Ryane Clowe building a Newfoundland hockey team, one Growler at a time

RyaneClowespent 11 seasons in the NHLas a player and two as an assistant coach, but being a head coach he's the first one for the Newfoundland Growlers, starting play this fall in the ECHL is a whole other level of responsibility.

"When I played and getting into coaching as an assistant coach, you're more or less assigned your responsibilities and you kind of have at it and get it done," he said. But his time as assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils gave him a better window on what head coaches do.

"You're probably 30 per cent coaching and there's a lot of other stuff, 70 per cent that you're dealing with," he said.

"There's a lot of logistics stuff, and that's something new for me, you know putting the schedule together, planning practices, coming up with systems, hiring assistance coaches, hiring staff, obviously recruiting players. And that was one of the things that drew me to this job. I wanted that experience."

Clowe said he misses playing, but the transition to coaching has helped.

"There's days when I still think about playing. I think that's just natural, but coaching is close as you can get to the game," he said.

Season starts Oct. 12

"You still win and lose. You still can make an impact on the players. That's really helped me in my transition from forced out of playing, which was challenging, but I'm excited about the new opportunity here."

Chief among the tasks right now is pinning down the people who are going to lace up the skates for the Growlers' inaugural season, which starts Oct. 12.

"People looking at the roster right now probably see four or five guys signed, but obviously there's a lot of guys that are signed with the Marlies who will potentially come to us later in September towardstraining camp," he said.

"Even though it looks like right now there's not a lot of guys on the roster, we'll have a full roster by then."

If the player's right and they're players that make an impact and they're high-character guys from Newfoundland, I'm all for it.- RyaneClowe

Cloweis heading to Toronto to take in the training camp for the Maple Leafs, the Growlers' NHLaffiliate, which will feature players who might wind up on Newfoundland's lineup.

There are two players signed to the team right now from St. John's defenceman James Melindy and centre Marcus Power. Clowesaid he's open for signing more local talent, as long as the player is a good fit.

"If the player's right, and they're players that make an impact and they're high-character guys from Newfoundland,I'm all for it," he said.

"But a lot of the guys that are in that situation are either signed with other teams or are in the AHL or whatnot, so there's a lot of guys that potentially could be here but don't have an opportunity. But we're still looking."

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