Interview transcript: Jared Bednar

(Since doing this interview, Jared Bednar's coaching career has taken off--shortly after this interview, he was bumped up to head coach in South Carolina, where he won a Kelly Cup in 2009. He followed that up with an assistant's role for the AHL's Abbotsford Heat, who made the playoffs their first year, and will be entering his first year as head coach of the Peoria Rivermen. As for Jim Bermingham and Ray Edwards--who get namedropped here--we'll get to them later...)

LENNY: ...okay! And we're actually recording now! All right, so, Mr. Bednar...

JARED BEDNAR: Yes!

LENNY: Okay, we are talking--we are talking Huntington Blizzard hockey, which you are one of--the only inaugural member to last more than I think, a season and a half.

JARED BEDNAR: (laughter) Yeah, I guess so! I believe we started out the second year there with a couple guys and ended up being the only guy making it through that year.

LENNY: Yes, you ended up--you were a part of that first season, fresh out of juniors...

JARED BEDNAR: Yeah...

LENNY: Did you just try out there, or...?

JARED BEDNAR: I started out, I went to Greensboro actually, in the same league, to the Greensboro Generals, and then right before the regular season, I got released from Greensboro, and I wanna say there was three or four of us that came over from Greensboro to Huntington. Basically, the coaches talked during training camp, and Huntington was still looking for players, and the three or four of us went in and met the team, and basically stuck around from there.

LENNY: You were part of that first season, which I have been referring to as The Year From Hell...

JARED BEDNAR: (laughter) Yeah, it was different! I'm not sure that, everyone knew what to expect, I mean at that time the league was expanding, lots of new ownership groups coming in, and, it was definitely a learning experience. We weren't--we didn't do too well on the ice, we--it was fun, it's an interesting city, I really enjoyed my time there, that's for sure. But we didn't win a whole bunch of games there my first year, but after coming back for the second year, it was very--I found it very rewarding, I was able to-- not make the playoffs, I believe the first year there we won only like 14 games, and then the second year we jumped out to a quick start, had all different personnel, a new coach, and took off, got out of the gates really good, and ended up making the playoffs that year. So that was very rewarding after suffering through the first season.

LENNY: That first season you ultimately ended up with three different coaches: there was Bob Kelly to start the season...

JARED BEDNAR: Yeah...

LENNY: ...they fired him in December...

JARED BEDNAR: ...right...

LENNY: ...and Destocki on the interim until they hired Paul Pickard...

JARED BEDNAR: ...Paul Pickard, correct...

LENNY: ...and I was just kinda wanting your take on the different coaching styles and such.

JARED BEDNAR: Well I think Bob was used to--although he had played many years pro, I wanna say that he had coached younger guys, like at the high school or prep hockey level--I'm not sure what his background was in coaching, I don't think he had coached pro hockey before, certainly at times I enjoyed playing for all of them. Like I said, we struggled--I think it was, it might have been a situation, knowing what I know now, that they probably got started late in their recruiting, and then, it was probably tough to find players at that time--the league wasn't as large and wasn't as popular. And then Bob took over--Destocki took over, for the interim, like you'd said, so that was brief, but he was part of the group that was running the team at the time, and certainly got to know him fairly well, and then when they hired Paul Pickard, basically we ended up going through a second training camp when they hired Paul. He brought in a lot of new players, made a lot of changes, I mean obviously we needed to. We weren't winning prior to that, basically gave everyone another chance to try out for the team, and a lot of moves were made, and it was a lot more structured under Paul, and then when he came back the second year we had a whole--a lot of new guys again, he recruited over the summertime, and we ended up having a really good team that second year. We tapered off in the second half, and I wanna say ended up losing to Dayton in the first round...

LENNY: Yeah, it was Dayton in four games in the first round... But yeah, '94 was a marked improvement, and then just massive upheaval in the offseason...

JARED BEDNAR: Yeah...

LENNY: There was an ownership squabble, team got sold, coaching staff flipped over, and you ended up with Grant Sonier for coach for what ended up being your last half-season...

JARED BEDNAR: That was my last year, that would have been the third year of the team, Grant Sonier came in. Yeah, that was--funny, I had played in Huntington, and ended up going to play roller hockey that summer in Anaheim, CA, and Grant was the head coach out there for the roller hockey team, and then next thing you know he was behind the bench in Huntington. That was the year I actually got traded--Dan Fournel and I both got traded to South Carolina, and they--basically, we were in need of a goaltender, and that's what--they got a defenseman in Tom Menicci and a goaltender (Eric Raymond) for Dan Fournel and myself. We were roommates at the time, so it was-- that was my first time being traded as a pro, and I went through my first year wanting basically-- no one likes to lose, and when you start losing a lot of games, you're always thinking "well maybe I need a change", like I was wanting to possibly get out of Huntington my first year, to really enjoying myself and the guys and the town and the fans and everything the second year, and then my third year when I got traded to South Carolina I was crushed! I was devastated. I had met a girlfriend down in Huntington, and ended up being my wife--I met my wife in Huntington, and ended up getting married a few years later. I spent a few offseasons back in Huntington, and now we call Charleston, SC home.

LENNY: Yeah. You said that was the first time, as far as I can tell that was the last time you were traded as a hockey player I think...

JARED BEDNAR: (laughter)

LENNY: ...I mean, obviously you would know more about it then I would.

