There are a couple things that I could be doing, maybe owning a coffee shop or work in construction, building houses back in Nashville or British Columbia. I've also thought about being a property owner which would give me income and allow me to fix and maintain those properties to keep me busy.
Having a wheel mentality is paramount. It gives you time and space.
The Kings played out of the Memorial Community Centre, an old wooden barn like you'd see in other Prairie towns. It was built after World War II and the Kings were the biggest thing in town. The Memorial was packed for every game - maybe 3,000 when we'd play the Kenora Muskies or other rival towns. It seemed like everyone in town came out to games.
Anytime you go to the All-Star Game, you recognize that it's special. It's an experience that you don't want to pass up.
One of the blessings of Notre Dame is where it's at. It's in the middle of nowhere, but you become part of the community. It's a lifestyle, and it has a code, and that code teaches young men and women responsibility and leadership.
Just like all young players, there is a difference between being involved and just participating.
A new challenge, to me, is really exciting.
There's times where I go off the rails like anybody else. For the most part, I try to keep it, 'Hey, this is what we're dealt and this is the situation, so let's make the best of it.' Keep a positive attitude.
As a coach, you look for the elements. Sort of like a chemist, you want to say, 'Okay, here we have all of the parts,' and make what you think will be a successful line.
Missing a game or getting a little bit of a bump up or getting a scolding once in a while puts everybody in their right place.
Part of the greatness of being on the Island is it's a smaller community; all of the players live within a couple miles of each other. It really promotes that family sort of atmosphere without being engulfed by the big city.
Hopefully my time in Nashville has helped me. We've had a lot of different things happen to our hockey club, seen a lot of different situations and different types of clubs from an expansion team to a Stanley Cup playoff threat. I think any coach that's gone through those things, you become a better coach.
We might have, with Hockey Canada, an Aero Bar, a chocolate bar. 'Okay we're going to play for this chocolate bar.' Here you have guys who made millions of dollars, they're professional athletes, and they will fight tooth and nail to win. It's not necessarily for the chocolate bar. It's the competitive spirit.
One thing I've learned from all my time with Team Canada is that they're very, very prepared so knowing that's part of the DNA of Team Canada, you have to be prepared with whatever area your responsibility belongs to.
The great thing about David Poile and Nashville is they believe in the people that they hire and they stick with the people that they hire.
I've had the opportunity to have different style teams with similar identities but opposite identities in some ways.
I think a lot of times what practice can do for you when guys are playing a lot of minutes, it sometimes takes away a little bit of their sharpness, because they have the puck a lot and all that.