Geoff Courtnall has become the Victoria Grizzlies fourth head coach in the last eight months. Yesterday, the team announced that the former NHLer would take over from Jackson Penney, who needed more time to concentrate on his GM duties, including the extra responsibility of holding the 2009 Royal Bank Cup in Victoria.
Penney had stepped in as coach on the first day of training camp, when Rick Lanz – hired to replace Rylan Ferster when Ferster was fired at the end of last season – quit to became a scout for the Colorado Avalanche.
Grizzlies owner Len Barrie doesn’t feel the latest change will be anything but a plus for the team.
“For me, every time there was a coaching change when I played, I looked on it as a positive. It’s a fresh start,” Barrie said. “There are not many teams in the league that would be able to get a Geoff Courtnall at Christmas time.”
Courtnall, 45, was never drafted, but played in the National Hockey League for 17 seasons, winning a Stanley Cup with the Edmonton Oilers in 1988. En route, he scored 367 goals in his career, and added 432 assists for 799 points in 1,048 NHL games. Originally from Duncan, along with brother and fellow NHLer Russ Courtnall, he played for Cowichan Valley of the BCJHL in junior, and also spent two seasons with the Victoria Cougars of the Western Hockey League. Behind the bench, Courtnall coached son Justin, a Grizzlies forward, through the peewee, bantam, and midget levels. Justin was drafted last spring by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“It’s just his knowledge of hockey. He was a guy who was really consistent. The bigger the game, the bigger he played,” Barrie said. “The way he played is the way we’re going to play the game.”
Courtnall was running practice at Bear Mountain Arena yesterday, as the Grizzlies prepared for tonight’s game in Powell River. Tomorrow, they play host to the Alberni Valley Bulldogs at 7 p.m. at Bear Mountain Arena, then meet an elite Under 17 team from Sweden for an exhibition game at the Bear on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Barrie thinks the Grizzlies have played “OK” so far, but isn’t happy with hovering around the .500 mark through 38 of the B.C. Hockey League’s 60 regular season games. At 17-16-2-3, they’re on the cusp of missing the playoffs.
“We have higher expectations than how the team has played.”
Courtnall, who deals in real estate these days, told Barrie over the holidays he could arrange his schedule around the team, and would be willing to give it a shot. He’s watched all the games, and knows the players and how they play.
“It’s a good opportunity for me to come in and see if I like it, and see if the kids like it,” Courtnall said, adding it’s impossible to make too many changes too fast.
He said having so many different coaches has obviously been difficult for the players, who have been trying to learn how to compete well in the BCHL as well as learn everybody’s systems. In Powell River, he’ll just be handing out pointers and advice.
“The biggest thing is to use our assets,” Courtnall said, particularly pointing to the Grizzlies speed. “I definitely want to be competitive every night, and to compete hard, we have to use our speed.”
His main philosophy is to work the transition game, by using quick hard passes to get the puck through the neutral zone, where the forwards can let loose on the attack. It’s simple, he said, you just practice every practice like it was a game, and improvement is bound to happen.
Although they’ll need a little time to adjust, Courtnall probably won’t have much trouble getting the Grizzlies to buy into his methods, according to captain Jordie Benn.
“You get a guy like Geoff behind the bench, it’s pretty amazing,” Benn said. “His presence in the dressing room, just for who he is and what he’s done . everybody respects the guy so much. Hopefully we can go from here to the playoffs.”
BEAR TRACKS: The Grizzlies have sold more than 1,200 tickets for Sunday’s game against Team Sweden, which is in Powell River on Monday, goes to Nanaimo Wednesday, and winds up its tour in Cowichan Valley on Friday.
