Vince D’Adamo: What are you studying at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY and when are you on track to graduate?
Bryan Metcalf: I’ll graduate in December with a Master’s in Sports Administration. Our program also has some overlap with the Canisius one-year MBA program, so I’m considering that program for next spring.
D’Adamo: When did you first take an interest in hockey?
Metcalf: I’ve always loved hockey even when I was living in Georgia. My best friend and I used to play in his basement or in the street all the time. I became really interested while living in Michigan, but my mom was afraid I’d get hurt if she let me play ice hockey. It wasn’t until I was going to school in Minnesota that I started playing ice hockey full-time instead of roller. There was an outdoor rink a few blocks from campus, and I was there every week.
D’Adamo: What is the class/practice/games balance like as a coach?
Metcalf: Because I’m a graduate student, the balance is very easy. There aren’t many conflicts to begin with, and my professors are very accommodating because my job as a coach is also my required internship. During a normal week, we have two practices in the afternoons, I’ll have two or three classes in the evenings, with one game on either Friday or Saturday night. It’s easier to balance in fall than spring, because there are more “normal” weeks. In spring we’re dealing with final push for playoffs, and last weekend was our state tournament. Special events like that can make things more challenging, especially when the fall right before midterms.
D’Adamo: How much overlap is there between hockey and other sports as far as strategy and object of the game?
Metcalf: In my days as a stringer for the Napa Valley Register I was asked to cover a soccer match. My first call was to fellow JSHS (Justin-Siena High School) alum and former teacher Pat Cook to ask what I should look for. He’s a big hockey fan, as well as the former coach for the Braves’ JV Girls squad. He explained some of the basics to look for using our common love of hockey.
Because we play 5-on-5, there are a lot of similarities with basketball on both offense and defense. On offense, you’re trying to create favorable 1-on-1 or 2-on-1 match-ups, and trying to create them as close to the goal as you can. On defense, most systems are a hybrid of man-to-man and 2-1-2 zone coverage. The way you attack or defend those match-ups is similar to the 1-on-1 and 2-on-1 plays you’d find in any basketball, soccer, or lacrosse match.
D’Adamo: You grew up in California, where hockey is not woven into the culture, what has it been like in upstate NY where it is a central part of the culture?
Metcalf: It’s very similar and yet very different. Some similarities are parents/players still shop around for which travel or high school team is going to help them reach the NHL. The politics of the youth and high school hockey scene are the same here as they are in any other region. The big difference is everyone knows the game. In California, people would ask with surprise that hockey existed. In Western NY, they ask where you play and then follow up with 20 questions about the coach, who they probably already know by name.
D’Adamo: You had a chance to play for coaches like Rich Cotruvo, Ian MacMillan and Allen Rossi while at Justin-Siena. What are the common denominators you learned from them that you apply to your coaching?
Metcalf: The biggest common denominator with those three, and I’d include (former Justin-Siena boys basketball head coach) Tom Bonfigli in this group as well, is the idea that winning games and championships isn’t the end, but rather the means to a greater end. In interviewing Cotruvo for pre-season features for the Register, he told me repeatedly that his program uses football and the pursuit of MCAL and NCS championships as a tool to develop the boys into outstanding young men who know how to overcome adversity, know the value of hard work, teamwork, and sacrificing self for the greater good. Those same values were evident when I was on the sidelines covering MacMillan’s teams at American Canyon, and they’re the same values Rossi preached to us in baseball.
D’Adamo: Name a historical figure, dead or alive, in or out of sports you would most like to meet. What would intrigue you about meeting him or her?
Metcalf: This was probably the hardest question to answer. As a devout Catholic, I draw great inspiration from so many of the recognized Saints in our Church’s history. And then there are so many great coaches who inspire me every day as well.
I would definitely love to meet Herb Brooks, head coach of the 1980 "Miracle on ice” team. As well as being a great innovator in the game, he was one of the first to apply psychological principles to coaching and motivating players.
I would also love to meet St. Catherine of Siena. At a time when women were supposedly “seen and not heard” in society and the Church, St. Catherine was not only granted several audiences with the Pope - whom she successfully pleaded to return to Rome from Avignon, France - but she was also sent by him as an envoy and ambassador to negotiate with the various Papal States in Italy. She was one of the most humble and unassuming people imaginable, with tremendous faith in God which she demonstrated in her care for the poor and marginalized of society.
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