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JK_112880
(The Next Level!)
240 Posts |
 Posted - 09/04/2010 : 10:07:44 AM
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Nice article on the new Clones assistant coach and his working relationship with Jarrod Skalde. Sounds like the two will work well together.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=536762
The office of the new Cincinnati coaching staff underwent a remodeling earlier this week.
Incoming assistant coach Scott Fankhouser nudged his desk next to boss Jarrod Skalde, and the work pretty much was done.
"We're good. We just moved a desk around," Fankhouser said. "We moved them more at an angle so we can talk easier. We're doing the nuts and bolts of the buses, the hotels. Now we're ready to get down to talking hockey."
That will be the easiest part of their jobs -- because the two men have a decade's head start on it.
Fankhouser, named an assistant with the Cyclones last week, and Skalde go back to the 2000-01 Orlando Solar Bears of the IHL, where they were teammates. The next season they played together with the AHL Chicago Wolves.
"I knew he'd be a coach once he was done playing," Fankhouser said of Skalde. "He was a student of the game. The guys respected him."
Fankhouser didn't have as clear a vision about his own future. His last season playing was 2008-09, with Bloomington of the IHL. Skalde coached that team, and when Fankhouser suffered an ankle injury during the season, Skalde asked him to help out as an assistant.
"I didn't even know I would enjoy coaching that much until that year in Bloomington," Fankhouser said. "Just after that, I was excited to do it."
Fankhouser decided to prepare for his new role in a different way -- by taking a year off for family time with his wife and two young sons.
"It refreshed me totally," Fankhouser said. "I learned a lot from watching two small kids. You have to be patient and calm. I think that will translate well to a hockey team."
Fankhouser had to sweat out getting that chance this season. He said all his pro inquiries slammed into a wall, and he called Skalde to seek some advice about maybe coaching in junior. Skalde said to sit tight because he might have something brewing with Kelly Cup champ Cincinnati. When Skalde was named coach there, Fankhouser suddenly had a very good reference for the second spot.
"For him, it has to be daunting to come to a team that's had such success. There's no learning period of getting to know each other. It's straight into business, straight into learning," Fankhouser said of the coaches' chemistry. "We definitely think alike, but I bring a different aspect. We definitely have the same mindset, but we have different perspectives that help each other." |
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