A leg up for coaches of colour
Group helps Richmond Hill native, others get closer to NHL dream
Nathaniel Brooks already owns an impressive coaching resumé in hockey.
The 34-year-old from Richmond Hill has spent the past six years coaching Forest Hill and Don Mills in the Greater Toronto Hockey League, along with assistant and development duties with the Ryerson Rams men’s team.
At this stage of his career, Brooks envisions a job in the NHL. But how?
That question was answered by the NHL Coaches’ Association. Its mentoring program has helped hundreds of coaches around the world since March, through seminars and conference calls. The program launched less than a week after the pandemic put the NHL season on hold, and has plans to expand by next season.
For Brooks, a successful coach since his playing career ended in his late 20s, the key is networking.
“I have coached at the university level and in the GTHL, and it’s my goal to coach in the NHL — as a development coach, an assistant coach, a head coach … so everyone kept telling me I have to go to the NHLCA seminars. There’s a lot of networking there. That’s important.”
Brooks had a head start there: Vegas Golden Knights assistant coach (and former Maple Leafs assistant) Steve Spott is the uncle of one of Brooks’ best friends. As a player, Brooks was drafted by Mississauga of the
OHL in 2002 and went on to skate with current Leafs captain John Tavares on the 200506 Oshawa Generals. He was also drafted by the USHL’s Chicago Steel before turning to coaching, after the arrival of his first child.
His first exposure to the coaches’ association was its annual symposium at the 2019 NHL draft in Vancouver. Since then, the association’s president Lindsay Artkin and executive director Michael Hirshfeld have added a mentorship program for women and BIPOC coaches.
“I said to Lindsay and Mike, if we can put coaches of colour in contact with the right people, then you build confidence that way, that (graduating to the NHL level as a coach) can be done,” Brooks said.
“In Vancouver, I got to chatting with (Dallas Stars head coach) Rick Bowness and that was something I never thought I’d get the chance to do … He said: Stick with what you do every day, take care of your family and keep working hard.”
Brooks, who has a wife and three children, added that he also benefitted from speaking with Spott and a seminar by Manny Malhotra — an assistant coach with the Canucks in 2019 and now with the Maple Leafs.
“I saw Manny’s seminar on how he pre-scouts games and it was awesome, one of the best things I’ve ever seen in the sport,” Brooks said. “It’s things like that … they give you confidence and inspire you.”
Malhotra concurred on the importance of networking.
“The biggest thing I find with
BIPOC coaches and those registered for our mentorship program is the desire for knowledge,” said Malhotra, who attended a symposium in Buffalo before he became an assistant in Vancouver. “There is a technical side to it, but (coaches) really want to learn about networking: How do I get to that next step in my career?”
Added Spott: “I think all of us coaches at the NHL level have an appreciation for our grassroots … the coaches we talk to now through the mentorship program, well, that’s who we were. That’s where we came from, and if there’s an opportunity to give back and help out then we’re going to support that.”
Brooks traces his skills as a coach to age16, helping out with development programs at Skillz Hockey — established in 1992 by his father Kirk, in part, to give players from the Black community a chance to work together.
Brooks plans to enrol in future mentorship programs and feels himself growing as a coach.
“I enjoy player development, and I’m trying to be a coach who can do it all,” he said. “On our (GTHL) peewee team we have future stars, and being a key part of their development is very important to me. We have 17 players on the peewee team and 30 at the university level, and each player is different.
“That’s the new school of coaching: getting to know them first, to get the most out of them.”