Generally Speaking, Ducks’ Wilson Is Doing Well

Mighty Duck Coach Ron Wilson is fond of using war analogies to rally his hockey troops, and never are those analogies more appropriate than at this time of year. After all, what are the Stanley Cup playoffs but a long, forced march punctuated by battles that are usually won in the trenches?

The theme served him well as coach of Team USA in last year’s World Cup of Hockey, when he spliced snippets from the movie “Patton” into a motivational film that helped inspire his underdog team to defeat Team Canada in a dramatic three-game series. “I’m always looking for a scene or line that might tweak someone’s emotions,” he said.

He played his players’ emotions like a violin, stroking or goading them, as necessary. It was a stirring triumph--just ask him. He wasn’t shy about suggesting it was of greater magnitude than the 1960 and 1980 U.S. Olympic triumphs because it was won on the “foreign” ice of Montreal’s Molson Centre, a brash claim that’s pure Wilson.

When it came to his accomplishments in the NHL, though, he had no ribbons to wear on his lapel. His only war wound was a sprained arm from patting himself on the back so often for having guided the Ducks within a victory of the playoffs last spring.

But in his first playoff as a head coach, Wilson is earning his stripes, leading the Ducks to a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference quarterfinal series against the Phoenix Coyotes before the series moved to Phoenix for Game 3 today at AmericaWest Arena.

In the first two games, Wilson took the offensive, daring to play his top players against the Phoenix Coyotes’ best rather than adjust his line combinations to get Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne away from would-be checkers. Your best against their best, pure and simple. “It’s who blinks first in those situations,” Wilson said.

The Coyotes have blinked twice, losing by identical 4-2 scores. Wilson forced them to adjust to what he did, and in Game 2 the Coyotes broke up their top line of Keith Tkachuk, Craig Janney and Mike Gartner. As the home team today and Tuesday, the Coyotes will have the final line change and a bit more maneuvering room, but don’t expect Wilson to deviate from his plan.

Force the enemy to play your game. Force opponents to worry about what you’re doing, and they can’t think about their own strengths. And when they do respond, have an evasive maneuver ready when they think they have you pinned.

Greatness in an athlete can be defined as the ability to thrive under pressure instead of folding. The same is true of coaches. The best ones, the Bob Johnsons, Glen Sathers, Scotty Bowmans and Al Arbours, were innovative and bold and never compromised. They capitalized on their strengths.

Wilson is learning this. He has already learned he can’t use the same motivational tactics as he did in the World Cup. “This is 16 games [if a team sweeps each best-of-seven series]. You don’t keep guys at an emotional breaking point like you do for a short series,” he said. “You want to be more even-keeled. In the World Cup you have to do it in five days. Here, you’re looking at two months.”

That’s two months of painful but exhilarating tension. He’s savoring every moment, calculating every line change and pregame speech with a clarity he probably never knew he had. The son and nephew of NHL coaches Larry and Johnny Wilson, he was, in a sense, born for this moment.

It is his late father, Larry, whom he will think of today, as he does before every game he coaches.

“During the national anthem, that’s my time to think about my dad. When my uncle’s around, we talk a lot. I want to hear about their experiences,” he said. “He’s always telling us war stories, about Lou Fontinato and Gordie Howe battling. Or one time he tells me, ‘I offered $100 bucks to any guy who got into a fight.’ That’s the ‘70s and ‘80s mentality. I’d have to go in with $10,000.”

That’s also Wilson, adept at inserting a joke to dissolve tension if he senses his players are becoming fearful. The theme for the Ducks’ playoff drive revolves around dreams, yet assistant coach Tim Army--and how appropriate is that for a war buddy?--used an excerpt from the comedy “Canadian Bacon” in the film shown to players before the opener against Phoenix.

Nor did he have any shame in stealing a tradition begun by the Winnipeg Jets (now the Coyotes) in which they ask fans to wear white to games to create a whiteout effect. He capped it by calling his boss, Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner, a slacker for not wearing white Wednesday for Game 1. Bold talk for a coach who doesn’t have a contract for next season--yet on Friday, Eisner was wearing a white shirt.

Such are Wilson’s leadership abilities. Coax, cajole, inspire and learn every day. Two weeks ago, when the New York Yankees were in Anaheim to play the Angels, Wilson asked to meet Manager Joe Torre to ask how Torre handled his players in leading the Yankees to a World Series triumph last October.

“He said players are going to read off your reactions on the bench. If you’re calm and cool they’re going to think everything is OK,” Wilson said. “This is a tough game to play. There’s appropriate time to show your emotions.”

His own are not absent, just disguised. “Don’t think the water’s always calm. Underneath the icy exterior the water’s moving a lot,” he said.

The Ducks have moved within two victories of the second round of the playoffs. He has won a few battles and has given his team the chance to win the war, and he’s loving every salvo.

“It’s the playoffs. You see it as the chance to get your name on the Cup,” he said. “Just that chance is exciting. If you’re not excited by this, you’re in the wrong business.”