Joey Payeur
The Muskie boys’ hockey team bench this season is the site of the world’s smallest coaching carousel.
Jordan Sinclair has moved up from assistant coach to the head coaching position while filling his role is none other than former bench boss Jamie Davis.
After leading the Muskies to a 44-2 regular-season record, three-straight NorWOSSA titles, and OFSAA ‘A/AA’ crown in his three years at the helm, Davis is more than satisfied to play a supporting role.
“I’m helping any way I can . . . it’s a personal demotion,” joked Davis, who last season guided the black-and-gold to their first provincial title since 2001 and fourth overall.
In reality, the demands of Davis’ busy work schedule led to him giving up the reins.
“There’s too much going on running a new business, and making sure everything is taken care of, that I thought it was time to make some decisions and slow down and make more time for myself,” he explained.
“When you’re head coach, it’s three practices a week, making up a game plan, dealing with who’s playing with who, what we need to work on, how the kids are doing in school and managing emotionally, where they are at in their lives and how it affects the way they play, and their attitude at the rink,” Davis noted.
“If you want something out of them, you’ve got to be more than just a coach who draws X’s and O’s on the board,” he stressed.
“They need to trust their coach and have faith in their coach,” Davis reasoned.
“You can’t do any of that without them having a solid relationship with the coach.”
Davis’ belief in committing completely to achieve one’s goals made it clear he had to make a choice.
“I couldn’t give the time I felt I needed to give for the kids and for the program,” he remarked.
“I don’t have any other way to do it,” he added. “A coach has to give 100 percent if you expect your team to be 100 percent.”
The decision was not easy, especially with the Muskies already guaranteed an OFSAA berth this coming March as the host team.
“That made it tougher,” Davis admitted. “But you look at the big picture of what you’re working toward.
“OFSAA is only one week of the whole season,” he noted.
“But if we’re not doing what we need to before that from Day 1, it’s going to be a tornado.”
Davis also conceded the loss of his newborn daughter, Addilyn, just before the start of last season gave him reason to ponder his coaching future.
“There’s no question that came into play,” he said.
“It opens your eyes to the fact there’s more important things in life than hockey.”
Davis initially intended to walk away completely from the team. But upon reflection, he decided to remain available to lend a hand when needed.
“I’ve been to five practices so far and as the weather gets worse and I can’t work as much, I will be there more and even make some of the road trips,” he noted.
“I do miss being around the rink.”
An overlying concern in such a scenario is that the Muskie players might lend more credence to what the proven Davis has to teach them than the new head coach in Sinclair.
But he doesn’t see that as even being an issue.
“Jordy is going to do a real good job,” Davis said. “I was pulling for him to get the job.
“He’s a good, honest guy and a good coach,” added Davis. ‘He’s straight to the point and he does a lot of good things.
“There’s no concern that I’m going to undermine Jordy,” he stressed.
“In any of the past few years, I haven’t coached that way, either.
“As a coaching staff, you’re a team, just like the players are a team,” Davis reasoned. “That’s how we made decisions.
“We both have our own identity. I’m just the support group now.”
Like Sinclair, Davis bears no ill will to his six former players who chose to play Midget ‘AAA’ in Kenora or Thunder Bay this season.
“I was a little bit surprised but not upset at it,” he remarked.
“That would be hypocritical of me since I left the program myself as a player after just one game and went to Kenora to play for the Midget Stars,” he recalled.
“There’s more to gain from going away to play than just the hockey,” Davis added. “There’s a lot of life skills you develop when you’re living essentially on your own at 14, 15, 16 years old.
“There’s pros and cons to both sides of it but any kid who wants to go and try, I’ll be a fan of theirs,” he said.
“It’s their choice.”
Davis is liking the Muskies’ eagerness in the early going, but knows they have plenty of hard work ahead to be ready for OFSAA.
“Any team can be competitive,” he noted. “Winning isn’t that difficult.
“Knowing how to prepare to win is the difficult part.
“The winning is the result of the effort you put in every day and the attitude you carry,” he stressed.
“That will be the big difference-maker for these guys is whether in six months from now, they are still trying to figure out what Jordy is teaching them or whether they are willing to trust him right away and jump on board feet first.”
The Muskies opened their NorWOSSA regular-season schedule last night against the host Kenora Broncos (score unavailable at press time).
Fort High then heads to Warroad to face the Warriors in an exhibition game Saturday.
Their home schedule begins with a two-game set versus the Red Lake Rams on Nov. 22-23 at 7:15 p.m. at the Ice For Kids Arena.
