Blasts from the past are teaching hockey players at the Greater St. Albert Sports Academy what the game of life is all about.
"Hockey has given me everything I've got in life. I was blessed and I want to give back now to the young kids today and hopefully they can realize their dreams," said Rob Brown, a graduate of the St. Albert minor hockey system who played 543 games at right wing in the NHL. "I've been here I think five years now and I've watched some kids progress right from novice hockey all the way up to atom to peewee to midget hockey. It's kind of neat to see where their minor hockey career is going and how well they do it and how well they do as people. That is just as important to us to see that they come out of this not only with a better hockey background but they come out as good people."
Chris Joseph, a 510-game NHL veteran with seven teams, also teaches aspiring players in Grades 4 to 9 to reach their potential.
"It's our turn to give back a little bit and this gives us the opportunity to still use the passion that we have in the game," said Brown's teammate with Canada's gold-medal winning line-up at the 1988 World Junior Championship and for a brief stint with the Pittsburgh Penguins. "I honestly get more of a kick out of coaching kids than I do playing now. I have a lot of guys that want me to come out and play hockey with them in men's league and I would rather do this. My compete level is not what it used to be but I sure get excited when I get to coach the kids. It's a lot of fun."
The former Edmonton Oilers' defenceman passes on words of wisdom to 110 players at the academy.
"When they found out that I played in the NHL, you could see their eyes light up," said Joseph, picked fifth overall in the 1987 NHL entry draft by Pittsburgh. "But I'm not an NHL hockey player to these guys. I'm coach Chris. They see that we have something to give them. They're all ears and they work hard. They just want to have some fun. They would rather do this than do a phys-ed class. This is their passion and it works out perfect because this is our passion as well."
When you've won a Western Hockey League championship, logged more than 1,000 games professionally, skated on the same line as Mario Lemieux and played in an NHL all-star game like Brown, star-struck youngsters soak up what you have to say.
"There is some instant credibility because I've been there," said Brown, the WHL's single-season record holder for assists (136) and points (212) in 1986/87. "They're all Canadian kids who love hockey. The fact that someone has played hockey professionally they see as kind of cool. It also helps inspire them. If this guy from our hometown made it, why can't I?"
Community minded
Brown and Joseph have roots planted in St. Albert and help coach their sons' minor hockey teams.
"We live in St. Albert now and we want to give back to the community and one of the best ways we know how to give back is through minor hockey," said Joseph, a Burnaby product who married a St. Albert girl. "Everybody is excited about doing this. We obviously don't do it for the money because we don't get paid top dollars like we used to but it's good."
After his final season of pro, a 35-game stint with Milan in Sierie A Italy in 2005/06, Joseph went on to become a firefighter and is stationed at Castledowns fire hall No. 17.
"I have some shift work so I have a few days when I'm able to do this and it works out good for me."
Brown feels obligated to give back to the sport in the city he grew up in.
"I was very fortunate to be able to do what I love for a living and get paid for it. I made a lot of good friends and have a lot of good memories from my time playing and to be able to come back here and the lifestyle I had allows me to dictate what I want to do now. It allows me to do things like this which I enjoy," said the captain and all-star defenceman when the Territorial Leasing Sabres won the St. Albert bantam AAA tournament in 1983.
Regardless of the wins and losses, hockey is still a game for the players, no matter the age and level.
"There are three reasons why a kid plays hockey. One, because it's fun. Two, because they get exercise. Three, you learn to be part of a team; the discipline, dedication, things like that," said Brown, who had a son in atom this season. "Those are the only three reasons a kid should play any sport. The kid should be playing because he loves the game and if they love the game at this age they're going to continue to love the game as they get older."
Skill sessions
Brown believes the academy gives players that extra edge they need to succeed.
"You're not competing against the other kids, it's 100 per cent skill development. You're working on the basics: skating, shooting, passing and puckhandling," said the fourth-highest career scorer in the WHL with 522 points in 242 games with Kamloops "A lot of times for these kids in a season they don't get the opportunity to work on all those basics because the coach has to work on the breakout, the power play, more team oriented things. This is a good chance for the kids to work on those individual skills, which will help them in a game situation. The improvement some of these kids have made over the years has been fantastic because they get to do all individual stuff.
"On top of that we try and give them little tidbits of information that we've gathered over the years that maybe some coaches don't have, just through experience. We try and help them out with that but we don't want to give them anything over their heads yet."
There is no shortage of skill sessions at the academy to make a player better.
"A lot of these kids right now are finished their hockey seasons and they might be going into baseball or soccer or lacrosse so this is a good opportunity for them to build some of those skills up that might sort of get a little rusty during the offseason," said Joseph, who had boys playing bantam AA and novice this season. "The good side to this is if you like hockey and you want to play all the time you can do it, but you don't want to be pushing them too much. They have to get away from the game once in a while too and do other things but this is a nice complement for them."
Back in the day, extra ice time meant playing shinny on the outdoor rinks.
"The teams nowadays are on the ice a lot more than when we were," said Brown, who left St. Albert at age 15 to play in the WHL. "Even off ice you never went to a gym or had conditioning, so parents and coaches are taking it a little more serious than when I played."
Gifted scorer
The Canadian Hockey League's player of the year in 1987, as well as the co-recipient of the WHL's MVP award in 1986 and 1987 as the league's top scorer both years, posted 190 goals, 248 assists and 599 penalty minutes with five NHL teams. The fourth round (67th overall) draft pick by Pittsburgh in 1986 racked up 49 goals and 66 assists in 68 games on a line with Lemieux and Bob Errey in his sophomore season with the Penguins.
In the minors, Brown won an American Hockey League championship with the 2002 Chicago Wolves. He was also awarded the James Gatschene Memorial Trophy as the International Hockey League's MVP in 1994 with the Kalamazoo Wings and was a three-time scoring champion in the IHL with Kalamazoo (42-113-155 in 79 games in 1993/94) and the Wolves (52-91-143 in 79 games in 1995/96 and 37-80-117 in 76 games in 1996/97). His final season was 2002/03 with the Wolves, when he notched 15 goals and added 48 assists in 59 games.
"None of these kids watched me play, they're all too young, but they go on YouTube all the time and they come back here and make fun of me when they see me get beat up on YouTube," said Brown, who was immortalized by announcer Joe Bowen with the famous catchphrase "Down goes Brown" in a fight with Sylvain Lefebvre of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Career highlights
Joseph is best remembered as part of the seven-player trade between the Oilers and Penguins, when Pittsburgh shipped Dave Hannan, Moe Mantha, Craig Simpson and a young Joseph to Edmonton for Paul Coffey, Dave Hunter and Wayne Van Dorp on Nov. 24, 1987.
"These kids are looking for old cards to bring in to show me what I've done," said Joseph.
After wrapping up his NHL career in 2000/01 with 39 goals, 112 assists and 567 PIM, Joseph played one season in Finland for TPS Turko and three more in Germany with the Mannheim Eagles before his swan-song in Italy.
"There were lots of career highlights. One year in Pittsburgh we came one game away from going to the Stanley Cup finals, which was pretty exciting. We lost to the Florida Panthers that year," Joseph said. "I was with the Oilers for a couple of Stanley Cups but I wasn't on the active roster. I was one of the extra players. I was skating with the guys, I just didn't play, but that was still pretty exciting, just being around the atmosphere of winning the Stanley Cup.
"I did a couple of world juniors. One was the brawl, the Punch-up in Piestany [1987]. I went back the next year and Brownie was on my team and we won the gold medal, so that was another highlight.
"But the best thing about hockey is the people that I've met through the game. It's just been fantastic."
