Every hockey coach lucky enough to have his own office adds personal touches to the space, and Chilliwack Chiefs bench boss Brian Maloney is no different.
The office he inhabits is filling up with Chilliwack hockey artifacts, including photos of the old Coliseum. One wall features a mammoth photo of Chiefs leaping off the bench after winning the RBC Cup last spring.
But the piece Maloney is the most excited about is like his own personal time machine, taking him back to the 1998-99 season.
The yellow and black stall that he changes his skates in before practices is the same one he had when he captained Chilliwack. It has been carefully stored in the backyard shed of Chiefs staffer Jacob Bestebroer for all these years since the Colisum was torn down.
“My first year with Chilliwack (1997-98) the team had the New York Rangers colours (blue, red and white) and that changed (to black/yellow/white) in my second year,” Maloney said. “The captains used to get a little bigger stall to change in, and this was the spot for myself and 13 other Chilliwack captains.”
Maloney has plans to put up nameplates for all the men who used the stall. Russ Rogers, Marc Gagnon, Doug Ast, Peter Zurba, Tyler Quiring, Bryan Yackel and Corey Demoissiac will get nameplates in the blue/red/white they wore prior to 1998-99.
Maloney, Travis Banga, Shawn Landry, Kevin Estrada, Jeff Barlow, Bobby Henderson and Adam Powell’s nameplates will be in the black/yellow/white.
Maloney said he is trying to build a culture where players feel connected to the team, whether they’re here one, two, three or four years.
Showing them that the coach is connected is a way of doing that.