Houston Aeros fans hear his name announced every night. They sometimes see and/or hear him interviewed by Joe O’Donnell during pregame or one of the intermissions. Yet ask most fans about assistant coach/assistant GM Troy Ward, they probably won’t be able to tell you too much about him.
Many Aeros fans remember the run the Aeros went on in the playoffs last year, a run which nearly resulted in the team playing for the AHL Championship. And most fans probably remember that the team was decimated by injuries heading into the playoffs, especially at the goalie position.
Ward will tell you that his primary job is to make head coach Kevin Constantine’s job easier. And he does that by handling all the business part of the team’s hockey operations in Houston. By doing this, Constantine is able to focus on coaching the team. And part of that job, at least last year, was finding players at playoff time that were able to help the Aeros.
Ward has been an assistant to Constantine in Houston and in Pittsburgh
of the NHL. He’s twice been a head coach in the ECHL — where he was a
coach of the year — and he was also the ECHL’s Senior Vice President
of Hockey Operations. He’s been an assistant coach in the defunct IHL
and at the college level. He’s also been a head coach at the college
level. So it’s safe to say that Ward has a wide-range of contacts that
he can use when the team’s desperate for help. And that’s something he
did many times last season. It was Ward who made the call to Tony
Hrkac to get his veteran playoff experience on the roster. And it was
Ward who hunted down goalie Matt Climie as the playoffs were nearing an
end yet still the team’s goalies were falling apart due to injuries.
With
the new regime in Minnesota, Ward doesn’t have the same player
acquisition powers this season that he had last. But he still consults
with Jim Mill when player moves are being contemplated.
Then comes the coaching part of the assistant coach job.
“So
I handle the offensive part of our team for the most part in the last
two years here,” Ward said Saturday night. “As you mention, I’ve run
the power play the last two years here. That’s what I focus on during
the game. Even though I’m down with working the defenseman, and I
change our defense, I still look at our team offensively. Whenever we
have the puck, that’s my time to really be in charge of the team. Kevin is more in charge of the team when the team doesn’t have the puck
and defensively.”
And yes, Ward is well aware of the problems
that the team’s having on the power play this season. It’s part a
talent issue, part a system issue, and part a continuing-work-in-progress issue. And believe it or not, as bad as the numbers look, the
numbers have improved from the worst in the league earlier this season
to number 22.
“With this particular team, it almost goes back to
the reflection of our first year [2007-2008 season],” Ward said. “We
talk about simplicity and doing things really simple. Last year’s
group [Krys Kolanos, Corey Locke, and Jesse Schultz] could make things
very difficult look very easy. This year, and our first year, we don’t
have the talent level we had with some of those individuals, or the
finishing power, the ability to score goals. So what we’re trying to
do this year is keep it simple, and really continue to make the penalty
killers, the opponent, defend multiple shots….This year, it’s a
little more of a work in progress.”
This year’s team is a work
in progress in more than just the power play. Ward says that there are
still players new to the team who are having trouble with adjusting to
Constantine’s system and style of play, and thus are still attempting
to do too much on their own. The key, Ward says, is each player
knowing and his understanding his role on the team, and then each
player not going beyond his role. He’s hoping that vets to the system,
like Brandon Rogers and Max Noreau, will be able to convince the
newcomers that Constantine’s system can and does work if they trust in
it.
So work in progress the Aeros are. But with men like Troy
Ward and Kevin Constantine handling that progress, things should
continue getting better for the Houston Aeros.
A MISCELLANEOUS NOTE:
The
Aeros lost to the San Antonio Rampage 4-2 on Saturday, and beat the
Syracuse Crunch 5-4 in OT last night. They next play Friday in
Milwaukee, and will host Abbotsford on Sunday.
This article appears in Dec 24-30, 2009.
