First the world, then maybe the NHL for U.S. coach Klee
Long-time pro would love to guide Americans at Olympics
Ken Klee was a late-round NHL draft pick who parlayed heady, steady play along the blue-line into a lengthy pro career. Doug Lidster did the same.
Upon retiring as a player, Klee took up coaching and he’s currently guiding the U.S. women’s team, which is at the world championships here. After his defenceman days were done, Lidster did a stint as an assistant with the Canadian women’s squad and helped run the Vancouver 2010 Olympic gold-medal winners.
Lidster is now behind an NHL bench, taking charge of the rearguards for head man Willie Desjardins with the Vancouver Canucks.
You get where we’re going with this, Ken?
“I can’t say that I don’t want to coach at a higher level because I think I do,” said Klee, a 1990 ninthround choice of the Washington Capitals who went on to play 934 NHL regular-season games with seven teams, including a two-year stint with the Maple Leafs.
“I had my career and when you’re an NHLer, it’s about you. I switched and said, ‘OK, everything is about my family.’ Now, I’m looking for a career, but I’m also loving what I’m doing. I’m not looking to go anywhere right away.”
Part of the enticement to stay is the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, which are just a stretch pass or two away. Klee, 44, who was playing at Bowling Green State University at the time of the 1992 Games in Albertville, France, was in early contention for a spot on that U.S. team, but injured his knee.
He joined the coaching staff with the U.S. women’s program in 2014, first guiding an under-22 team. With that squad and the women’s team combined, he had a 14-2-1 record going into these world championships, highlighted by a 5-0-0 run at last year’s world championship in Malmo, Sweden.
“I think any time you have a chance to represent your country in the Olympics, it’s a special occasion,” said Klee, an Indianapolis native who now lives in Denver.
“Just being a part of wearing your country’s colours and the flag and the ceremonies and all the things we’ve seen on TV since we were little … it’s a neat thing.
“I would love to (coach the team in 2018) if the opportunity is there. I’ve had the question a lot. I just say that I have to keep winning. You win, things take care of themselves.”
Klee would also like to see fellow former NHLers get behind the bench of national women’s teams. There’s an argument whether they would do a better job teaching the game than career-type coaches and whether women’s teams are better off being coached by women.
Former NHLers would certainly bring attention to the sport.
“The guys would love it ,” says K lee, who represented the U.S. asap layer in two worlds (1992 and 1997) and one World Cup (2004). “The girls are certainly great people.”