AHL Hershey Bears

Bears coach another year wiser

October 19, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


By Dave Sottile

Paul Fixter's Giant Center office looks pretty much the same as it did six months ago.

The desk remains tidy. The dry-erase board has plays scribbled upon it in red and black marker. The television, mounted high atop one wall, glows almost continuously.

A closer look, though, reveals something different.

Sure, there's a new picture featuring Hall of Fame defenseman Bobby Orr holding Fixter's nephew, but this change isn't cosmetic. It's substantive, involving the Hershey Bears' coach himself.

"No question, I'm a better coach now than when I got this job and when last season ended," Fixter said. "I'm a confident person and I don't say that arrogantly. Having a year under my belt, my skin is thicker and I feel controlled, confident and ready to take on anything."

Fixter begins his second season as Hershey's bench boss and after finishing below .500 last year, the coach expects improvement in his own performance.

"We went through a lot last season and as a first-year head coach, I had a lot of other coaches in the league try to intimidate me," Fixter said. "Nobody did and nobody will, because I have that confidence. I don't mean that to sound arrogant or egotistical.

"It's just that you experience a lot of different scenarios along the way, and once you experience them, you know how to deal with them better."

With a tie and five wins through their first six games, Fixter's 2003-04 Bears equaled a franchise record for the longest unbeaten streak to begin a season.

Hershey ultimately posted a 12-3-2-2 record through 19 games, but midseason struggles and an 8-16-0-2 finish left the Bears out of the AHL's Calder Cup playoffs for the first time since 1992-93.

"Knowing how competitive he is, knowing how he's won Stanley Cups as an assistant coach with Colorado, he's not used to missing the playoffs," Bears trainer Dan Stuck said. "And for it to happen with him being in charge of the whole ship, he didn't like the way the ship went down."

Hershey's postseason chances ended on the season's final night in bizarre fashion.

Philadelphia goaltender Antero Niittymaki got credit for a decisive overtime goal after Shane Willis accidentally shot the puck 185 feet into his own net.

With goalie Phil Sauve on the bench for an extra attacker, Fixter could only watch in horror as the Bears lost for the 12th straight time to the Phantoms.

"That ate away at me for a long time, but I'm over it now," Fixter said. "You have to be, because you have to move on. It certainly bothered me until everyone was finished playing and the Stanley Cup had been awarded. Then I went back home to Ontario and everybody asked how my season turned out and I rehashed it again for the next few weeks."

During the long summer, Fixter started planning his second-year strategy, vowing not to let history repeat itself.

"Change was a tough thing for us to deal with last year," Fixter explained. "We wound up using 48 players, which was among the league leaders. I actually broke it down to players who played five or more games and it was still in the 40s, but I don't want to use it as a crutch or an excuse.

"Look at Bobby Cox and how he has maintained success for all these years with the Atlanta Braves. They've won 13 division titles in a row and slashed some $50 million from the payroll, shedding Greg Maddux, Tommy Glavine, Gary Sheffield and everybody else. Somehow, he still finds a way to win."

So how exactly does that pertain to the Bears?

"For me, regardless of what happens this year with players hurt, called up or whatever, we have to find a way to win every night," Fixter said. "One of the things I reflected on this summer is the importance of Game 1 right through Game 80.

"There are no games you can throw away. We say that, but now we have to learn from it. We did throw some games away last year. In the end, all we needed was one win to make the playoffs and we didn't get it. Everybody looks at Game 80 because it was the most recent, but what about Game 47, Game 39 or Game 17? They're just as important."

To that end, Fixter and assistant coach Paul Jerrard ran a more demanding training camp, where a greater emphasis was placed on physical conditioning.

Hershey defenseman Brett Clark said he's noticed an overall difference in his coach.

"I can see a lot of growth in ‘Fixy' the past year," Clark said. "Last year was his first year as a head coach and we had a lot of bumps along the road: injuries, call-ups and stuff like that. He handled it pretty well, but at the start of this year, you can see he's more confident.

"He's talking to players a little more, getting a lot more input. You can just see behind the bench, he's more confident setting up plays. That's going to pay off for us in the long run."

Of course, adding fresh and skilled faces such as Mathieu Darche, Andre Savage and Darrel Scoville helps, as does the Hershey return of Eric Perrin and Marek Svatos.

"We made some great additions to our lineup," Fixter said. "Change is good, and we've upgraded in crucial areas. I think our scoring will be up and some of our youth, I've told them that just because they're a year older doesn't make them a year better.

"They will be better, if they learn from their mistakes and experiences, and hopefully we've all learned from last year."

Someone who should know thinks they have.

Stuck, who started as a stick boy for the Bears in 1977, has seen more than his share of coaches come and go. In fact, Fixter is the 14th head coach Stuck has worked under, and he's seen a change in the man who replaced Mike Foligno in July of 2003.

"I know he had a lot of time to think about it, and what happened last season bothered him all summer," Stuck said. "That shows me he cares about it and wants to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Check out the Hershey Bears Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from October 19, 2004


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central