To provide Wrangler fans more information about their favorite team, I am “interviewing” various Wranglers to get their input. In each case I sent them questions via E-mail and allowed them to take their time in providing an answer.Our first interview is with Wrangler Head Coach Scott McLean. Scott has been involved in hockey for 39 years as a player, coach, hockey director, team manager, official power skating instructor, or fan. He has coached youth teams from Oregon and North Dakota that have competed against teams from all over the United States. Scott was the power skating coach for the Wranglers last year.
As we all know, this Wrangler season is a disaster, but at the same time in every season there are some highlights. My first question to Scott was, “What was your greatest highlight coaching this season and why?” Here’s Coach Scott’s reply,
“I'd have to say that as the head coach I had several highlights this season. The first highlight is, as a junior hockey coach or player, road trips can be a killer. That's no exception with the Wranglers. We put on more miles than any other team in our league. As an older coach, I can say that many of the trips have been tough, but memorable and will not soon be forgotten. There's a bit of a generation gap between the players and myself and it shows in the differences of choice in music and movies. As such I find the most peaceful time on the trip is at the very beginning at 0500 and an hour or so into the ride home. At those times, most everyone is asleep. I'll most remember how much these boys can sleep. I wouldn't doubt if some of them, I won't mention any names, would sleep for a week if you gave them a chance!”
“Another highlight would have to be seeing the team battling to the end of every game no matter what the score. That shows me the undaunted character of this team – ‘never say never, battle to the end.’ Getting to know so many different players, coaches, staff, fans and parents throughout the season has to be right up there too. Without any one of those groups, we wouldn't be able to do what we love to do.”
Next question. Again, the Wrangler season didn’t turn out as what was probably envisioned. “As head coach, what was your greatest challenge from this season?”
“As a first year coach in this league, I was set back a bit by the caliber of play we encountered our first weekend in Eugene. The General’s are an awesome team with a lot of experience. The Wranglers started the season with one 20 year old and four veteran players. From the first weekend, I realized that we had an inexperienced but eager team. The challenge is always giving players the playing time they need to mature and develop and still be competitive. I believe the Wranglers are a much better team now and that our players have improved and matured through this tough season. There are different challenges with the different age groups on the team. Some are more mature than others, some have unique needs, and some need more discipline, some less. They all have different learning styles too. Understanding the players learning style takes time with a brand new team, and as such patience is a must. With nearly my first year as head coach under my belt, I feel that I have learned a lot more than I expected. There are so many challenges to coaching this level both on and off the ice that to say what my greatest challenge was would be too difficult.”
Coach Scott, do you have any other comments that you would like to share with the blog readers?
“My hope for next season is that we work diligently over the spring and summer to recruit the very best talent and people that we can for next season. We had several tenders, draft choices and commitments from last off season that did not play for us for one reason or another. As an organization we have to work harder to get those players here.”
“I enjoyed working with all of our players. I enjoyed it even more when I saw the consistent hard work of players pay off, through their demonstration of improvement in areas of maturity, strength and skill. Wins and losses aside this season, I would have to gauge the season's success by the growth of the players, coaches and organization. I believe that we all grew, learned from the good and the bad and therefore had successes this season.”
Coach Scott, thank you for your answers and comments. Good luck on the off season.
