CENTRAL TEXAS – Former Central League Coach Doug Shedden, who spent eight seasons playing in the National Hockey League for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, Quebec Nordiques and Toronto Maple Leafs, has found the path back to the NHL full of road blocks. Shedden, who has won at every level he has ever coached, was recently named Team Canada’s Asst. Coach for The Spengler Cup, which is being held the final weekend of December in Davos, Switzerland.
Shedden’s coaching career started off in the CHL with the Wichita Thunder and after leading Wichita to back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995, he went on to win a championship in the Colonial league with Flint before returning to the CHL and once again wining back-to-back championships, this time with Memphis. His performance led to his being hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs and assigned to their AHL franchise in St Johns. Shedden guided the team to their best record in franchise history in his 2^nd season and their final year in St. John’s.   For his efforts, the Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager John Ferguson JR., refused to renew his contact and replaced him with Paul Maurice, a hand picked crony. The move has resulted in a free fall that the Leafs have yet to recover from.  
Shedden, out of options and without employment, at the American Hockey League level, left for Finland where he coached HIFK to a Bronze Medal. Shedden then left for Jokerit in the same league and led Jokerit, to the league finals falling just short of yet another title. While at Jokerit, Shedden was hired to coach the Finnish National team, and led them to a bronze medal in the 2008 World Championships.
Here are excerpts from an exclusive interview, The Warrior held via Facebook with the minor league coaching legend.
TW (The Warrior) Tell me how you felt after two seasons in St Johns being let go despite coaching them to their best regular season record ever.
 
DS ( Doug Shedden ) Oh well that was tough but you have to understand Pat Quinn (Former Mable Leaf coach) hired me, than Ferguson (JR) came in and well we could of won the title and it wouldn’t have mattered as he wanted his own people regardless best record St. .Johns ever had, but that was a scary time in my career, didn’t want to got back to Central League but that’s all I was getting offers from.
 
TW :   is there a feeling of satisfaction of satisfaction when you see the way Toronto has struggled after Pat Quinn and you were removed?
 
DS : Well I’m a Leaf fan always was and always will be, but it’s certainly disappointing when you see that went on there.
 
TW : When you see a young player like Kyle Wellwood (Former Toronto Draft pick now with Vancouver Canucks) struggle after the improvements he made under you at St Johns is there a sense of I can help that guy or do you just have to let it go?
 
DS :   No I still talk to Kyle, once in awhile, but people (coaches) don’t do their homework on what they have.   You have to talk to your scouts and ask them why you drafted this guy, what should I expect from him? Nobody communicates enough.
 
TW: what was that like coaching under a different flag?
 
DS: Well you don’t or didn’t look at the flags as much until you look up and see it’s Canada on the other side, strange feeling, but being a Canadian and Finns we dislike the same countries. (Chuckles) but it was an awesome    experience working with Jari (Kurri)   And now we are and will be close friends.
 
TW: You coached and won several titles in the United States and have placed you hand over your heart over 2500 times does it still give you the same thrill to beat the USA no matter what team you coach and how much of that thrill is based on the huge rivalry the two friendly nations have with each other?
 
DW: Well of course we beat the Americans twice in the worlds John Tortorella was the coach and not once did he shake hands with us, like he had no respect for us, , funny my father in law is a American , first time in 73 years he ever cheered against the Americans/
 
TW: In December you will be coaching Team Canada under former Edmonton Oiler Coach “Mac T” (Craig MacTavish) where your former head coach Pat Quinn is now the coach. Any thoughts on what that will bring?
 
DS: Yes looking forward to that working with “Mac T”, we played together long time ago, so catch up over some meals and it should be fun, Your Not a fan of Mac are you?
 
TW: I love the Oilers and always supported him on Edmonton radio. There are rumors that the AHL franchise in Springfield is moving to Oklahoma City next year where you are immensely popular. Is there any correlation?
 
DS: No I haven’t heard anything myself, but certainly interesting place, many long tough nights in that town, I think they remember us ( Memphis) for sure.
 
11:57amTheWarrior
TW:   Final thoughts on your stay in Memphis.
 
DS: oh ok, Memphis was a good stop team had worst record ever when I went there So that was fun to rebuild it and turn in champs, we had good owner after we got rid of Horn.
 
TW: final thoughts on Memphis RiverKings scoring legend Don Parsons.
 
DS: awesome I enjoyed the 10 years I had with him, a professional, totally respected everything I did, to him and to make him a better player, it was tough love for awhile but he figured it out eventually.
 
