Blazers head coach eager to get started

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
His coaching staff in place, Kamloops Blazers head coach Barry Smith can
hardly wait to get the new WHL season started.
“I’m really excited. I can’t wait to get there,” Smith said from Penticton,
where he is working at a hockey school, after announcing his coaching staff
earlier in the week.
Scott Ferguson and Geoff Smith, both former Blazers and ex-NHL defencemen,
will be the assistant coaches. Steve Passmore, a former Blazers goaltender
who also played in the NHL, is returning as the goalie coach.
“I’ve been a head coach twice but not like this where, for me, it really
means something,” said Barry Smith. “I am really excited.
“I wish I could be there now. But I’ve got some other commitments that were
made a long time ago and I have to stick to them. But I’m excited to be
there. We’re all going to be there Aug. 1, early, to get started.”
Smith, a veteran coach, is a 47-year-old native of Stambaugh, Mich. His
head-coaching experience has been limited to two seasons — with the ECHL’s
Erie Panthers (1995-96) and the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks (1996-97).
He spent the last five years with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, but, along
with fellow assistant Mike Kelly, was fired May 22 by new general manager
Mike Gillis.
The Blazers signed Smith to a three-year contract on July 3.
“People ask me, ‘Are you nervous?’ ” Smith said. “No, I’m not. I’m calm.
I’ve waited for this. I’m ready.
“I know exactly what I want to do, how I want to do it. Now that I have the
staff to do it with, the excitement and the fun begins.”
The coaching staff already is working on the systems it plans on
implementing for the fast-approaching season. Smith spent the weekend at a
Kamloops Minor Hockey Association-sponsored coaching clinic and said he
heard from Geoff Smith every day.
“He was trying to figure out what we’re gong to do and when we’re going to
do it,” the head coach said. “So I think they have the same enthusiasm I
have. It’s going to be fun. I’m really excited about it.”
The Blazers, who finished last season by losing 18 of their last 19 games,
are scheduled to open training camp on Aug. 22 with rookies reporting to
Interior Savings Centre. Veteran players, however, may be in town and
skating earlier than that.
Smith wants his staff to be fully versed in his systems by that point.
“I want them to learn what my systems are going to be,” he explained. “I
want some input from them but I have a pretty solid idea and they know what
I want.
“We’ll have to get our buzz points, what’s right and what’s wrong, what
we’re really pushing, what my defensive system is, what I’m going to do in
the neutral zone, our forecheck system, special teams . . . I want input
from them but it’s going to be teaching them . . . and getting them
comfortable with it.”
Smith knows that knowledge of the game won’t be a problem with the two
assistants, both of whom are coming off long playing careers. As well, the
two and Passmore won three Memorial Cups and a Stanley Cup during their
careers.
“They played in the National league . . . they did the right things to
become good players,” Barry Smith said, admitting that was part of why they
were hired. “One won a Stanley Cup, they have won Memorial Cups . . . all
that stuff is important and it only adds to what we can bring the kids.”
Smith added that the winning is important, too, because “it makes the kids
understand that these guys have won, they know how to win, so it’s important
to pay attention.”
JUNIOR JOTTINGS: Blazers D Nick Ross has been added to the roster for the
national junior team evaluation camp that opens Friday in Ottawa. Ross was
the 30th overall selection in the NHL’s 2007 draft and has signed a
three-year entry-level contract with the Phoenix Coyotes. . . . Also added
to t he camp roster were F Louie Caporusso of the U of Michigan Wolverines
and F Eric O’Dell of the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves. Scratched were Lethbridge
Hurricanes F Zach Boychuk (wrist) and D Cody Goloubef of the U of Wisconsin
Badgers, who also is injured. As well, F Steven Stamkos, the first pick in
the NHL’s 2008 draft, won’t be attending. Instead, he will be at a Tampa Bay
Lightning prospects camp at Bear Mountain Resort in Victoria. Lightning
co-owner Len Barrie is one of pushes behind Bear Mountain.
gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca