Schaefer’s Eagles’ role: surprise coach
Former NHLer will help players on Surrey BCHL team learn the ins and outs of hockey life
Peter Schaefer calls it the bush, a cottage somewhere in southern Saskatchewan near something that resembles a long lake, where cell phone reception comes and goes.
The two-hour drive from his birthplace in Yellow Grass provides solitude from a game that consumed the former Vancouver Canucks winger for 15 years.
The prairie outpost is a long way from a card game in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, where seeds were first planted for the retired Schaefer to return to hockey as an assistant coach with the BCHL’s Surrey Eagles — even though he has no coaching experience.
At the coaxing of Dave Scatchard, another former Canuck, a group of players, along with Eagles executives Chuck Westgard and Ron Patterson, played a daily round of golf in the morning and poker in the afternoon before adjourning for cocktails and tall tales.
And when the conversation recently turned to Schaefer’s future following his retirement at end of the 2010-11 season, split between the Canucks and Ingolstadt of the German Elite League, the Eagles wound up with an assistant to head coach Matt Erhart.
“I met a bunch of the guys about 10 years ago, and a couple of the owners were there and I’ve always stayed in contact with them, and I’m now quite good buddies with them,” said the 34-year-old Schaefer, who recently sold his West Van residence and may relocate to Morgan Creek.
“I wasn’t looking for any kind of coaching. This is mutual and a gentleman’s agreement, and it’s not about a contract, because it’s for the kids. I figured this would be a good starting point for me not so much as an assistant coach, but more of a buddy and just try to teach them on and off the ice how to act and just be a contact with the scouts for them.
“My goal is to get them scholarships. Winning is important but it’s not the main thing. I’m trying to further their careers and get them something to fall back on and help them get a degree. Use hockey. You can’t let hockey use you because it’s a tough business and you can get caught up in it.”
Schaefer’s first training-camp address could very well be: “Been there. Done that.” He played in the Stanley Cup final with Ottawa in 2007, had two telling tours with the Canucks, and was bought out by Boston in 2009 after an injury-plagued season that put him on the sidelines for a year. The Canucks traded Schaefer to the Senators for Sami Salo before the 2002-03 season, following a season-long contract dispute with Brian Burke — which rekindled the general manager’s favourite “drivehim-to-the-airport quote” — and opted for Germany after 16 games into the 2010-11 season with the Canucks. He was placed on waivers and had his one-year, two-way contract terminated.
Schaefer has taken a real estate course and just needs to write the exam to start a new career path, but hockey is still tugging at the heart strings after 105 goals and 285 points in 635 career NHL games, and European stops in Finland, Italy and Germany. It’s quite the journey after being the Canucks’ thirdround draft choice in 1995.
“I didn’t make all the right decisions, but I can tell them what I did and they can learn from some of the things I did right and wrong,” said Schaefer, who will guide the forwards while Erhart handles the back end.
“A lot of great coaches didn’t even play or play at the NHL level, but just because you’ve played, that doesn’t mean you can coach. I’ve been through a lot of different experiences.”
Schaefer played for Mike Keenan, Marc Crawford, Jacques Martin, Bryan Murray, Claude Julien and Alain Vigneault and credits WHL bench boss Bob Lowes for pushing him to 49 goals and 123 points with Brandon in 1996-97. He played different roles in the NHL and his best totals were the 20 goals and 50 points he had with the Senators in 2005-06.
With wife Julie expecting the couple’s third child — the expanding household includes Tobin, 3, and Brooklyn, 1 — staying in the Lower Mainland is as important as the coaching venture. So is looking forward and not back.
“The year in Boston was more of a test for me than the last stint with Vancouver,” recalled Schaefer. “I pretty much expected that. I wasn’t going to get to play too much and knew I would be the first to go. I had another year left in Germany and decided not to go back and had other opportunities in Europe, too. I was so excited for every game but I’m getting older and the body is getting sore.
“I got a lot of great things from the game and it’s time to give something back. I won’t put players down or put them in their place. I’ll be more constructive. A head coach is more cut throat but not quite at this level.”
Erhart said it was easy to strike a bond with Schaefer in a series of meetings because of his easy-going manner. But Erhart also saw the passion Schaefer had to get into a new part of the game. And once word of the hiring got out, the phones in the Eagles’ office were ringing off the hook with nothing but positive vibes from players and patrons.
“It was a natural fit with his name and what he can bring to our program,” said Erhart. “He brings instant credibility and can bring some new ideas and different views on the game.”
Ross Gurney served as Schaefer’s longtime player agent and knows his client didn’t have to go down this career path, but chose it for all the right reasons because impressionable players with lofty goals will naturally gravitate toward him.
“The business of hockey isn’t that great when you’re on the bubble,” stressed Gurney. “Frankly, it can be pretty brutal. Peter not only used hockey to build his career and provide financial security, he built relationships and that led to different opportunities. He’s very sincere. He feels he can influence the outcome of a player’s trajectory on the greatness of the game, but also the landmines.”