Coaches Have Little in Common : Roller hockey: Sonier and Hull approach games differently, but the result is same: they both win.

They are Generation X cutting edge in signature clothing, and both have had short, but successful coaching careers.

Yet, Bobby Hull Jr. of the Blades and Grant Sonier of the Bullfrogs, whose teams face off in Game 2 of their first-round Roller Hockey International playoff series at 7:35 tonight at The Pond, are anything but bookends.

Rivals, yes.

Intense rivals. You bet.

Similar. No way.

Born in Los Angeles, educated in Canada, Hull is known as much for his name, and his jeans, as he is for his coaching exploits. His father is Hall of Famer Bobby Hull, whose career spanned four decades in both the NHL and the World Hockey Assn. The younger Hull was raised around the glitz associated with his mega-star father, but behind the bench he doffs tweed coats, cloth ties and Guess? jeans, because he works there as a production manager. A sprouting goatee belies the fact that he is approaching 34.

Hull, whose brother Brett skates for the St. Louis Blues, makes no excuses for how he got where he is at the Forum.

“As a coach in a new league you have to promote the game, not just coach players on the floor,” he said. “The Blades use me quite a bit for that kind of thing because of my family name.”

Sonier, 30, had no famous moniker when he joined the Bullfrogs in their initial season three years ago as an assistant. The team won the RHI championship that year.

“I don’t know if I have anything to live up to,” he said, comparing Hull’s situation in Showtime to his in suburbia. “You can correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think my name is a household one across the country.”

One of eight children raised in a tiny Canadian community in the remote Maritimes province of Prince Edward Island, the clean-shaven Sonier favors fancy tailored suits, silk ties and not a hair out of place. He has a more extensive ice hockey coaching background than Hull, but most of his recent experience is in RHI.

It was Sonier, along with others, who set the tone in 1993 for what is now commonplace in the league. When most teams were signing top in-line skaters, the Bullfrogs gambled that ice hockey players would make a bigger impact if they could learn how to skate on wheels rather than blades. The thinking was correct.

“Everyone thought we were crazy,” Sonier said. “We brought in these roller hockey guys and cut 75 of them the first day of tryouts. It was nuts. That’s when we brought in ice hockey skaters.”

Sonier and Hull have seen different roads in the playoffs too.

Sonier’s Bullfrogs struggled during the regular season a year ago, going 9-6-1, while Hull’s Blades eventually won a then-RHI record 18 games. But in the playoffs it was Sonier who bested Hull when the Bullfrogs swept the Blades, 2-0.

The Bullfrogs won 19 games in compiling the best RHI record this season. They defeated the Blades in all four regular-season games. Hull never really got a handle on his club, making more than a dozen roster changes until a month ago.

“I ran into quite a bit of the players fighting me over what should be done,” Hull said. Sonier, on the other hand, got his hand-picked crew going right out of the gate.

But last Sunday at the Forum, it was Hull who was gleaming after the Blades beat the Bullfrogs, 10-8.

“I think the guys just got tired of losing and they finally decided ‘What the hell? We’ve been losing all season, why not try it the coach’s way and see what happens,’ ” Hull said. “Well, it’s been working.”

If he can find it in his cool demeanor, it’s now time for Sonier to sweat. The Bullfrogs must win the first game tonight, then a mini-game 10 minutes later to advance.

True to form, Sonier is controlled.

“Because we won the first year, I think there is always pressure for us to be a successful franchise. But, then, I chose to be involved in a pressure-oriented business.”

As for their feelings about each other, both say they have gone beyond the rivalry stage, although Hull said there were times last year when he felt like some people were trying to make a big deal out of the fact that the pair didn’t care for each other.

“I don’t have time for that kind of stuff,” he said. “Actually, I think we’ve developed respect for each other. Coaching ain’t an easy job for anyone. We’re too busy keeping 16 to 18 guys in line on the same page in the same game plan to worry about things like that.”

Sonier knows his career has to return to ice hockey someday if he is to advance. He was passed over recently for an assistant job with the Ice Dogs of the International Hockey League--a disappointment he said--but he says he has a few other irons in the fire. He wants to remain with the Bullfrogs in some capacity, which would be possible, since roller hockey is a summer sport. And if nothing else works out, he’ll remain with the Bullfrogs full time.

Hull’s future hockey plans are equally as murky. There’s not a lot of time to think about those kinds of things right now, anyway, he said.

Tonight they’ll glare through the glass at each other from behind their respective benches and then get on with the business at hand.