Dan Wildfong on Hockey This Morning show

Texas Brahmas head coach appears on satellite radio

Texas Brahmas head coach Dan Wildfong hit the airwaves on Wednesday morning with Scott Laughlin of Hockey This Morning on XM and Sirius Radio 208. Here is the transcript. You can also go here for a link to listen to the interview.

Q: Now we shine the spotlight on the Central Hockey League and a nice story developing down there with the Texas Brahmas. The head coach of the Brahmas is Dan Wildfong. How are you doing Dan?

A: I’m doing great Scott, how are you?

Q: I’m pretty well. Now you hail from Clinton, Ontario, right?

A: Yeah, the city of Clinton.

Q: Where the heck is that?

A: It’s up near London, Ontario, the Toronto area, so I made it down South; I’m pretty happy to get away from the cold.

Q: Yeah, and I bet that you’re pretty happy with the start to your season as well at 7-3-1…

A: Yeah, we’re pretty happy. We’re obviously not where we want to be as of yet but we’re making steps towards where we want to go so we’re getting there but we’re not there yet.

Q: Well, you’ve got Laredo that you’re chasing now. That’s Terry Ruskowski’s team, right?

A: Yeah. He’s got a pretty good team there every year…they play really well every night.

Q: I want to talk to you Dan, about your transition to coaching. You made the move I guess about two years ago. You’re what, 33?

A: Yeah, 33 now.

Q: Very young head coach; what was it that made you decide that maybe at the age of 31 it was time to move on from the playing career and to get into the coaching ranks?

A: Well, it was obviously a tough decision. You know, I felt like I could still play but injuries over the last eight years, they just added up. It was a tough transition in the beginning because you don’t have to get ready yourself. Now you have to get 19 guys ready to go and if you don’t get those guys ready, you’re going to be out of a job soon. It was a little bit of a transition in the beginning but I couldn’t think of a better thing to go into after playing hockey beside being a coach and I was pretty fortunate to get an opportunity that Frank and Sal Trazzera, our owners gave me here.

Q: Well, you were a playing assistant with Shreveport, a former captain there at Shreveport. Did that help you prepare for this role that you now have, the fact that you were a player assistant, that maybe you a had a little bit of time, a little bit of closeness with the coaching staff there and that gave you a little preparation for where you are now?

A: Oh definitely. I worked side-by-side with Coach Muscutt in Shreveport and he really helped me out there a lot but there are a lot of things I had to learn last year that I really wasn’t prepared for. You learn as you go. I think we adapted well. I had a great assistant coach last year with Forbes MacPherson that really helped me and Ron Vogel this year. If you have a good team and office staff and you have good assistants, they can really help you. I think that is what has contributed to our success on the ice.

Q: Earlier this hour Dan, we had a conversation with David Andrews, the American Hockey League’s president. We talked about the success of hockey down there in Texas. They’ve got Houston of course in the American Hockey League; the Dallas Stars have done well since moving from Minnesota. We know that the Central League has a number of franchises down there in Texas. Generally, in the American South, how much has the game changed in terms of fan appreciation, fan support and attendance, thinks like that, media coverage, from the days when you started your career there to today where you’re a head coach?

A: It’s been unbelievable, the support we’ve had from all of our success. You know, the knowledge of the fan has really grown. I know my first years playing in Shreveport, they would shoot the puck from the other end and the goalie would stop it and the fans would cheer. Obviously, they don’t do that now. They know the game a lot better with the Stars being so successful and with teams like Houston and San Antonio and with our youth hockey programs here. It’s been unbelievable how much the fans know and how much they come out and support the organizations. Oklahoma City, they’re getting 8-10 thousand a night and we’re getting several thousand a night so it’s an exciting venue to watch minor pro hockey in the Central League.

Q: What’s the mindset Dan, that you try to impress upon your players as to their futures in the game? Some of these guys will go on to closer steps toward the National Hockey League. For others, this might be it, the Central Hockey League. Not a bad place to play professional hockey and to get paid for it to really carve out a niche for yourself. Some guys will move on and some guys won’t. What’s the philosophy that you try to impress upon your players as to the present point and time and what they’ve got here in front of them?

A: Our philosophy is like a business. You get paid to play a game and you’ve got to come to work every day and I think that instills a lot in our players of what it’s like in the real world too, of basically coming to work every day and having that character to battle through stuff. When you’re down here playing, there are a lot of opportunities for players that aren’t going to be going to play in the American league or the NHL. They get a lot of connections with our sponsors and they can get great connections for job opportunities after hockey and I know a lot of guys have done that in the past in this league and they set themselves up really well. It’s unfortunate that careers come to an end but when they do it’s nice to be able to set yourself up. The guys that do go on to the American League, it’s a benefit to guys in the Central League and they really promote the players well here. There’s a lot more affiliations happening and a lot more guys get called up and down in the Central League from when I started.

Q: Well Dan, congratulations on your success so far this season. Best of luck in trying to track down Laredo; as you say, Ruskowski’s always got a great team and they’re one the teams that you guys shoot for. Congratulations on your success and best of luck the rest of the season.

A: I appreciate you having me on here. Thanks again.

That’s Dan Wildfong, the head coach of the Texas Brahmas of the Central Hockey League. Now this franchise was formerly the Fort Worth Brahmas. They suspended operations back in 2006-07; took a year off, had a bit of a lease agreement problem with the building at the time in Fort Worth. They returned last season as the Texas Brahmas. They brought in the new head coach, Dan Wildfong who was a real good player for many years with the Shreveport organization and last season they went to the playoffs for the first time since 2001-02 and this is an interesting concept, we know that the teams at the minor-league level often have these great promotional nights and not only will they have some home games coming up at their home rink, the NYTEX Centre, in salute of the military, they will honor the military in a couple of games coming up towards the end of the month, but their next home game will come on Saturday night against the Tulsa Oilers down there. The game taking place in North Richland Hills, Texas and its $1 hot dog night. All hot dogs on sale that night – suddenly the producer perks up – Mr. Levine’s got thumbs up and he’s right now got the phone and he’s trying to get in touch with his travel agent to book a flight down to Texas. We thank Dan Wildfong for his time here this morning.