Ivo
Jaschick's
Eye on Europe
Reporting from Germany
and
across Europe 2006-07
ISERLOHN ROOSTERS LIKELY HEADED TO FIRST DEL
PLAYOFF APPEARANCE
By Ivo Jaschick
November
8, 2006 – GERMANY -- This season, the "Roosters" had to change their
coaching staff. The old coaching duo of head coach Doug Mason &
assistant Clayton Beddoes were hired by the Cologne Sharks, so GM
Karsten Mende had to look for a substitute.
He
did and was successful in finding the Canadian GEOFF WARD (above,
right). Like nearly every Canadian, the 44 year old Geoff (born in
Waterloo, Ont.) learned to play hockey but didn`t get a chance in the
NHL, and turned to coaching.
In his early years he worked as a conditioning trainer at the High
School in his home town of Waterloo, Ontario.
"First of all I tried to develop the athletics of the young players in
sports like Baseball and Football. I had a lot of fun," explains Ward.
"Later, I was asked to become an assistant coach for their hockey team.
That was when I decided to become a hockey coach. And it has been the
right decision!”
In 1993 he became head coach of the "Waterloo Siskins," an OHA Jr "B"
club and directly won the championship.
After coaching at the major junior level in the Ontario Hockey League
for the Kitchener Rangers & Guelph Storm), Ward took over the coaching
job for the ECHL's Arkansas River Blades.
After a short stint there he came to Germany for a short time to help
coaching Bad Nauheim, a second division club.
In 2001, Ward became assistant coach in the American Hockey League with
the Hamilton Bulldogs, and was later promoted to head coach. As head
coach, he led the team into the Calder Cup finals. In 2001 he
received Coach of the Year honors in the AHL.
In 2003 he was hired as head coach in Toronto with the Roadrunners, who
then moved to Edmonton. Later he moved up in the ranks, becoming a coach
with the Edmonton Oilers organization.
Shortly thereafter, he heard the call of the German Elite League's (DEL)
"Iserlohn Roosters.” Together with his entire family (his wife Carolyn &
three children, Cody, Kylie, Hannah) Geoff started his German adventure
with help from current Iserlohn assistant coach BERND HAAKE (above,
left) who has huge experience in coaching (worldwide, South Africa,
Australia, New Zealand, Brazil &
a hockey school in Hawaii).
Two notable Canadian players who have known each other for many years
joined Ward in Iserlohn.
Defenseman
PAUL TRAYNOR (left) (originally drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in
the 7th round, 1995), who Ward coached during his time with the OHL's
Kitchener Rangers developed into a dangerous defenseman. In Traynor's
last season in the OHL, he scored 10 goals & 10 assists.
Traynor did what he was asked to do – he checked very hard, was afforded
a definite level of respect, and became a real stay-at-home-defender.
After 7 years in the minors, Traynor decided to make the jump across the
pond, to Europe joining the DEL's Cologne Sharks in 2004. Traynor
discovered that with the European embrace of the NHL's "zero tolerance”
of interference and stick play, the hard-hitting Canadian has had to
adjust.
"It`s really a different way of playing hockey now. I learned how to
play hockey in North America, and to make a living, I did what I was
told to do," says Traynor. "But now, there is much more fun – it reminds
me of my childhood – you can play much more, although I`m a defenseman.
It feels like a heavy weight was lifted from my shoulders!
Personally, Traynor is enjoying his European career.
“Cornelia, my girl friend, and me we like it here in Iserlohn – it`s a
traditional hockey town with a lot of frenetic fans. It`s also a small
town with close quarters – we like it here very much & we have a great
team/coaches – everything fits together!”
JEREMY
ADDUONO (right) (Originally drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the 7th
round, 1997) is the other guy who made it a perfect reunion.
From 1995 – 98, the young forward was playing for the OHL's Sudbury
Wolves, and Geoff Ward was often coaching against him. At this time the
speedy & skilled Wolf, named Jeremy, caused coach Ward quite a headache.
After five years in the American Hockey League Jeremy became a Cologne
Shark and went the same way as Traynor to Iserlohn to become a rooster.
Together with his girl friend Sophie, he likes the family atmosphere in
Iserlohn with the fantastic fans and is "very happy to be a Rooster!”
"'Zero tolerance' is great," explains Adduono. "It`s a big help for the
skilled players. We have a great team and one of the best coaches. Our
goal is to reach the play offs – and I hope I will help the team to
reach it by scoring many goals!”
Another addition to the Roosters' roster is ROBERT HOCK. In recent
years, he has been one of the best German scorers. Robert is very
important for the team and is creating many scoring chances.
HOME
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Sept/October 06: DEL Preview / Finland's Jokerit
Photos by Ivo Jaschick
