Gwozdecky intent on building prep power
Valor Christian hockey program in good hands with former DU coach
littleton» The Valor Christian High School hockey team is chillin’ on the practice rink at The Ice Ranch. A couple of players are firing wild slap shots, while another slides across the ice on his belly.
Then George Gwozdecky skates into coaching position, and the chaos instantly turns into a series of crisp drills. Gwozdecky blows a shrill whistle, but his instructions are calm and measured. The teenagers soak up every word.
“It’s pretty crazy how things could be so bad last year and now it’s turning into something so great,” senior goaltender and team captain Dylan Wheeler said. “You can tell such a big difference. It’s a notch above where we were. There are higher expectations and higher standards, for sure.”
It’s a brand new world for Valor hockey, a struggling program that was on the brink of extinction a season ago when it went 3-15 while suiting up just 11 players. The Eagles flew though four coaches in four years. Now, with Gwozdecky at the helm, Valor is looking to field a high school hockey program that matches up with the best in Colorado, if not the nation.
It’s also a new world for the 62-yearold Gwozdecky, the longtime University of Denver coach who led the Pioneers to back-to-back NCAA titles in 2004 and 2005 and just last June stood behind the bench during the Stanley Cup Final as an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Now he’s dealing with the realities of coaching a high school program.
Wednesday night, he was on a bus trip to Breckenridge, where his Eagles beat Summit County and improved to 4-2.
“Being at Valor, I’ve got a lot on my plate. I’m a coach, a counselor and I arrange transportation. I’m the media relations guy and the occasional equipment manager. I think the only thing I haven’t done is drive the Zamboni.”
George Gwozdecky, former University of Denver hockey coach
“Well, it’s certainly different,” Gwozdecky said with a laugh. “Being at Valor, I’ve got a lot on my plate. I’m a coach, a counselor and I arrange transportation. I’m the media relations guy and the occasional equipment manager. I think the only thing I haven’t done is drive the Zamboni.”
Gwozdecky is getting some help from voluntary assistant coaches Kyle Ostrow and Tyler Ruegsegger, both of whom played for him at DU before moving on to minorleague hockey careers.
“Coach Gwozdecky is a great fit,” Ruegsegger said. “He knows hockey, but first and foremost, I think he cares about these kids. That’s the most important piece of the puzzle.”
Yes, he means business
Hockey runs hot in Gwozdecky’s blood. He is, after all, a native of Thunder Bay, Ontario. While at DU he had a reputation as a tough, demanding disciplinarian. He was fired by DU on April 1, 2013, after leading the Pioneers to a record 12 consecutive 20-win seasons. Then he spent two seasons as an assistant with Tampa Bay. He is the only man to win national collegiate hockey titles as a player (Wisconsin in 1977), as an assistant (Michigan State in 1986) and as a head coach.
When Valor announced Gwozdecky’s hiring last August, there was excitement, and admittedly some trepidation, among the players. Most had seen the movie “Miracle” about the 1980 U.S. Olympic gold medal team, so they had visions of Herb Brooks’ punishing coaching style dancing in their heads.
“I definitely came in thinking it would be a lot of work and very strenuous,” said senior forward Tanner Glenn. “It has been a lot of work, but in a good way. It’s paying off. In the past, we tried to work hard but it was kind of squandered, and that was irritating.”
Gwozdecky, Glenn said, has brought authority to the ice that the players know not to mess with.
“He’s a very traditional coach, in that he’s strong and kind of scary,” Glenn said. “He’s like a father, almost, in that you don’t want to do anything wrong, you don’t want to disappoint him.”
Gwozdecky showed he meant business during Valor’s seasonopening, 8-2 win over Palmer. He benched two players for the first period, one because he had not complied with the dress code, the other because he had brought the wrong jersey to the rink.
When Gwozdecky took over Valor’s program, he figured he would encounter a bit of a culture shock. He was right. It arrived at the Eagles’ first practice in September as they prepared for the Colorado Prep Hockey League season (not affiliated with the Colorado High School Activities Association).
“We were working on very simple fundamental drills, with the defensemen at one end of the ice and forwards at the other,” he recalled. “It wasn’t physically demanding, but after about 10 minutes, one of the kids was heaving his guts out. It was like a volcano for 30 seconds.
“The poor kid was so nervous and so stressed out because he wanted to show me he belonged. To his credit, he stayed on the ice and finished out practice. I learned something too. I knew I had to scale expectations back a bit.”
And he had to tweak his coaching demeanor.
“The biggest challenge is to try to understand more and be patient,” he said. “Many of these guys consider hockey to be a fun sport to play, but their commitment is not as passionate or as focused as others. So I’ve had to pull myself back, hold my tongue and be a little less expectant. And some of our guys have never played higher than in an ice-rink house league, so I’ve had to adjust my expectations regarding the skill level.”
On campus every day
Make no mistake, however. Valor’s long-term plan is to build a hockey powerhouse.
“I would say absolutely, because that is the case with all of our sports,” athletic director Jamie Heiner said. “Certainly, George brings a level of knowledge and expertise to help us do that.”
Gwozdecky’s team-building plan included a preseason retreat and team dinners hosted by a parent before each game. Unlike previous Valor hockey coaches, Gwozdecky is on campus every day, holed up in his ground-floor office in the athletics building.
There are, to be sure, aggravations that come with coaching hockey at the high school level in Colorado. Ice time is tough to come by, which is why the Eagles have to schedule practice during the lunch hour at least once a week. Ideally, Valor will build its own ice rink someday, and Gwozdecky’s name will be at the forefront of those fundraising efforts.
For now, he is concentrating on building a winning hockey tradition, such as the one established at Regis Jesuit, another private, faith-based school. Last spring, the Raiders won the USA Hockey Tier II prep national championship.
Gwozdecky said he is at Valor for the long haul. Five months into his new job, he remains jazzed about what lies ahead.
“It’s gratifying to be part of the excitement and joy of this,” he said. “There have been some ups and downs, sure, but we feel like we are developing a new culture here."