A few minutes with...Scott Muscutt

Bossier-Shreveport's head coach talks about coaching against Dan Wildfong, injuries and where he feels the Mudbugs need improvement

Now in his eighth season as Head Coach/Director of Hockey Operations of the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, Scott Muscutt has coached 463 regular season games with a record of 289-130-44. In his first year as head coach, his 2000-01 team won the WPHL Championship. It was the Mudbug's third President's Cup Championship in a row.

Muscutt ranks 5th in all-time CHL/WPHL career coaching wins with 289. His overall win percentage ranks 5th among all-time coaches throughout the history of both leagues at .657. Muscutt is also 5th in career games coached with 463.

Prior to coaching, Muscutt played three seasons with the Shreveport Mudbugs. During his short professional career, the 6' 0", 185 pound left wing scored 66 points (17 G, 49 A) and served 253 penalty minutes. He was a member of the 1998-99 and 1999-00 WPHL President's Cup Championship teams.

Muscutt played for five seasons with the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds (CIAU) between 1992 and 1997. During his college career, he tallied 40 points (9 G, 31 A) and 167 penalty minutes. Muscutt credits UNB coaches Mike Johnston and Mike Kelly with providing him with the foundation of knowledge that he uses with the Mudbugs. During his final year at UNB, Muscutt played with current Mudbug goaltender Kenny Carroll and the Brahmas' Craig Minard, who was also his roommate.

I spoke with coach Muscutt on Sunday afternoon prior to the game.

Q: What are the keys to defeating a Dan Wildfong coached team?

A: I think that they have a team that is exceptionally well-balanced and I think that Fonger's a good coach. I think that they're just like so many other teams in the Central Hockey League this year in that you basically have to go in and be prepared to make adjustments that apply to your strengths and hopefully that's enough against any team in this league but Dan Wildfong's team is included.

Q: The injury to Kenny Carroll was unfortunate so early in the season. How surprised and/or happy are you that young Ryan Mior was able to come in and do so well thus far?

A: Very happy, no question about that, very happy. Surprised? Not as surprised. We heard real good things about Ryan and he has stepped up and did a great job for us in camp. In fact, we had some tough decisions to make in camp and Ryan just continuously showed some composure that we've come to expect from our goaltending and he has continued that composure throughout all of his starts and hopefully he can keep up the pace.

Q: You've had to deal with some key injuries here again, early in the season and with Zaidachev out now with the leg injury sustained on Friday night do you feel you have the right guys to step up and fill those positions?

A: Well, we hope so. I mean, losing Smitty one day and Zaidachev the next, Kenny Carroll a couple of days before that and Thoring, two weeks before that; the onslaught of injury has begun but these are the things that every team has to go through and rally around and hopefully we've got enough bodies in the lineup and enough determination and character to pull a win or two out.

Q: Comparing to the beginning of last season, the Mudbugs have done very well so far. At this point, what do you see as the best opportunities for improvement for your team?

A: I think that we haven't really started to implement too many of our systems. We've kind of really just let guys go out and show us a little bit of what they can do right now. I think that we can definitely get better defensively. I think we've already made some improvements personnel-wise by having just a little bit more size out there, a little more durability, and hopefully with the guys that we've got, the size and the skills contribute to some wins and so far they have.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith