On 20 Jun 96 at 21:09, D B Doucette wrote:
 
> 2.  Who, in Crowder's opinion, was the most influential coach he has
> played for or coached with ?  Perhaps could be an interesting question,
> especially if he named Shawn Walsh.
 
I think if Bruce Crowder named 5 people who greatly influenced his
ability to coach today that Shawn Walsh would definately be on that
list.
 
Perhaps one of the largest similarites between Crowder and Walsh that
I see are their ability to motivate players.  Last year's UML squad,
and the 1994-5 Maine squad are two example of that.
 
Ask anyone who has played for Walsh and they will tell you that he
can motivate players to do things they never thought they were
capable of doing.  Yes, Walsh has made poor choices, and I agree you
have to question some aspects of his coaching ability, but certainly
his ability to motivate is not one of those areas, and overall he
still is a good coach.
 
Walsh took the 1994-5 Maine team to the NCAA title game at a 32-6-6
record.  That team, without Walsh, would have been satified just to
make the NCAA's probably.  Also consider, that virtually the same
team the following year under Greg Cronin went 12-6.. the same number of
losses they had the whole previous year.  That is also large
considering under Walsh that same year Maine went 14 games without
losing.
 
Crowder's UML River Hawks certainly were overachievers last season,
all the way to the NCAA Quarterfinals, only losing 10 games all
season.
 
Both won National Coach of the Year in their respective seasons, and
undoubtably that is due to their ability to motivate their players,
and get more out of them than most people.
 
I'm not suggesting that Walsh is the only person who taught Crowder
how to motivate players, but certainly he played a large role, and
regardless of what you think of Walsh, he certainly helped Crowder
become as well respected a coach as he is today.
 
 
---
Deron Treadwell - [log in to unmask]
Orono, Maine
INFO-HOCKEY-L Admin
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.