By Paul Osborne, From the Stands - The Guelph Tribune - Let’s face it, there were a lot of raised eyebrows when Guelph Storm general manager Mike Kelly named the inexperienced Scott Walker as the new head coach of the Guelph Storm last season.

This year Walker, and assistants Chris Hajt and Bill Stewart have a young roster looking to gain experience and make their mark.  After winning both games on their northern swing this weekend, 5-2 in Sudbury and 5-3 in Sault Ste. Marie, the team is performing above expectations with a 7-4-1-1 record.  That leaves them in eighth place in the tough Western Conference, but they have as many as five games in hand because of their relatively spacious early schedule.

“The easiest part for me has been the communicating,” said Walker assessing his performance so far.
“I think the fact I played (in the NHL) I have a feel for what hockey players need to hear to keep them improving.  It’s a hundred times more work being a coach than a player because as a player you just come to the rink and play as hard as you can.  That is all they can control, but as a coach you have to think about everything that could happen, so you are ready to react to it if it does.”

To say he is having a blast would be an understatement for the Cambridge native.
“I just love the feel we have around the team right now,” he said.
“My assistants are so knowledgeable and organized and Mike Kelly is approachable and always has good ideas.  I’ve been with teams where everyone has been on the same page and worked together and I’ve been on teams where when the GM walks into the room everyone is afraid as if the principal has just walked into the classroom.  You need to respect each other, not fear each other.  We have that respect here.”

Walker feels that you should be able to look at the next guy and know he has your back, but is also willing to take responsibility when things don’t go well.
“When we pulled Brandon Foote (in Sault Ste. Marie) after two quick goals I really think the players felt like they had let him down,” said Walker.  “You could feel it on the bench – they care about each other.  They knew that Foote was being asked to take the fall for their poor effort and they responded.”

The greatest challenge for Walker so far in Guelph has been getting players to be consistent.
“Junior hockey is a grind,” he said.  “You’ve got kids coming from midget who were on the ice three times a week and now it’s every day.  Your older players are all of sudden facing the other teams top line game after game.  Some say it is unrealistic to expect the players to be great every game but I don’t think so. If I ask them ‘How are you doing?’ and they say ‘good,’ I’m not happy with that, I want them to say ‘great.’”

The Storm’s next two weekends will be a test as they play three games in three days.
“We have to be ready to meet that challenge,” said Walker.  “Are we going to have struggling times somewhere along the way? Sure we are, but I went through 10-game losing streaks as a player and enjoyed them as much as the 10-game winning streaks.  Well, maybe not at the time, but those losing streaks taught me so much about myself.  You don’t judge a person when things are going well, you judge them when things are tough.”

Walker was recently asked to be an assistant coach for Canada’s World Junior team, a dream job many hockey coaches spend years working towards.  He says they selected him because he’s recently retired, played on the world stage in three World Hockey Championships and understands the different type of pressure that comes with the short tournament format.

“I am so honoured to have been asked and my feet haven’t touched the ground much since then,” said Walker.  “I am excited to go and learn from three great coaches and hopefully the players will lean on me a little bit and I can share the experiences I had as a player.”

From the Land of Oz . . . Foote was the game’s first star in Sudbury stopping 33 of 35 shots . . . Tanner Richard led the Storm in Sault Ste. Marie with a goal and three assists. Zack Mitchell had two goals and one assist . . . Guelph hosts Erie, who are just 2-12-0-0 on the season, on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Erie earned its second win of the season on Saturday when they beat the Kitchener Rangers 4-3 in OT at home.