The Portland Winterhawks promoted Kyle Gustafson to head coach this season. It was an emotional moment for the Portland native. He grew up watching the Winterhawks and has been part of the organization for 20+ years.
“Through that 20-plus years, there’s a lot of dedication, there’s a lot of hard work involved, and I finally felt like it got to a point where I reached the pinnacle,” Gustafson said. “It was always a dream of mine to be a part of the organization, and the head coaching role is something that, I wanted to get to at some point.”
He said now that it’s here, he couldn’t be happier and emphasized how great of a moment it was for him and his family.
He said Mike Johnston did a phenomenal job setting up for the situation through the last couple of years. When Johnston would go on recruiting trips, he’d leave Gustafson in charge.
“I was the guy to run practice and run runoffs, video sessions, and that sort of thing,” Gustafson said. “So I feel like I’ve had a good opportunity with practice.”
Gustafson recently spent a year with the Vancouver Canucks on Travis Green’s staff and then a short time under Bruce Boudreau until things changed and he returned to Portland.
“My experience in Vancouver and the NHL gave me some confidence when I came back here and seeing how the guys prepare and learn, and how I learned a lot from those players in those situations in Vancouver, that just gave me a lot of confidence for this opportunity,” Gustafson said.
“When I first went to Vancouver, I wanted to learn from the players as much as maybe they might take some things from me,” Gustafson said. “I was on a tremendous staff with a lot of experience. Obviously, I knew Travis and Boudreau there for a while, they’ve been in the game for a long time.”
He talked about the demands of the job and the hard work that has to be put in.
“It’s a habit,” Gustafson said. “There are a lot of games, and it’s a grind at times, but the ultimate thing there is you have to win and to get your team prepared to win on a nightly basis, and also make sure that you’re developing and growing as a team. Those are definitely some lessons I took with me.”
He explained how at the NHL level, players have to make the most of the opportunity.
“I try to tell the players here it’s the same thing,” Gustafson said. “The way they prepare is the way they go into battle and competition like it’s maybe their last opportunity and the amount of hours they spend with the coach, whether it’s video, off ice in the training room, getting their bodies ready, the amount of preparation that goes in for a game or for them to get better.”
He emphasized how it’s all the important details and getting into a routine so they have a road map of what they will do when they get to the rink. Gustafson elaborated on how it’s about taking care of yourself as an athlete.
But it’s not just about how the players can take care of themselves according to Gustafson. He also touched on the ability of the coaching staff to treat the players as individuals and make sure they have what they need.
For Gustafson, the team got off to a pretty solid start outside of a bad loss on the road at the hands of the Everett Silvertips. They started the season with victories over the Kamloops Blazers and Kelowna Rockets.
“The Everett game we knew was going to be a hostile environment, you’ve got to be ready for the first 10 minutes, and that was something that we’ll talk about and learn from,” Gustafson said.
He said it’s hard to be down 0-3 in the first period and get out of that situation.
“It’s a different look to this team,” Gustafson said. “”There are a lot of veterans who are not with us anymore. We have a lot of players last year that are in their second and third years that we’re going to need to step up. While they’re playing larger roles than maybe where they were last year, or whether that’s five on five, four on four, especially teams like they’re just in situations where they’re going to have to perform and make an impact in the game.”
He said that’s really the maturity of junior hockey and that it isn’t the first time he’s seen it.
“There are some things within practice that we’re going to have to get back to, maybe our fundamental beliefs and instill those and spend more time with it,” Gustafson said. “It goes back to the development of the players, and you can’t assume they already have it like we had a veteran team last year, you’re able to move on to things quicker. And this year, we’re just not at that point because of maybe the age level of our team. But that’s that’s fine, that’s exciting, and that’s junior hockey.”
The WHL’s Western Conference is stacked with solid teams, especially a few in the US Division. With that, Gustafson said that every night is going to be a challenge, but they know that and they’ve talked about it.
“The important thing that we want to make sure is that we get better each and every night, and we do things in our development model that might turn into losses,” Gustafson said.
He emphasized how hard they train, but that they taper as well and make sure they have energy and gas in the tank for games. However, he emphasized that with how hard they train, it might result in a loss early in the season.
“But if we don’t develop these guys individually, there’s no team success,” Gustafson said.
He said they’ll look to get 20-25 games into the season and see where they’re at as a team.
“We continue to evaluate individuals, but we use that 20-25 game mark as something to really sit back and evaluate and see where we’re at,” Gustafson said.
For Gustafson, that’s also one of the most exciting things about this season’s team.
“There are always expectations to win,” Gustafson said. “There are expectations to make the playoffs. You look at the 40 wins that we’ve had consecutively, there’s pressure to do that. But what’s exciting about this is seeing the steps these guys make on a weekly, monthly [basis], we’ll get to Christmas and see where we’re at. So what’s exciting is to see where we get to.”
Northwest Sports Desk 