A twenty minute interview that could have gone on forever, Shedden was just as gracious today as he was as a coach with the Memphis RiverKings. It’s good to see that Shedden hasn’t lost touch with his fan base and remains just as candid as ever. Warrior sees why more people hate the Maple Leafs than the New York Yankees. The only difference is the Yankees win from time to time. The Leafs have not even been to the Stanley Cup finals since 1967. Wonder why?
 
Sklaruk named to Pro Hockey News Hall of Fame
The Warrior has named retired Rob Sklaruk former member of the Stony Plain Eagles to the Pro Hockey News Hall of Fame. The Kenora, Saskatchewan native is the first amateur player elected to the Pro Hockey News Hall of Fame. (The Hall suspended operations after 2003-2004 season and will elect a full class in January 2010).  
 
Sklaruk, the longest continued carded amateur in Hockey Canada’s history is the Eagles all time leading scorer was instrumental in leading the Eagles to 13th straight Senior AAA provincial Championships after joining the Eagles in 1993. His Strength and quickness was unparallel and no player was tougher to move out of the crease. He was also the Eagles best defensive forward and could “drop the gloves and go” with the best of them if the situation called for it.
 
Sklaruk, often wore the label ‘The Best Hockey player in Canada to have never played professional hockey at any level’ could have turned Pro in three sports, Baseball, Hockey or Golf but never ventured outside side of Western Canada to pursue that level of play. No player has meant more to the Eagles then Sklaruk and the fact he is not in Hockey Alberta Sports Hall of fame is more a reflection on that organization then the on ice achievement of Rob Sklaruk.
 
When informed of his selection to the Hall of Fame Sklaruk thanked the Warrior and stated ”Playing amateur hockey is playing for the love of the game, also your playing for the person next to you in the dressing room.   No one gets paid and there are big budgets to run our team, we just played hockey & enjoyed every minute.
 
Playing for the Stony Plain Eagles for a number of years showed me you have to work hard for what you want in life. The years I played with the Eagles we had no super stars but we were a group of guys that loved to play hockey & would do anything to WIN!!!!  As players we were all hard to play against & believed in one another. Maybe a person regrets not pursuing a professional career but playing with the group of guys like I did in the 90’s & early 2000″s I thought I was.
 
I am still with the team as an asst. coach I wouldn’t change a thing of my past. I would love to win another Allan Cup with the present Eagle players & organization because in 1999 after tasting victory I will remember that feeling & friendship we developed forever & would love to experience that again.”
 
Rob currently resides in Stony Plain Alberta. His number 10 has been incased and lifted to the rafters in Glen Hall Arena a fitting tribute to one of the best amateur players in Alberta history.
 
A controversy that won’t go away
The final game of the 2008-2009 season and perhaps the final time The Warrior will ever stand on a bench still leaves a bitter taste and burns a hole in the heart of The Warrior.   It isn’t just the overtime loss River Cree suffered at the hands of Stony Plain, if the Chinook Hockey League Provincial Play Downs but the controversial ending that has The Warrior questioning racial equality in Canada.
 
The stage was set between River Cree Warriors, a some what homeless group of vagabond gypsies in second year of operation, and the Chinook Hockey League’s marquee franchise Stony Plain Eagles. The Warriors had been resurrected from the hapless Beaumont Warriors and were without a permanent home, while the Eagles played in the confines of Glen Hall Arena complete with a freshly renovated state of the art locker room.
 
River Cree finished the regular season with a .500 but led the league by far in penalty minutes and fighting majors while Stony Plain finished in second place. There was an air of excitement before the game as River Cree’s 3^rd line Center and asst coach Derek Prue and defenseman Danny Leckelt had played for the Eagles in the past (Both players have returned). There was also some unfinished business as Stony Plain Eagle forward Marc Chmilar had “written a check” when he jumped a defenseless Blain Larson earlier in the season and had yet to have his “check cashed”. Thirty minutes prior to game time The Warrior was busy getting sticks cut, and making excuses for getting the game delayed as a few River Cree players were late arriving for reason still unknown. Eagle team president Gary Weaver granted a 15 minute reprieve in what would become a re-occurring theme.
 
Meanwhile a goalie controversy was developing in the River Cree dressing room when Team President and major financial backer Robert Morin and General manager Bill Moon had called the teams starting goaltender Derek Shybunka and informed him to say home as the team was going to go with ECHL veteran Sean Fields.   Due to unanticipated traffic congestion and a five hour drive, Fields was late arriving enabling 2007- 2008 starting goalie Chad Wagner to draw the start.
 
