At the start of this year, Scott Arneil assembled his coaching staff. Now for our purposes, I am considering the staff that directs players in performing hockey acts. Two were held over from last year and two new were added for this year. One of the new assistants of course was Todd Richards, who is now the interim coach. The other new assistant coach was Ian Clark, as the goal tender’s coach. Both the new guys were considered kind of a coo in obtaining: a ex head coach and a very respected goalie coach, whose past pupils had performed extremely well.
After Richards was promoted to the interim coach position, the remaining assistants stayed. I think it is fair that the assistant coaches can make or break a coach. Just like
the
a president, if he has good vice presidents, they will run the business well and the business will be a success and vice versa.
The 3 remaining assistant coaches are: Brad Berry, Dan Hinote and Ian Clark. He is what basic information I can find on them.
Brad Berry –
Bradley L. Berry (born April 1, 1965 in Bashaw, Alberta) is a retired professional ice hockey defenceman who played 241 games in the National Hockey League, scoring 4 goals and 28 assists. He played for the Winnipeg Jets, Minnesota North Stars, and Dallas Stars.
He played Tier II Junior “A” for the St. Albert Saints in 1982-83 and then went on to the University of North Dakota. In 1985 he played for the Canadian team that won the 1985 World Junior Championship.
The Winnipeg Jets chose him 29th overall in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft. Berry joined the Jets at the end of the 1985-86 season after his third year at North Dakota. He was a regular on the team until the 1989-90 season when he was sent down to the Moncton Hawks. The following year he played for Brynäs IF in Sweden.
In 1991 the Minnesota North Stars signed him as a free agent. Berry played part of the 1991-92 and all of the 1992-93 seasons with the Stars. In 1993-94 he played 8 games for the relocated Dallas Stars and then was sent down to the minors. He remained there until he retired in 1999. Playing 241 NHL games and about 15 seasons in minor league hockey.
Berry was an assistant coach with the University of North Dakota from 2000 to 2006 and then was an assistant coach for the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League in 2007-08. As an assistant coach of the Moose, he was Scott Arniel’s assistant, and was brought to Columbus by Scott Arniel.
Dan Hinote –
Hinote accepted an appointment to the United States Military Academy in 1995, and initially planned on a career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He left the Academy in 1996 when he became the first NHL player ever to be drafted from West Point when the Colorado Avalanche selected him in the 7th round (167th overall pick) of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft.
Dan subsequently spent one and a half seasons playing major junior hockey for the Oshawa Generals of the OHL before turning pro with Colorado’s AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, midway through the 1997–98 season.
Hinote cracked the Avs’ roster in the 1999-00 season out of training camp, but spent most of that season in Hershey before making the NHL roster for good the next season. Hinote demonstrated good offensive potential as an NCAA, OHL, and AHL player. However, at the NHL level he has been known more for his defensive skills and efficient penalty killing than for scoring. Hinote was a member of the Stanley Cup champion Avalanche in 2001.
In 2004–05, he joined Modo Hockey of the Swedish Elitserien during the NHL lockout.
On July 3, 2006, he signed a multi-year contract with the St. Louis Blues as an unrestricted free agent. A shoulder injury limited Hinote to only 41 games in his first season with the Blues. A recurring hip injury caused him to miss 24 games during the 2007–08 season. Dan Retired in June 2010 anving 503 NHL games under his belt, and was hired as A Blue jacket Coach in July 2010.
Ian Clark – As far as I can find, Clark played a total of 163 games of organized hockey at the Junior level. He was a defensemen. Somehow, his talents for teaching were recognized and a career was born as a teacher and expert in goal tending.
| Ian Clark joined the Columbus Blue Jackets as goaltending coach on June 6, 2011. He joined the organization after serving as the Vancouver Canucks goaltending coach and consultant from 2002-10.In addition to his eight years with the Canucks organization, Clark was also a member of Team Canada’s coaching staff at the World Junior Championships from 2003-06, winning silver medals in 2003 and 2004 and capturing gold in 2005 and 2006. He also served as the Florida Panthers goaltending consultant in 2001-02.The list of goaltenders he has worked with includes Roberto Luongo, Cam Ward, Marc-Andre Fleury, Cory Schneider, Andrew Raycroft, Johan Hedberg and Mathieu Garon.He is recognized as a leading educator of the goaltending position as his knowledge and innovative approach has attracted high-performance goaltenders at the NHL, minor pro, major junior and NCAA levels. He was the founder of the Goaltender Development Institute and served as technical author of From the Crease – The Self Development Guide to Hockey Goaltending from 1998-2003 and The Goalie News from 2003-08. |
Having said all the above, they are qualified. It is very possible that these are 3 good assistants. It is also very possible that them are not so good. It all depends on how they apply their experience and how they can assistant the coach. In the end it boils down to the “chemistry” that is between 2 men and the trust and confidence they have in each other.