Paper Mill to Power Play

Bob Hartley used to shovel bark along the frozen banks of the Ottawa River in subzero wind chill.

At 18, he was the fourth generation of his family to work at the pulp and paper mill in the industrial town of Hawkesbury, on the Quebec-Ontario border. All the while, he had a dream shared by millions of Canadians: a career in the NHL.

Twenty-two years later, Hartley is the head coach of the Colorado Avalanche, an intensely dedicated professional who has repeatedly pushed his players toward the playoffs.

“Bob is intense, but he’s common sense,” says Colorado assistant Bryan Trottier, a Hall of Fame center with six Stanley Cup rings. “There’s not a handbook that somebody gives to you and says, ‘Here’s how you do this.’ A lot of it’s feel, a lot of it’s instinct, a lot of it’s gut. Bob’s done a good job evolving and he’s going to continue to evolve.”

Hartley’s bench demeanor is part of the evolution as he learns to channel his intensity. Known for his wry sense of humor off the ice, the 40-year-old Hartley is all business behind the bench and doesn’t hesitate to challenge his players, opponents or officials.

Forward Adam Deadmarsh described his coach as “uptight” when he first started but said Hartley has matured steadily in pursuit of the Stanley Cup.

Hartley’s passion for hockey was instilled early on while he grew up 45 minutes west of Montreal. He began skating at age 4, and lunch was often a hasty intermission between pickup games at the nearest ice rink.

A forward-turned-goalie, Hartley followed the traditional path through junior hockey but hit a crossroad shortly after he turned 18.

His father, Royal, had died of a heart attack two months earlier, and Hartley quickly became physically and mentally drained by double shifts at the paper mill that often followed games and practices with Hawkesbury’s Junior A pro team.

“After a couple of weeks, I said to myself, ‘What are you doing? You’ll never be an NHL player, so why kill yourself?”’ he says. “That was kind of the final chapter of my dream to play in the NHL.

“Maybe I learned the hard way, but I think I learned the best way. Nobody handed me any free rides.”

Hartley quit the junior team and joined a nonprofessional league with his friends. When the paper mill closed in 1983, he was hired at a windshield factory owned by PPG Canada.

He got his first shot to be a head coach in 1987 when the president of the Hawkesbury Hawks, Jacques Trenchemontagne, asked him to take over an 0-8 team.

Hartley had been an assistant but was reluctant to get behind the bench, going so far as to warn the head coach about his tenuous job security. He finally accepted after a group of young players came to his door during dinner and pleaded for his guidance.

“In my mind, I didn’t have a choice,” Hartley says. “I was letting down the kids.”

The coach arranged a flexible work schedule at the plant, and the Hawks won nine games that season before losing 4-1 in their best-of-7 first-round playoff series.

“That game that we won in the playoffs kind of put the coaching blood in my body,” he said. “I was all pumped because to win one game was basically a miracle.”

Success has followed ever since. He won two Canadian Junior Hockey League titles with Hawkesbury; a Quebec Major Junior League championship with the Laval Titans; and an American Hockey League title with the Hershey Bears -- Colorado’s minor-league affiliate.

When the Avalanche could not reach a contract agreement with coach Marc Crawford in 1998, general manager Pierre Lacroix needed less than a week to decide that Hartley was the right man for the job.

Some questioned Hartley’s lack of experience, but two straight trips to the Western Conference finals have silenced many critics.

This year, the Avs are among the league’s elite, and Hartley will be an assistant coach for the North American team at the All-Star game in Denver on Feb. 4. Going into the weekend, Colorado led the NHL in points (73).

“You don’t need to be an NHL Hall of Famer to coach in this league,” said Colorado defenseman Aaron Miller, who spent three seasons with Hartley in the minors. “You don’t have to play at the highest level to understand the X’s and O’s of hockey. He understands that, and he has a love for the game that rubs off on the players.”

Teaching has always been instinctive for Hartley, who has two kids.

He worked with mentally handicapped children during summers in high school, and when he’s not coaching the Avalanche, he spends time giving tips to 15-year-old son Steve.

If Hartley does win hockey’s biggest prize, he undoubtedly will share the moment with every shift foreman, assembly line worker and lift operator who has carried a lunch pail.

“I was a very lucky person,” he says. “I always worked with great people and management. I coached some unbelievable kids who were great individuals. It’s almost like a lucky story or a dream story, if you want.”