The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Duncan excited to lead Mentor team
Former NHL player starting from scratch to build Mentor Ice Breakers
When he played hockey, Iain Duncan prided himself on being tough and hard-working.
“I had to be that way,” he said. “I was never the most talented.”
That mentality will come in handy for what’s looking like the biggest challenge of the 55-yearold’s hockey career.
Duncan, who’s spent a lifetime in hockey, has taken on the daunting task as coach and general manager to build the expansion Mentor Ice Breakers of the Federal Hockey League from scratch.
The Avon Lake resident officially began his dual role Aug. 6. The Ice Breakers’ first game at the Mentor Civic Ice Arena is Oct. 27 against defending league champion Watertown. He won’t have his roster intact until a few days before that date.
Since Aug. 6, it’s been a whirlwind of finding 60 players for a sixday training camp in Mentor that begins Oct. 19. The club is owned by Chicago native Cary Ross.
As for the hockey product that will be on display Oct. 27, it’s all on Duncan.
“I’m trying to cram six months of work into about two months,” said Duncan. “But I’ve always wanted to get back in the pro game, and I have a passion for teaching,”
He’ll have plenty of time for that. Duncan won’t have any assistant coaches — “I’m it,” he said.
Duncan brings a wealth of experience to the job. Born in Toronto, he played at Bowling Green, was a member of the school’s 1984 national championship team, scored 72 career goals and was named
to BG’s “All-Century Team” in 2000.
He played four seasons with the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets, and was named to the league’s All-Rookie Team after scoring 19 goals in 62 games in 1987-88. Following his NHL stint, Duncan continued playing for several minor-league teams, most notably the Toledo Storm, where he helped the team to two championships in the early 1990s. When he retired from playing in 1998, he began coaching, and stayed connected with the sport since. Twenty years later, it’s landed him in Mentor, where the challenges are abundant.
“We pretty much don’t have diddly squat,” said Duncan. “It’s a daunting task. But anything worthwhile shouldn’t be easy.”
For starters, the team’s salary cap is about $2,900 a week — for the entire 18-player squad.
The Ice Breakers’ roster won’t be finalized until at or around Oct. 24. That’s the target date of when Duncan’s training camp is complete. It will officially begin with games on Oct. 20, then two-a-day practices the next two days, and a cutdown from 60 to 25. The next two days will feature more inter-squad games, and a final cutdown to the 18-man roster. Players from the likes of Russia, Sweden, Canada and across the United States are expected to comprise the camp.
One of Duncan’s first signees is Ryan Rinko, a forward who last played in the Federal League, and is a Youngstown State graduate
and native of Salem, Ohio.
Rinko brings the exact traits Duncan wants in his players.
“No question I’m looking for young, hungry guys who will play hard, and work to get better,” he said.
Asked how his search for players is developing, Duncan said: “I’m closer than I was a month ago.”
Once his players are here to stay, they will be housed by the team, practice during the week at the arena, and be fed on weekends. The Federal League plays its games on weekends, and is comprised of six teams. Not counting Mentor, they are Danville, Elmira, Port Huron, Carolina and Watertown.
The Federal League is the equivalent of Single-A level minors. The American
Hockey League, where the Lake Erie Monsters are a member, is the equivalent of the Triple-A level. The ECHL is the Double-A level, a step above the Federal.
Duncan said the Cincinnati Cyclones and the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL will have a “soft” affiliation with Mentor.
They won’t have financial obligations to the Ice Breakers but will help steer players to Lake County that don’t make either team’s roster.
Other daunting tasks for Duncan, and the team’s interns are generating a season-ticket base, ticket sales in general, attracting corporate sponsors, and an event bigger task — converting the Mentor Civic Ice Arena into a pro venue.
Capacity, according to Duncan, will be set at about 1,500, which includes creating VIP section rooms on the arena’s second floor that will hold 200 in one, and 50 in another. One end of the arena will roped off for adults and serve as a “beer garden-type area,” said Duncan.
An office room is being converted to a gameday locker room for the Ice Breakers team.
Opening night is fewer than 50 days away, and that has Duncan anxious and excited.
“It’s a 10-plus,” said Duncan of his excitement level. “I can’t wait for October 27th, but I don’t want October 27th to come too quick just because there’s a million things that have to be done.”