Former coach of the year coaching this year

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Ojibway hockey coach Ted Nolan's back in the National Hockey League after an eight-year absence.

At deadline on Oct. 25, his New York Islanders were playing .500 hockey and sitting in the league's top 10 after eight games, in second place just behind the New Jersey Devils for the divisional lead. Nolan is upbeat, focused and working hard now that he's back in the league where he was recognized as coach of the year in 1997 for his efforts behind the Buffalo Sabres' bench.

Windspeaker ran into the citizen of the Garden River First Nation (near Sault Ste Marie, Ont.) for a quick hello as he exited the head coach's office at the Nassau County Coliseum about an hour before game time on Oct. 16.

"I'm very busy now," he said, shaking hands and promising to make some time after the game as he headed for the dressing room where Chris Simon of Wawa, Ont. and Arron Asham of Portage la Prairie, Man. were getting ready.

Down the hall in the visitors' room, the Nashville Predators' Jordin Tootoo of Pond Inlet, Nunavut and his teammates were going through their pre-game preparations.

Bryan Trottier, the Metis hall of famer of the Islanders' glory years, was working upstairs in his position as the Isles' executive director of player development.

After gaining a hard fought 1-1 draw at the end of regulation time and then losing a shootout after Nashville snipers Steve Sullivan and Paul Kariya scored on their chances, Nolan noted that his club was responding well to his instruction. The team started the season with a tough West Coast road trip and came home with a one-win, three-loss record before regaining some ground during an extended home stand.

Penalties played a role in their early struggles, but Nolan said the team had been working on getting in "better body position" when approaching the opposition and that was resulting in fewer trips to the sin bin. There were only two penalties in the entire game. The Preds scored their goal just as the lone Islander penalty ended.

"In the defensive zone, we're getting better. We've been playing some pretty good teams. Nashville is probably about as fast as Anaheim. Those are two pretty quick teams. Any time you hold a team like that to one even strength goal, and you could even call it a power play goal, that's a positive stride," the coach said.

Nolan said he's getting a better feel of the team as the season unwinds.

"We're growing together and the more games you see, the more practices you have, the better you're going to get to know people. I thought in the last couple of games we're starting to know each other a little bit better," he said.

Kariya is Nashville's marquis player, a quick, flashy forward with a proven scoring touch. But the Isles kept Kariya from recording a shot on goal in regulation time. Nolan was happy with that performance. He said another Aboriginal role model, Jonathan Cheechoo from Moose Factory, Ont., had received the same treatment when his San Jose Sharks hosted the Islanders.

"Well, you hold players like them; that's key. We played against Cheechoo and [Joe] Thornton (with San Jose), two pretty good players, and we held them off the scoreboard. We're doing certain parts of our game pretty good and now we've got to get the other parts caught up to it," he said.

The NHL changed the rules dramatically after the 2004-2005 season was lost to a labor dispute. Obstruction of gifted players was severely restricted and the centre-line offside was eliminated, opening the game up with the intention of making it a more attractive display of skill and speed.

Nolan admitted he needed to make a few adjustments to the new NHL.

"The game itself has changed, obviously. There's no more hooking, grabbing and clutching and those types of things that slow the play down," he said. "It's a wide open game now, almost like a full court basketball press from one end to the other and you have to make sure you adjust your style of play to fit the modern day. My style has lways been the same: get to know the players and see what makes them work and hopefully give them information that will help them improve their game."

In Buffalo, with a team that was short on talent, Nolan emphasized a blue-collar work ethic that led to surprising results. But if a slightly different approach is required in his new job, he'll make the adjustment.

"You have to tailor to the players. My style is my style but you have to work with what you've got and make it better. It's not wishing you had something else. It's just analyzing the team we have and in the first six games plus five exhibition games we're starting to identify what kind of team we have and basically whether we're a skill team or a hard working team we have to work hard," he said.

He admitted that his first appearance back in Buffalo would be a night of mixed feelings.

"Yeah, it'll be a special feeling to go back to Buffalo. The people in Buffalo were great and all the way through, even the last eight years, you'd still get letters from people in Buffalo. And they're very passionate about their hockey team. They opened their arms and their hearts to me when I came in from out of town and I'll never, never forget that," Nolan said.

The coach's eyes brightened when he was asked about all the Aboriginal participants in the night's action. He was quick to point out that the winner of the NHL trophy given out to the player who scores the most goals each season was won by an Aboriginal player last season.

"Chris Simon, Arron Asham, Bryan Trottier's with us and when you look down the road you've got a Rocket Richard Trophy winner in Cheechoo. So there's more and more First Nation kids coming. There should be a lot more coming behind us. You see young players like Jordin playing now and Cheechoo and Cody McCormick playing off and on in Colorado. We've just got to keep the path patted down and hopefully more will follow," he said.

Los Angeles Kings right-winger Anson Carter, a Black hockey payer from Toronto who started his own record label called Big Up Entertainment during the strike season, will produce a made-for-TV movie about Nolan's life story with an expected release for the autumn of 2007. Nolan seemed almost embarrassed when asked about it.

"We've had a number of conversations and it's flattering," he said. "One of the reasons he would even consider doing that is that it'll be an inspiration to others and pave the way for others, not so much to just talk about yourself but more so to influence others."

Several of Nolan's family members made the trip down from Garden River to spend a few days in New York. Islanders' owner Charles B Wang made them feel at home, something his coach really appreciated.

"It feels special. They took a lot of time and the little money they do have and they rented themselves a bus and came down to New York. I have to say hats off to Mr. Wang for the way he treated the people coming down here," Nolan said.

"They went into the city and did a little sightseeing and saw a couple of hockey games and they're going to go home with some smiles on their faces and remember this trip for a long time."

While the Islanders' job has many demands, any spare moments coach Nolan might get will allow him to follow a couple of other hockey teams' ups and downs. His sons, Brandon and younger brother Jordan, are both players with at least a chance of making it to "the show."

Brandon Nolan was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks and is now playing in Sweden.

"My oldest boy's playing European hockey. That's how far we've come from Garden River First Nation and growing up in a real small household. You coach in the National Hockey League and you get married and you have a couple of boys and all of a sudden they follow in your footsteps.

Now one's playing in Sweden and enjoying himself over there and my 17-year-old is playing with the Windsor Spitfires in the Ontario Hockey League and he's up for the NHL draft this year. They're bothenjoying the game and hopefully they'll get the opportunity to reach their goal of playing in the NHL. And if they don't, at least they'll have some life experiences that they never forget," Ted Nolan said.

After getting the extra point on the road with a shoot-out win, the Nashville club's staff was packing for a quick getaway after the game. Jordin Tootoo had had a so-so night. He'd been on the ice for the Islanders first goal and had missed a few shifts. But a few of his trademark hits and a couple of chances in the offensive zone suggest that the new pro will eventually make a role for himself in the world's best hockey league.

Windspeaker asked the pride of Rankin Inlet about the many Aboriginal people involved in the night's game. He admitted it was on his mind prior to the contest.

"Well, obviously you want to focus on the game first and foremost but to be respected as a role model to these kids is a great honor. There's a lot of talented kids out there that could play in the NHL and hopefully one day that's possible," he said.

He urged young Aboriginal people to be encouraged by his presence in the NHL, to dare to dream and to work hard to make that dream come true.

"The biggest thing is perseverance and being able to be committed to working out and also sacrificing yourself. You may have a lot of friends out there that want to pull you down and take you away from the game and I think that when you have the right people surrounding you it's a very positive thing. That's one thing they've got to look for," he said.