Lidster returns to Winter Games after 25 years

By GREGG DRINNAN
Daily News Sports Editor
It has been 25 years since Doug Lidster took part in the Olympic Winter Games. That was in 1984 when he was a defenceman with the Canadian national men’s hockey team that finished fourth in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
Now Lidster, a 49-year-old native of Kamloops, is an assistant coach with Canada’s national women’s team. And he plans on enjoying this experience.
“When I played in the Olympics, it wasn’t nearly the event that it is now,” Lidster says. “This year it’s a bit different. It’s in Canada, and it’s a much bigger event than it was back then.”
Going back to Vancouver, where he played nine seasons for the NHL’s Canucks, “adds to the excitement,” he says. “B.C. . . . the fact it’s in Canada . . . all of that makes it that much more special and I think every Canadian is feeling that. It adds just a little bit more for me but I think everyone is feeling the pride.”
The women’s team spent last week in the resort community of Jasper, Alta., and flew into Vancouver on Sunday evening.
In Jasper, the women played a little pond hockey, did some curling, practised, played a game against the Hinton, Alta., midget AA boys team and relaxed.
“It was well-deserved,” Lidster says. “The girls (needed) the break. It was a real nice way to spend a week before the Olympics.”
That was somewhat of a contrast to what Lidster went through in 1984.
“Dave King was the coach,” recalls Lidster, who won two Stanley Cups in 16 NHL seasons. “We went every day but four from the beginning of August right up to the Olympics. We had only four days off! A lot of those days were two-a-days. I just remember it being an incredible grind.”
Lidster, head coach Melody Davidson and Peter Smith, the other assistant coach, wanted to make sure this experience isn’t a grind on their players. So they drove them hard until Feb. 1 before letting up.
It all began with what Lidster calls a “boot camp” in Dawson Creek and Tumbler Ridge.
And then there was the elongated schedule of 60 games — including some stretches of three games in four nights, plus all the travel — in less than six months. Lidster likens the schedule to someone playing 35 games in an NCAA season and then moving to a professional season.
“That’s what it’s like for these girls,” he says. “They’re not used to it because in noncentralized years they go back to their club teams and the intensity is just not there.”
When Canada lines up for its first game — it opens against Slovakia on Saturday — Lidster knows the intensity level will be there.
“These girls are really dedicated,” he says, his voice overflowing with admiration. “They work extremely hard. The girls are probably more self-driven to improve . . . they push themselves, they work hard.”
And with these women it’s all about pride and country . . .
“There’s no financial rainbow at the end,” Lidster points out. “It’s the day-in, day-out commitment without that financial rainbow at the end that I really admire.”
And when the Winter Games are over, well, Lidster isn’t sure what is in his future.
He took a leave of absence as coaching director with Victory Honda Hockey in Plymouth, Mich., but now he doesn’t have a job to which to return.
“About six months ago, I got laid off . . . me and 200 other employees,” says Lidster, who has lived in Michigan for four years. “I didn’t sell any cars or fix any cars. Things are really bad in Michigan.
“They’re still able to support the program but not my job anymore. I’m not sure what my plans will be after the Olympics, but right now I still have a house in Michigan.”
Lidster’s wife, Joanne, and their daughter, Brianna, are in Michigan now, while son Ryan is in Japan teaching English. Colin, a bantam draft pick of the Kamloops Blazers in 2004, never played in the WHL and recently retired as a player. Colin, 20, lives in Calgary and is working the oil rigs.
Lidster did a turn as an assistant coach with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers (2002-03) and started the 2004-05 season as head coach of the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit, which is how he came to be in Michigan. He resigned early in the season after a finger-in-the-chest confrontation with goaltender Mike Brown. It was a resignation many hockey people felt was driven by political correctness.
But it was after that when Lidster landed at Victory Honda. He had coached high school and minor hockey in St. Louis and New York during his NHL career, and was a minor hockey coach in Kamloops after his retirement.
He also was a player-assistant coach with Canada’s national team, and joined Hockey Canada again in 2003-04 as an assistant coach with the women’s team. He helped guide that team to the gold medal at the world championship in Halifax.
With all that experience, then, chances are that coaching will be in his future. But that is something he won’t worry about for at least a couple of weeks. After all, he’ll be too busy with this hockey tournament.
“I know the girls are prepared,” he says. “They’ve worked hard and I sense the emotion. I sense the excitement.”
Observers expect this tournament to end with Canada playing the United States in the gold medal game on Feb. 25. Assuming Canada does win a medal, however, there won’t be one for Lidster because Olympic coaches aren’t eligible.
“I think that’s a good thing,” he says. “I would love to get one but it really is about the athletes.
“It’s great that way.”
grinnan@kamloopsnews.ca
gdrinnan.blogspot.com


The Canadian women’s hockey team plays its first game at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games on Saturday when it meets Slovakia.
And the Canadian coaching staff has a rather important decision to make between now and then.
Who will be Canada’s starting goaltender?
The Canadian roster includes three goaltenders — veterans Charline Labonte and Kim St-Pierre, 31, and relative newcomer Shannon Szabados, 23.
Labonte, a 27-year-old from Boisbriand, Que., has been with the national team since 2000-01, playing in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games and four IIHF world championships. She was named the top goaltenders at the 2009 world championship.
This will be the third Winter Olympics for St-Pierre, who is from Chateauguay, Que., and is arguably the top goaltender in Canadian women’s hockey history. She has been with the national team since 1998 and has appeared in eight world championships.
Szabados, who is from Edmonton, has been with the national team program since 2006 and has played in one world tournament. She has played two seasons with the Grant MacEwan Griffins men’s college team. Before that, she played three seasons in the AJHL. In 2006-07, she was the junior A league’s top goaltender, with a 2.13 GAA and 31 victories with the Fort Saskatchewan Traders.
She was in training camp with the WHL’s Tri-City Americans in the fall of 2002 and got into four preseason games.
Her play with the national women’s team has presented the coaching staff with something of a problem.
“We have a very tough dilemma there and it’s a pleasant surprise,” assistant coach Doug Lidster says. “We have three goaltenders and they can all play.
“We’ve played 30 games against midget AAA boys. We played a game against the (AJHL’s) Calgary Canucks. I haven’t seen a goaltender that’s been better than any of the three we have.”
According to Lidster, Szabados “has been terrific and has made it a real three-way battle.”
It will be interesting to watch the goaltending situation unfold during the Olympic Games, if for no other reason than to see if this is, indeed, a changing of the guard.
— GREGG DRINNAN