NHL bad boy is changing his ways to coach

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Craig Berube is still involved with professional hockey, but after 18 years of playing the game as a pro, Berube, a native of Calahoo of Cree descent, has stepped behind the bench for good.

The 38-year-old is an assistant coach with the American Hockey League's Philadelphia Phantoms. The Phantoms are the top affiliate for the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers.

Berube spent the majority of his pro career in the NHL. Besides the Flyers, he also toiled for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, Washington Capitals and New York Islanders.

He appeared in a total of 1,143 NHL contests and earned 163 points, including 64 goals. As his stats indicate, Berube was not known as much of a scorer. Instead, he was a pretty decent scrapper.

During his NHL career, he was tagged for 3,149 regular season penalty minutes, placing him seventh on the league's all-time list.

Berube wound down his pro playing career last season. He signed on as a player/assistant coach with the Phantoms. He played 33 games with the club, but during the latter portions of the season. He was primarily coaching.

Berube said it was only natural for him to get into coaching.

"The last three or four years I really got into the technical side of the game instead of just playing it," he said. "Even though I was playing, I was always evaluating different players."

Though he was feisty as a player, Berube said as a coach he has to keep his emotions in check. So he said it's unlikely you'll see him yelling at any players, even when they make costly mistakes.

"That's the head coach's job," he said. "As an assistant coach, I'm there to teach and help out with things."

The Phantoms are scheduled to kick off their 2004-05 regular season on Oct. 16 with a road contest against the Hartford Wolf Pack, the New York Rangers' top affiliate.

Because of the current NHL lockout, Berube expects the calibre of play in the AHL this season will be better than previous years. That's because most NHL clubs will have some of their young highly-touted prospects, who could have been groomed in the NHL, playing in the AHL this year.

Another plus from the NHL lockout-at least from the Phantoms' and the AHL standpoint-is that the Flyers' head coach Ken Hitchcock has been a frequent visitor at the Phantoms' training camp.

And now that he's a member of the coaching fraternity, Berube can pick Hitchcock's brain on various issues.

"He's a very smart guy," Berube said. "I've known him for a long time and you can talk to him about anything."

When he's on the bench, Berube will be working with the Phantoms' forwards, but he's not going to limit himself to just offering tips to those who play up front.

"I try to have a hand with everything," he said.

Former NHL defenceman John Stevens is the Phantoms' head coach. And another ex-NHL blueliner, Kjell Samuelsson, is the club's other assistant coach.