ORLANDO, FLA – As Orlando Solar Bears President and C.E.O. Jason Siegel was introducing new head coach Anthony Noreen to the media and corporate sponsors, he related a story about how Noreen’s USHL team in Youngstown, Ohio had met a team with a relative of a Solar Bears family member on its roster. Both teams were carrying double-digit win streaks at the time but it was Noreen’s squad that came out victoriously.
Solar Bears head coach Anthony Noreen meets the Orlando media )Photo courtesy Fernando Medina/Orlando Solar Bears)
A handful of months after that game, Noreen was facing the bright lights of television cameras and audio recorders wanting to know more about last season’s USHL Coach of the Year. Off to the side, two of the junior coach’s biggest supporters – Siegel and Toronto Maple Leafs assistant general manager Kyle Dubas – couldn’t help but smile as they watched their choice flawlessly handle every question.
“When we sat down and checked all the boxes, this was the guy. Energy, working with young people, teaching the game,” Siegel said about his 32-year old bench boss. “We know he can coach. We know that he pays a lot of attention to detail. We know that he has a great track record of developing young men and we can’t wait to get going.”
The excitement that Noreen has and plans to bring to his first professional coaching job could light up a good portion of downtown Orlando. That enthusiasm was just one aspect of his personality that he was able to transfer to his Phantoms squads.
“I like to have a team that has energy. To me, if you’re not giving energy to a team you’re taking it away,” he said. “I like there to be energy on the bench. I like there to be energy in the locker room. I like there to be energy in our workouts. That all starts at the top with me.”
Dubas, who was a successful general manager in junior hockey before joining the Maple Leafs, noticed the energy about Noreen’s Youngstown teams. He also saw how well the young coach managed his team and developed players in a league that is considered to be very much like the pros.
“That league (USHL) is one where there is a lot of change in personnel all the time as well with injuries, players moving from one league to the next. To see him institute his system as players were shuffling in and out of the lineup is very similar I think to how it is in the ECHL and to us that was a very important thing when looking at him and evaluating him as a coach from my end of it,” Dubas said. “There was also the way he developed players not only on the ice but off. There were some players who went there that there were question marks about. They left there with nothing but high praise in terms of their character as they went on to college. It’s going to be fun to watch him work here in Orlando with the prospects here.”
Noreen’s hire was a combined effort between Orlando and Toronto. As it turned out, Noreen’s name was on lists that both Siegel and Dubas compiled separately – a sign Dubas said meant quite a bit to the process.
“Anthony was someone that was on both of our lists and that made it relatively simple,” Dubas said. “I started to do more background work on Anthony in addition to what I had already seen from watching his teams play and what I knew about him as a person. It was all very positive and the way he developed players and so on and so forth was nothing negative at all.”
Another key component to Noreen’s personality and demeanor is confidence. Despite not having any experience at the professional level, he is ready for the challenge of moving up the ladder to the pros.
“I think it certainly is going to be an adjustment. You’re dealing with men. You’re sometimes dealing with guys with families. You’re now dealing with guys who are getting paychecks and this is how they’re supporting themselves and their families,” he said. “There’s going to be some changes. Having said that, my staples as a coach aren’t going to change. My job is to develop people and develop hockey players. Teach them to be responsible young men, teach them to be pros, help them become better players in whatever way I can and make sure they give back to the community. I did those in Youngstown and I’ll bring them with me (to Orlando). Are there things I’m going to have to tweak and adjust? Absolutely. Are there things I’m going to have to simplify? Absolutely. I’m going to challenge my players and am going to take their input. I’m a guy who’s not afraid to take input and continue to learn and continue to get better.”
Solar Bears President Jason Siegel (far left), Chairman Joe Haleski and Toronto assistant GM Kyle Dubas (far right) welcomed Anthony Noreen to Orlando (Photo courtesy Fernando Medina/Orlando Solar Bears)
Being fairly close in age to some of the players he will be coaching, Noreen said he will have to earn their respect.
“Being organized, being detailed, having a plan for what I’m going to do I hope proves to them that I’m competent and able to coach and able to lead them,” he said. “I’m a guy who likes to have a relationship with the guys. I’m not a soft shoulder by any means but I like to get to know what makes them tick. Once I get to sit down and meet them and they get a sense for what I’m all about, hopefully I earn that respect from them and we’re able to move forward accordingly.”
Siegel said that the age and experience factors were never at any time a reason to not consider Noreen. He noted that based on conversations with peers and others in the hockey world only proved that Noreen was the right choice.
“When you talk to his peers in the USHL, when you talk to Division 1 coaches that have had dealings with him, they tell you he’s honest and he’s straight forward and you keep hearing the same thing,” Siegel said. “He can coach, he’s got big energy. Joe (Haleski, Solar Bears chairman) and I want to play an exciting an exciting brand of hockey. We want to play at a fast pace. We want to score a lot of goals. We want to win. The style in which he plays, it all just kept matching up. Never for a second did it matter. You’ve got to start somewhere. To look back on my own career, Lou Lamoriello made me one of the youngest vice presidents in the NHL. I had never had that senior level a position at such a young age. Everybody has to start somewhere, everybody’s got to get a chance. As long as you have the right makeup, this is the perfect opportunity for him.”
Follow us on Twitter @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.