The National Anthem, looked somewhat like the movie Slap Shot as during pre-game warm-up, Ashlee Langdone came out late with his chin strap undone and tough guy Jason Bone crossed the center line in attempts to intimidate the Eagles. This resulted in both starting the game in the penalty box and The Warrior engaging in a long animated confrontation with the referee   during the playing of the National Anthem. River Cree outskated and out played the Eagles through out first period of play. The Period was highlighted by former WPHL enforcer Marty Melnychuk, launching an Eagle forward about thirty feet into the boards with a bone crunching crease clearing hit. The score was after 1 period of play was 1-0 Stony Plain as both Stony Goaltenders played flawlessly,  
 
After falling behind 4-1 in the second period, River Cree sent out Bone to line up across from Chmilar , in an ill faded attempt to “cash the check” Bone dropped his gloves, at the drop of the puck   and delivered 2 over hand rights, while Chmilar didn’t even drop the gloves.   Bone received an instigator penalty, a fighting major, misconduct, a game misconduct and a gross misconduct, and trip back to Manitoba, for his efforts, while Chmilar scored two goals sealing River Cree’s fate for game 1.
 
Game 2 played in the neutral site of Millet, (River Cree couldn’t obtain ice) was a physically bruising game that saw Ashley Langdone, ejected for running the Stony Plain Goaltender Jason Fricker and a continuance of the disciplined play by the Eagles. The 8-3 victory was well deserved and resulted in the Warrior’s abandoning their intimidation tactics in the third period. Both Shybunka and Fields left the team following the game for various reasons. The Warrior also received a verbal reprimand from the league office and a possible 3 game suspension if any more antics from the bench were reported by referees.
 
  Games 3 and 4 were both won by River Cree in a hard hitting disciplined style and saw the return of Goaltender Chad Wagner, who played big in net stopping shot after shot while River Cree’s Gabe and Al Anderson were tearing up the wings. Langdone also came up big and became a force on both ends of the ice.
 
As promised to the players, The Warrior broke out the red suit made famous in the WPHL for game 5. The good luck charm backfired as the Eagles beat River Cree 4-2 in   a poorly called game.   Warrior forward Tylor Keller, receive a game misconduct in the final 5 minutes of the game and an automatic suspension from the following game because he was wrongly assessed a third man in penalty during a third period fight between Langdone and several members of the Stony Plain Eagles.
 
Game 6 was a late starting hard hitting affair that saw one of the worst called final 5 minutes of a game and the 2 minutes of overtime in the history of hockey. Referee Guy Doucet made four consecutive borderline calls giving Stony Plain a 2 man advantage for the last 4 minutes of regulation and the 1:29 the overtime period lasted, resulting in a 3-2 Eagle victory.
 
Eagle forward Dylan Dellezay’s overtime winning goal deflected off of Wagner’s glove and into the net set the Enoch crowd into bedlam as River Cree’s Dan Leckelt, Brad Trautman, and Jared Morin surrounded Doucet, berating him for his lack of fairness just afte the red light went on.
 
Eagle players celebrated in a rather somber way, their hand shakes, the hugs, and the condolences were genuine and appreciated. Eagle veteran Marshall Kronewitt, skated by the bench to tell The Warrior “I am sorry I didn’t want to see us win like this” River Cree may have lost, but in the end you could see both teams had gained a tremendous amount of respect for each other.
 
  The Warrior had just about settled down when one of the River Cree players said “hey we are native this kid of “manure” happens all the time, meanwhile Doucet hadn’t left the ice.
 
The fans were screaming and the officials didn’t want to walk past the River Cree bench. Fueled by anger, I stood by the door waiting to further engage Doucet as there was no way a playoff game was meant to end like this.
 
Following Doucet off the Ice to the referees room, Warrior let go with a few good kicks to the closed door before goaltender Chad Wagner pulled me inside with a cracked beer and the words “Its over let it go.” It would be the final beer I’d ever share with the boys and I knew it. Nothing outside of war can compare to what we shared that night.
 
Here is an excerpt to the box score from game 6.

