Coaching the Ice a challenge Patrick keeping his players sharp with variety of off-ice activities By: Mike Sawatzky Posted: 7:30 PM CDT Wednesday, Jun. 17, 2020

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This article was published 16/06/2020 (1654 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Even in a pandemic, James Patrick is a builder.

His latest project — restoring a recently purchased vintage home in Winnipeg’s Deer Lodge district — has consumed many of his waking hours away from his regular job as head coach of the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice.

In the last two months, Patrick, his brother Steve and other volunteers have gutted the 82-year-old building to the studs, yielding seven dumpsters of ancient lath and plaster, shiplap, wood chip insulation, newspapers and other treasures such as old Blue Bombers programs and football cards.

That restoration will take time.

His work with the Ice, however, is a different beast.

The tear-down and renovation work has been done in stages over the past three seasons; the continued development of older players and the nurturing of some of the best young talent in Western Canada could turn a good club into one of the very best in the WHL.

Patrick admits his projected roster for the upcoming season (whenever that begins) should provide the deepest, most talented lineup he’s had since joining the Ice prior to the 2017-18 season. He hasn’t spent much time agonizing about missing a post-season run with his young team.

“Everyone gets asked about how frustrating it was with the way the year ended and, obviously, in the big scheme of things and what’s going on, it’s miniscule,” said Patrick Wednesday. “But, I really liked our team and we’d have loved to get the experience to play in the playoffs. It would have been huge for our young players or old players.”

His team hasn’t played since March 11 and many of his players have seen little or no ice time since.

“We’ve tried to be creative and keeping busy, keeping connected with our coaching staff, our management group,” said Patrick. “I think it’s been a great experience. We’ve had weekly Zoom meetings with the coaching staff, bi-weekly Zoom meetings with all the players.”

Group video chats have encouraged players to communicate more freely than they might have in a one-on-one meeting.

“Everyone gets asked about how frustrating it was with the way the year ended and, obviously, in the big scheme of things and what’s going on, it’s miniscule. But, I really liked our team and we’d have loved to get the experience to play in the playoffs. It would have been huge for our young players or old players.”
– Winnipeg Ice head coach James Patrick

“Often it looks like they just got out of bed,” said Patrick. “They’re sleepy but you get to see their faces. So we’ve put together a group of different challenges, physical challenges, mental challenges, connection challenges or mental, spiritual, and nutritional challenges.”

The challenges take on all forms.

“We’ve set up an Instagram account where you post your favourite smoothie,” said Patrick. “Show video of yourself making it or just post your favourite smoothie recipe. Your favourite recipe of your mom or dad’s cooking when you’re growing up, prepare a meal for your family, go out shopping and you have to cook the whole meal from start to challenge yourself.

“We’ve had a physical activity to check to see if you can practise all week doing a handstand. Can do it against the wall? And then you have to videotape yourself doing it and post it. Balancing a soccer ball. Doing a five-minute bridge. Some really good connections include how you’re connected to the community, connected to your teammates. And, on your personal social media pages, post three businesses that you’re thankful for in your community during this time.”

Aside from professional development involving webinars with other professional coaches in recent months, Patrick and his staff of Jon Klemm and Josh Green made time for the Netflix series The Last Dance, a 10-part documentary series chronicling Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls’ run to an NBA title in 1997-98.

“We’ve talked about two episodes at a time and broken down what we could take out of it as coaches, what our players could take out of it,” said Patrick, 57.

“I was mesmerized by it. And so, as coaches talking about it, discussing comparing our experiences and comparing where we were when this was going on and all of us were playing.

“You know, being in the NHL (as a player) then when this was happening in the NBA, I thought about how far ahead (Bulls head coach) Phil Jackson was. To me, they were 20 years ahead of hockey as far as the player-coach relationship, the superstar-coach relationship. There were so many discussions that we had off of that.”

The logistics of the pandemic are likely to have a lasting impact on major-junior hockey. Uncertainty about when minor leagues will restart make it possible that veteran players will return to the WHL despite being destined for the pro ranks. Defenceman Dawson Barteaux, acquired by the Ice at the trade deadline, was signed by Dallas but could play in Winnipeg as a 20-year-old rather than with the Stars’ AHL affiliate.

“I think there could be 25 pro players in our league next year,” said Patrick. “No one knows but a lot of the strongest sense out there from the people I talk to is that the American league won’t start till the NHL does the following season. That means December or January.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14

Mike Sawatzky
Reporter

Mike has been working on the Free Press sports desk since 2003.

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