AHL Interview: Greg Gilbert

Gilbert Enjoying Life Behind Worcester Bench
By Tricia McMillan, AHL Correspondent

The American Hockey League is the primary training ground for developing young hockey players to play in the NHL. It's also the primary training ground for NHL officials, general managers, and coaches as well, as all NHL referees and about two-thirds of the linesmen, general managers and coaches had their start in the AHL. Some have had better starts in the AHL than others.
Case in point, the Worcester IceCats are guided by rookie coach Greg Gilbert, who was still an NHL player as recently as last season. Gilbert had no coaching experience whatsoever before taking the IceCats job and was given a rather fluid roster, given the whims of St. Louis GM Mike Keenan and the team's dual affiliate nature, but still managed to steer the IceCats into first place in the New England Division. And by virtue of the IceCats' having the best winning percentage in the league through December (.700), Gilbert was rewarded with the head coach position for the Canadian Team in the AHL All-Star Game. Beginner's luck?
Actually, Gilbert, 35, passes on much of the credit. "I'm very fortunate to be working with [Worcester Assistant Coach] Paul Pickard, who's not only played in the game but been involved in management in every aspect," says Gilbert. "So I've been very fortunate in that area and I'm enjoying very much what I'm doing."
Only a year ago at this time, Gilbert was playing for the St. Louis Blues and gearing up for the Stanley Cup playoffs with new teammate Wayne Gretzky. But by season's end, a back injury convinced him to retire. "I was no longer able to play. I was given the option to have surgery with the possibility of me not being able to play after the surgery...so I decided not to have the surgery and just retire with the back injury," explains Gilbert, who may have been gone but was not forgotten by the Blues front office. "I was offered this job in July [1996] by Mike Keenan and Jack Quinn and...it took me a while to decide whether to take the job or not, because I didn't want to jump right into something without being aware of what was going to go on, but I've been very happy."
Of course, Gilbert has never been forgotten by Mike Keenan - Keenan practically had Gilbert packed with his luggage as he moved from team to team and his first transaction always involved acquiring Gilbert for his new team. So it wasn't really a huge surprise to anyone when Keenan wanted to keep Gilbert in the Blues organization after his retirement.
Given Keenan's history with minor league teams, especially his previous relationship with Worcester, one might consider coaching a Keenan-controlled team a daunting task, particularly for a first time coach. But Gilbert says he and Keenan had an understanding which made his job easier. "It wasn't difficult at all...I understood what our role was down here and sometimes the players get called up and that's our job, supply and support the NHL club, so there was no problems there," he says. "We had a little bit of player movement, it's calmed down a little bit, but I'm sure by the end of the season things will pick up again."
And just to keep things a little more interesting for the new coach, Worcester and St. Louis entered a dual affiliation agreement with the Ottawa Senators, accepting a half dozen or so Senators prospects on the IceCats' roster at any given time. Trying to keep both organizations happy - and both sets of players happy - is a genuine balancing act.
"We stress right from day one that we are here for the Worcester IceCats and not the Ottawa Senators or the St. Louis Blues. We do understand that our first priority is to develop these players so they can get up and help the NHL clubs, but whenever they're down at Worcester they're playing together as one team and not as two separate teams and we've stressed that all year," explains Gilbert. "We've had no favorites from St. Louis and no favorites from Ottawa and what we want to do is put the best players on the ice every night in a successful environment in Worcester."
They've definitely been successful; although the roster has changed frequently and no IceCat appears in any of the top scoring columns, Worcester still had a winning percentage of .700 at the season's midway point and the team remains solidly ahead of their biggest rivals, the Portland Pirates, in the division standings. Gilbert was known in his 15-year career as one of the best defensive forwards in the game and defense is what he's stressed with the IceCats.
Worcester has been riding its goaltending, with all three goalies at the top of the league in goals-against average and save percentage; IceCat goaltenders have played so well that rookie Travis Scott had to be loaned to the East Coast league just so he could play regularly. But as often happens with defense-dependent teams, the IceCats did encounter a rough patch in January, losing most of their games over a several week period and falling behind the Pirates in the standings. Gilbert decided to try something totally and completely different to jumpstart the team - pond hockey.
"Paul Pickard and I had talked about it before the winter even hit, just to change the pace sometime, and we thought it was an ideal time to do it," says Gilbert, who hauled his team out to a local lake with a name so unpronounceable it's irrelevant. "We were going through a bit of a hard time and we just wanted to change the pace and the routine. It was a lot of fun, the guys worked hard for two hours and we had some fun doing it. It brought me back to the realization that hockey's a fun game and it should be played with fun and if it's not then you don't belong in the game."
The strategy worked, as Worcester promptly returned to its winning ways and reclaimed the top spot in the division. Little things like the pond hockey have helped Gilbert win over his players, some of whom played with him last season in St. Louis. This could have made for an even more awkward situation but Gilbert has managed to work around that obstacle as well. "He's fair, he expects hard work, he's got a job to do just like we do," says former teammate and current player Jamie Rivers. "He's a player's coach."
"I don't expect anything less than 100 percent every day whether it be practice or a game," says Gilbert about his players. "Whenever they don't perform up to their capabilities I let them know it. It's up to the individual, if he doesn't care about himself and his teammates there's really nothing you can do about it but sit him on the bench."
That's the area which has caused Gilbert the most difficulty. "[The] least enjoyable part would have to be the frustration that goes along with [coaching] sometimes," he says. "You prepare yourself and you prepare your team to play and some nights it does work and some nights it doesn't. It's difficult for [the players] some nights and there's really nothing you can do about it."
On the positive side of the ledger is the opportunity to, well, be an old geezer and tell the kids all those war stories about your own experience. "I enjoy teaching about my experiences and what it takes to play in the NHL to the younger players," says Gilbert, who as Keenan's right hand man certainly has the stories to tell. "If I can help them attain their goals and their dreams to be able to play up there then it's a great feeling for me, it's very gratifying."
Besides, when running out of motivational ideas, he can show the team his Stanley Cup rings. Gilbert was not only one of the few players to play for both the Rangers and the Islanders, he's the only player to have won the Cup with both teams. He's also been to the finals on a few other occasions and shared the ice with a dozen Hall of Famers, including Gretzky, during his career. "I feel very fortunate to have been able to have won the Cup, with both teams," he says. "There's a lot of people I've played with over my career that I feel very fortunate in meeting and have learned a lot from. Those are great moments and I'll never forget them."
Neither will the IceCats.