 
The Warrior has felt different types of losses, such as loss of life from wars, personal loss from divorce, financial loss from investments, and that will remain a part of my life for far longer then a loss in game 6 in Men’s Sr AAA Hockey, this loss, was gut wrenching pain, the tears, and the anger, that were flowing wasn’t for me, but for the “Boys in that room.” They battled so hard, they fought for every lose puck, They came back from 2 blow out losses to tie the series. They came back from being down 2 goals to tie the game, only to have a referee decide the series.
No Athlete, No fan, no team, winning or losing, wants a series to end by such lunacy. If those were penalties with 3 minutes left in the game then those were penalties the other 60 minutes. Life goes on, but the lack of fairness shown over the last 10 minutes of the game wasn’t fair to those boys that worked so hard and played with such passion and heart.
 
The fact that many in the building thought the game was decided along ethnic back ground as River Cree was a team made up of Natives and Angelo players shows Canada hasn’t done all it can to restore ethnic equality to the Natives. Separate but equal justice, separate but equal housing, is only separate but never equal. Warrior compares it to Apartheid in South Africa. This one game, doesn’t form Canada’s social system but it is a microcosm of a problem the country faces in all aspects of its government.
 
Name Native Coaches in the Major Junior, AHL or NHL Level, now name a Native General Manager in any pro league. How about a referee or linesmen?   Rocky Thompson is an exception to the rule. Why isn’t Ted Nolan on HNIC?   Not white enough? As for the Game itself it wasn’t fair to the Stony Plain Eagles either. They fought equally as hard and didn’t deserve to have their victory tainted. In the movie Rocky, It didn’t take away from the Rocky Balboa story that he lost the championship fight. He competed, he took it further, than anyone thought he ever would and you left the venue feeling good for the loser of that fight.
In this series   It wasn’t move over Rocky Balboa it was Move over 1972 US Olympic Basketball team you have company.

Grading 5 The Warrior has added a new touch to the Warrior Zone with Grading 5. This week The Warrior grades Hockey radio shows across the United States and Canada.

1 Oilers Lunch Team 1260:   Edmonton Oiler Color analyst Bob Stauffer does a great job balancing his job as an analyst and that of an outspoken, candid radio talk show host. Stauffer is a bigger than life figure that parlayed his knowledge of the game with his friendship with current Oiler owner Daryl Katz to land one of the most coveted jobs in all of sports.

     Stauffer has carved a living befriending the downtrodden like current Oilers Dustin Penner, and Shawn Horcoff as well as former Oiler Georges Laraque. This has led to some great interviews. Though using the launch show to formerly announce the return of former Oiler (Warrior Favorite) Mike Comrie was a bit cheesy on the part of the Oilers all in all, it’s an entertaining and informative show. Grade A+
 
2. Hockey Central Fan590 Toronto hosted by a cadre of hosts the show covers breaking news and topics in the hockey world. Arguments, discussions and self depreciating humor make this one of the most interesting show in all of sports. The crew is led by radio veterans Daren Millard, one of Canada’s most professional and well rounded hosts and Journalist Mike Brophy ,who spent 16 years a senior writer for the Hockey News and is an accomplished author. Doug MacLean, a former NHL coach and the first General Manager of the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets brings knowledge and humor often playing off the other hosts.   Hockey Central has given former NHL tough guy Nick Kypreos far more notoriety then his playing career ever did. His opinions and passion for the game give the show balance. Great Show Grade A
 
3. Scott Ferrall Howard 101 Sirius radio: No bigger fan then the original voice of the Atlanta Thrashers. His raspy voice and his no fear approach to ask any question separate him from other host. Even thought it was painful to listen to his first foray into play by play his humor made it bearable.   The only thing that stops Ferrall from grading higher is the fact its not really a hockey show Grade B
 
4. Hardcore Sports Sirius 186 Steve Kourlas is a passionate enthusiastic aficionado   with a tremendous amount Known for his contagious enthusiasm and impeccable hockey knowledge,   The only problem is that Hardcore sports encourages cursing and the use of inappropriate language.   You can still have an edgy brand image and not curse. Great show but failure to invite the Warrior on to guest led to a disappointing score Grade B
 
5. NHL Hour XM 204:   Is like watching paint dry, hosted by League executives, including the uninspiring Commissioner Gary Bettman whose voice has been compared to water boarding, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, and Senior Executive VP of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell also serve as hosts. Only co-host Bill Clement stops this show from being used for torture.   Grade D-.
 
Warrior Thoughts Still peeved at 1-9-1 Stony Plain Pee Rep team for not posting stats on the league website much to the dismay of the parents, so The Warrior has found the official league stats and will post them for the benefit of a better future for all involved Remember “Performance measured is Performance improved.”