Smith puts money on MacIsaac

LAFAYETTE, LA – To this point, the inaugural SPHL season for the Louisiana IceGators has been far less successful than what owner Danny Smith had expected. He vowed to continue to make moves that he hoped would bring stability and a winning attitude to the Blackham Coliseum.  Friday afternoon, the rookie owner turned to a sophomore coach to see if he could turn the team’s fortunes around. Following a particularly difficult 7-6 home loss to Fayetteville last Thursday, Smith replaced head coach John Gibson, who was officially hired on November 4th , with Dave MacIsaac, a coach who had success in his first season behind a bench a year ago. “Obviously we’re in last place right now so we’re going to try and win hockey games. That’s the goal,” MacIsaac said a handful of hours before his first game behind the IceGators’ bench. “Danny is a guy who expects success. Losing too many games is not good for the team, for the city or anybody.” Even though MacIsaac may be just a second year coach, he has plenty of hockey experience behind him. Following three seasons at the University of Maine, he headed for the pro ranks and joined the Milwaukee Admirals of the IHL. In the fall of 1996, he took a big jump up to the AHL and the Philadelphia Phantoms. He stayed in the AHL for seven seasons, his best being 2000-2001 with the Kentucky Thoroughblades where he posted nine goals and 24 assists. Following a year in the Russian super league, he split the 2003-2004 season between Trenton in the ECHL and Alleghe HC in Italy. He was back in the U.S. in 2004-2005, playing one game for Trenton and nine for the Danbury Trashers of the UHL. He had his best career year while in Danbury, netting 15 goals and 25 assists for 40 points. After a year off, he played 14 games in Italy and 22 games in the LNAH in 2007-2008. A year ago, he put the skates away to become a coach. He returned to Danbury to be the bench boss of the Danbury Mad Hatters of the Eastern Professional Hockey League. The Hatters posted a 30-18-0-2 mark despite daily questions about the league‘s stability. Eventually, the rumors came to fruition as the EPHL ceased operations during the summer. “I had a good group of guys that I respected and they respected me,” MacIsaac said about the Hatters. “It was a tough situation where by January the team came together and said we’re going to stick this out no matter what happens. Our success had a lot to do with them.” Once the EPHL closed, MacIsaac began sending out his resume. One of the places it went was Lafayette. Despite his short time as a coach, he felt that he could do the job if given the chance. “I knew the SPHL was a single-A league and to get experience in coaching, you have to start at that level. I thought it would be a good place to start in,” he said. “It’s a legitimate league that has been around for a while and is pretty stable, which was the first thing I looked for after last year.” Even though he wasn’t chosen during the off-season, MacIsaac’s resume stayed in the file and it paid off when he got the call from Smith about replacing Gibson. He then called former Danbury teammate Mike Omicioli, who is playing in Lafayette, to check everything out. Last week, MacIsaac went to Lafayette and took in the 7-6 loss while meeting with Smith. The next day, he was handed the keys to IceGators’ locomotive. “I was optimistic that something was going to happen this year. I was maybe a little surprised,” he said about getting the call. “I am thankful for the opportunity.” One of the first things that MacIsaac noticed when watching the IceGators play was the number of penalties they took.  Staying out of the penalty box  is a key to winning hockey. “The first thing I looked at was the discipline of the team. They took 137 penalties compared to the next closest team at 90 which is an absurd number,” he said. “That has got to be our main focus in order to get better right now.” As for the players on the roster, he said that the players already in Lafayette certainly were good enough to compete in the SPHL. He did however note that he would not be afraid to change the roster at any point. “I think they’re obviously talented enough to win hockey games here. I watched the game Thursday night and (during) the second period, our team dominated the game. If we can play that way for sixty minutes, we’re going to beat every hockey team,” he said. “You’re always going to look to improve your team. Like I said before, I don’t know a lot of these guys and I don’t know what they can do. As I told them, you’ve got a fresh start now and you’ve either going to prove yourselves or not.” According to MacIsaac, the players have handled this latest change of coaches well, especially with his philosophy of a new season starting right now. “I think it’s (players’ reactions) been positive. I think that if you start to lose too many games, you get really down on yourself and your confidence goes down. I think that’s where they were,” MacIsaac said. “I think getting a fresh start will get everyone energized and we’ll be able to move forward from here.” MacIsaac’s squad made its new boss look good in that first game with a 4-2 win over Pensacola. The coach then made a couple of roster moves by trading goalie Jamie Gilbert and forward Dan Buccella to the Ice Flyers for Mike Tuomi followed by sending defenseman Jim Jensen to Knoxville for cash. As for what he would say to the Louisiana fans, MacIsaac said that actions, especially those on the ice, speak louder than words. “There’s not much you can say to fans other than (by) your performance on the ice. We’ve just got to let our performance take care of  the fans,” he said. “If we start winning hockey games, they’ll get behind us. This town will go crazy.” If MacIsaac can get that crazy going, Danny Smith’s gamble may just pay off. Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com