video, preparing the defence, preparing the penalty for practices,” he said.
“If you’re not doing the work behind the scenes, you’ll never get the chance to work in front of the scenes.”
When the time came to replace Dave Bell as head coach less than a month before training camp, the 31-year-old Queen’s University graduate had a lot of people in his corner not named Burke singing his praises.
“I think the testament that Marty reached out to me this weekend and Dave Bell, Mike Van Ryn and Jason Brook all reached out to say ‘Billy is your guy,’” the elder Burke said. “I would say that speaks for itself.”
Having prominent roles in a family business as high profile as an OHL team doesn’t put any added pressure on his sons as far as the team owner is concerned.
“For us there’s no pressure when you’ve worked as hard as Billy and Joey did,” he said. “Joey was out every night scouting and Billy was always the last coach still there during the season doing video work.
“There’s pressure when you don’t work hard. I’ve always said to the boys, ‘The harder you work, the luckier you get.’
“You may have the name to get the opportunity, but it’s the hard work, determination and tenacity that’s going to make you successful.”
Billy Burke understands there are people who “rolled their eyes” when he was named to succeed Bell.
“It just comes with the territory,” he said. “Every coach in sports has naysayers and has haters, the anonymous trolls who will squawk on the internet.”
That’s not an entirely bad thing, however.
“If people aren’t talking about us, that means they don’t care about us,” he said. “Fans care. They want the team to be successful and so do I.”
The Newmarket native is excited about taking the next step in a hockey career that included four seasons playing at Queen’s University and one in the OHL with the Barrie Colts.
“I am ready to make the step up,” he said. “I’ve been an assistant coach for eight years here, I’ve seen everything, I’ve been to the finals twice.
“There’s nothing I know more than junior hockey players.”
He was “very surprised” when Bell accepted an assistant coaching position in the Los Angeles Kings organization after agreeing to a three-year contract extension to remain with the Ice Dogs as head coach.
“It really came out of left field. I was with him on Monday and we were talking, and he said he wasn’t going to take the job, but I guess the Kings came back and offered him a great opportunity to move up to the L.A. Kings bench.
“Once that initial shock wore off it turned to ‘OK, let’s do it.’”
Burke, who while majoring in history at Queen’s was the first student athlete in 75 years to play varsity football and university hockey in the same season, called coaching the Ice Dogs the ideal job.
“It’s a great team to be stepping into for a rookie head coach,” he said. “They are an unbelievable high-character group of guys.
Anyone who thinks that I’m here now strictly because of nepotism has obviously never met me and has no idea what they are talking about.” New Niagara Ice Dogs head coach Billy Burke
“I know they’ll help me, and I will continue to help them.”
While Burke is sad to see “Bellsy” go — “He’s a great friend and I obviously learned a ton from him.” — he can understand why Bell made the move.
“When these NHL opportunities come around, you’ve got to take them because who knows when they’ll come around again.” Burke said. “He’s the ninth head coach to move on to the pro ranks, so it speaks to how great of a league this is and to how great of a coach he is.
“It’s the No. 1 development league in the world for a reason.”
In Billy Burke, the IceDogs have handed the coaching reins to an assistant who offers continuity after served under interim head coach Mike McCourt, 2009-10; Williamson, 2010-16; and Bell last season.
“When you just look on paper, it doesn’t look great when you see three head coaches in three year, but I’ve been here for those three years,” he said. “I have an unbelievable relationship with all the players.”
Burke already has spoken with all the players about the coaching change.
“They’re excited. They’re excited for me, they’re excited for the team going forward,” he said.
He doesn’t intend to begin reinventing the wheel when training camp opens in late August.
“Bellsy and I worked together on a lot of things last year, so I’m just going to grow on what we did,” Burke said. “The plan really doesn’t change that much, we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel.”
He favours an up-tempo style and systems that get complement, not nullify, the strengths of his players.
“I’m a big believer that the less they think, the faster they’ll play,” Burke said. “We want to attack off the rush.
“We have to be better defensively, but I think some of that comes by being a year older. We’re going to put systems in place that the guys are comfortable with.”
Billy Burke intends to be his own man now that he’s head coach, though not at the expense of ignoring valuable lessons from his coaching mentors from the past.
“Every year I’ve been here I’ve had great coaches around me,” he said. “I’ve been extremely fortunate to learn from a lot of different guys, a lot of different styles.
“I think you have to find your own voice. I’m not Dave, I wouldn’t pretend to be. I think the players are smart enough that they can sniff out a bluff pretty easily, so if I try to be something I’m not they will know that and they won’t respect you.
“You have to be confident in yourself, confident in what you are doing.”
In his eight seasons behind the bench Burke has played a role in the development of teams that went on to win to Eastern Conference championships in 2012 and 2016.
The IceDogs open their 11th season in Niagara Saturday, Sept. 23, on the road against the Hamilton Bulldogs.
Their home opener at Meridian Centre is Friday, Sept. 29, versus the defending league champion Erie Otters.
In his OHL playing career, Burke scored four goals and collected five assists in 60 games with Barrie during the 2005-06 season.
Last week Bell accepted an offer to be an assistant coach with the Ontario Reign, the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate in Ontario, Calif., a community of 175,000 just east of Los Angeles.
He guided a young squad to a 2335-6-4 record in the first year of a rebuild clinching the playoffs on the final weekend of the regular season.