Thompson sad to leave Windsor ‘family’
Departing coach packs up office for move to Chicago
Rocky Thompson’s professional career reads like some sort of a crazy summer concert tour schedule.
Saint John, Calgary, Louisville, Miami, Hershey, San Antonio, Toronto, Edmonton and Peoria as a player.
When he turned to coaching after his playing days, there were stops in Edmonton, Oklahoma City, Edmonton again, Windsor — and now the 39-year-old Thompson is on his way to Chicago to coach the American Hockey League Wolves.
But that 13th stop on the tour — Windsor — will always remain special to Thompson.
“It’s sad because of the people I’ve met,” Thompson said of leaving the Spitfires.
“It’s like a family in Windsor. They adopted my family in theirs. That’s why it’s hard. We all got really close, and then you win together, and that bonds you together for life.”
Less than two years after arriving in town as head coach of the Spitfires, Thompson held his final media session in Windsor on Thursday as he started packing up his office at the WFCU Centre and preparing for the next stop on his tour. It will put him behind the bench of the Wolves, who are the top farm affiliate of the NHL expansion Las Vegas Golden Knights and a franchise starting from Square 1.
“You’re building from the ground up and you can be a part of that process from Day 1, which is great, and I’m looking forward to that,” Thompson said.
“That will be my responsibility, to develop those players.”
He won a Memorial Cup title in Windsor, but got so much more from the experience. After eight years as an assistant coach, the Spitfires were the first team where Thompson held the head coaching title. It gave him a chance to prove himself behind the bench and, like his players, what it takes to become a winner.
“Being a head coach, it was my first, so that’s something you’ve never done before,” Thompson said. “The culture that’s here is very, very important in winning.
“You don’t know how to win until you win. You think you do. You’ve talked to people who have won and you instil those things, but then, at the end of the day, once it’s done, you look back and say that’s how it was done. You understand it and you can understand what they were saying all along.
“What happened this year was special.”