Ted Nolan keeps his focus on making a difference

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The former head coach of the Buffalo Sabres-and one of the candidates for the vacant head coaching job for the New York Rangers-was a guest of honor April 27 at Peepeekisis Pesakastew School for a fundraising dinner.

Nolan, the hockey man, is itching for an opportunity to get back behind the bench. Nolan, the Ojibwe man from the Garden River First Nation, has a lot of things to do for Aboriginal people in the meantime.

In a speech to about 150 people at the fundraiser, Nolan told the audience that hockey has helped put his life into perspective.

"A lot of people have known me for hockey, but I'm proud of the fact that in the last 20 to 25 years, that I've given back to my people, to do as many workshops as I can, and have tried to be the best role model possible," he said in an interview with the Fort Times.

"Events such as tonight have been gratifying and something I've been doing for the last few years."

Nolan, who played for the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins before starting a coaching career, spent part of that week in New York City. Nolan was among several people interviewed for the Rangers' head coaching position.

It's the first job interview for an NHL job for Nolan since he was fired as the Buffalo Sabres' head coach four years ago.

Hockey coaches are hired to be fired, but while some go from club to club, Nolan has been on the outside looking in.

Why?

NHL management is "a boys' club," he says. "You have to get inside that club."

In the meantime, Nolan has other clubs to join. In addition to the motivational speaking circuit for Aboriginal peoples, he is also the head coach of the Canadian junior Aboriginal team, in which the best Aboriginal hockey players gather for seminars, training exercises, and learning from Aboriginal role models.

"I'm a person who wants to make a difference," Nolan said.

The hockey program assists Aboriginal hockey players who may show enough talent, determination and promise to play the sport at higher levels.

The program also helps players break down some of the stereotypes about Aboriginal youth, said Nolan, who added there are a lot of stereotypes to break.

"I think there's a lot of stereotypes about people. Stereotypes that aren't accurate. When I was coaching junior hockey (with the Ontario Hockey League's Sault St. Marie Greyhounds), I sat on meetings where we'd discuss a Native player," he says.

"There were always questions: 'is he lazy?', 'will he quit?', 'will he drink?', 'will he miss curfew?' They never would ask those questions about non-Aboriginal players they were looking at.

"The way to break that stereotype is to get our own people into positions of authority in hockey. But that's tough to do."

It may be also that kind of stereotype that has kept him out of coaching for the past four years, he admits, but that's hockey's loss, not his.

"Hockey is about getting the best players and the best people to work together for a common goal."

On first glance, Nolan would be an odd fit for the Rangers. Nolan scored a total of six goals in his NHL career: he got by on hard work and determination. That's something the Rangers lacked the past few seasons.

Nolan came from a home with 11 brothers and sisters on the reserve, and the family didn't have a lot of money. The Rangers have one of the NHL's highest payrolls.

But Nolan says the Rangers' organization needs someone to tell them money doesn't buy championships.

"It's people who build championships: people who are going to work for it, not because they get paid more money, but because they accept the rules and responsibilities it takes to make a championship possible," he says.