JARED BEDNAR: Yeah, I was--actually, that's probably right. I bounced around, like I had played on some teams at the American League level, and been released off 25-gamers (contracts) here and there, but at this level I got traded to, obviously, Charleston, South Carolina, and I'm still with the team down here--I had a couple stints away from the team in the International League and the American League, but I'm happy to still call Charleston home, and still in the hockey business, so, I mean, it's been good to me. Obviously Huntington was a big part of my career--it's where I started, and, you learn a lot from your seasons that you win, and you also learn a lot from the seasons that you don't win, and how to improve and stuff, so I can't take that away from, my career, and obviously--like I said, I met my wife, and have two beautiful children now, and I would have never met her if I wasn't stationed in Huntington at one point along the way!

LENNY: There was something on the tip of the tongue that I was going to ask, and I can't quite remember it now! I was wanting to kinda, bring all that sorta together to an extent. Although--you're assistant coach and vice president of hockey operations, which--I've never seen the assistant named the head of hockey operations before...

JARED BEDNAR: Yeah. Well we got into a little bit of a--just a different situation where I was handling some of the business, as far as travel, and bills that were being paid, you know with the union, and just the rules that happen in this league... I don't know, I just slowly over the last few years started doing more and more on the business side, and wanted to add that title and a little bit more responsibility, and it just, as it worked out this year, I've been granted that title, and now obviously I've taken on some more responsibilities on the business side, but I still--I'm doing all the things I've been doing over the last few years as far as assistant coach. So I guess I have, two jobs, but at this level, the coach/general manager, every team sort of has--their coach has a different role, and some teams have assistants, some don't, some teams have a general manager and just a head coach, every team I think just finds a way--has a system that works for them, and it's been really good for us this year. I think the year's ran smoothly, and, obviously I'm excited about this position, it's part of the game I enjoy, the business side of it, but I like to be on the ice and coaching as well.

LENNY: I wasn't sure how into the business end you, yourself, would be, cause I was going to ask, you having been with in Charleston with the Stingrays franchise for the last--you've been there off and on for the last decade...

JARED BEDNAR: Yeah...

LENNY: ...and just--again, with you kind of being a bit more on the behind-the-scenes side of things now, just--I guess basically having been in Huntington, and knowing the Huntington angle of things, and also the office kind of angle of things, I guess what would it--my question is all disjointed now... (I mangled the English language in this passage much more than I was willing to transcribe --LS)

JARED BEDNAR: ...right, no, I understand what--I think I know where you're going with this thing. I think over the years--are you asking, like what would it take to have a successful franchise?

LENNY: What would it take, and if you could apply what you've witnessed in your time in Huntington, what you've witnessed in your time in Charleston...

JARED BEDNAR: ...right...

LENNY: ...and I guess just compare and contrast, sort of.

JARED BEDNAR: Yeah. I think--the league is constantly evolving, and the league itself, not just the ownership groups but the league itself is constantly finding ways to help out, teams that are in need. I mean, I don't think it's a big secret that there's still--you know minor hockey, to have a team successful, both financially and on the ice, is--I think it takes a lot of hard work. It's not those days like we went through in Charleston when I first got traded here, they were an expansion team at the same time Huntington was an expansion--they both came into the league at the exact same time--and basically, I think the situation down here in Charleston, it was, they just put the team together, marketed a little bit, and next thing you know open the doors and 9,000 people came into the building! And over the years, our attendance numbers have dropped, and continued to drop all the way down, and lots of teams have gone out of business, obviously, in the meantime. I think we've done--this organization in Charleston's done a great job of, using all the resources we have with the league and other teams that have been successful in the league, and they do a much better job now sharing that with other ownership groups, and everyone's on the same page, I mean obviously with the economics of the league you need teams around you to be successful so you can continue to play them so you're not traveling too far, and just keep the costs down as far as that goes. You have-- all the divisions are structured geographically, make sure the travel--you have a lot less overnight travel now, and just all those sorts of expenses that can really add up and ruin your budget are now being thought of by the league and by the owners, and everyone's on the same page a lot more than they were, I think, back in the day when I was in Huntington. But I think, like--it's a struggle to make sure you can have return fans in the building and then also recruit new fans to the game, and, our office staff here in Charleston has gone from five or six, seven people over the recent years to now we have as many as 13 or 14 people in our front office working and selling tickets constantly, and that's the big thing. You have to have people in the building to be successful, and then, obviously you let your hockey department take care of the other side of winning hockey games.

LENNY: On that note, I guess anything else notable we haven't touched on? Anything you'd like to throw in the mix there, just to wrap up here?

JARED BEDNAR: I can't think of anything in general... I was sad to see the team leave Huntington, I know, with other teams in that area I think it would have been a good hockey market, I mean, I'm not sure--there's a lot of teams in our league that do really well for a few years and then find their way--find out that it's a little tougher to keep the business running than what they thought, I guess. But, obviously, like I said I enjoyed my time in Huntington, and I enjoyed playing there. I met a lot of good friends, some guys that I still talk to that are still in the business, like Jim Bermingham's running the team in Knoxville, in the Southern Professional Hockey League, and Ray Edwards, who was a coach there, and was with Huntington long after I was gone, is still a good friend of mine, and he's out in the Central League running a team, and-- you meet a lot of contacts along the way and see these guys, and you all move on, but the hockey world's still a small world...

LENNY: And on that note, I guess we'll wrap this up here!

JARED BEDNAR: Okay.

LENNY: I thank you very much for taking your time out there, coach--assistant coach/GM Bednar...

JARED BEDNAR: Thank you!

LENNY: ...and the phones seemed to be ringing off the hook there a little bit ago, earlier in the interview, I don't know if that was your phone...

JARED BEDNAR: Yeah, that was my cellphone actually, a couple of the guys calling--I'll return those calls, they'll be fine.

LENNY: Yeah, I was about to say, I'll let you get back to that there...