Another Crack on the Ice

Not once did Peter Laviolette see himself in this place, having this chance.

Not when he was a student at tiny Westfield State College in his native Massachusetts, and not during half a dozen minor-league stops in a 12-year playing career that included a dozen NHL games. Not even when he took his first coaching job, with the Wheeling Nailers of the lowly East Coast Hockey League in 1997.

Yet, here he is, two months from coaching the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team at the Turin Games, the successor to the late Herb Brooks in carrying the torch for U.S. hockey on the international stage. He also stands at the forefront of a wave of smart, young American coaches old enough to remember Brooks’ remarkable triumph at Lake Placid and maybe, just maybe, is equipped to reach that same golden conclusion.

“I never planned on playing professional hockey. I never planned on coaching professional hockey,” Laviolette said. “After I graduated in 1986, things kind of unfolded for me, and I’m pretty fortunate to have the opportunities I’ve had.”

Fortune had less to do with his success than tenacity.

After a season as a player-coach in Providence, he coached the Nailers full-time in Wheeling, W. Va., and reached the third round of the playoffs. He returned to Providence and coached the Bruins’ American Hockey League affiliate from worst to the 1999 Calder Cup, then went to Boston as an assistant coach. Passed over for the head-coaching job, he went to Long Island in 2001 but was undermined by a fragmented locker room and fired two years later despite achieving success there. The Carolina Hurricanes hired him on Dec. 15, 2003, extending an odyssey he didn’t know he’d enjoy so much.

But it’s unpleasant memories that are spurring him toward the Turin Games. A member of the seventh-place 1988 U.S. Olympic team and the eighth-place 1994 squad, Laviolette is determined not to leave empty-handed again.

“The thing I take the most from playing in the Olympics is the disappointment,” he said. “When you get those opportunities and you don’t make good on them, you don’t know if they’ll come around again. I’m pretty fortunate to get a third crack at it here, and that’s what I cherish most, the opportunity to do something good with this chance.”

Coaching a group of marginal players to victory at the 2003 Deutschland Cup tournament put him in the mix for major assignments. He led the U.S. to a bronze medal at the 2004 world championships, which secured a U.S. berth at the Turin Games, and in 2005 his U.S. team lost a quarterfinal shootout to the eventual world champion Czech Republic.

“I’ve seen questions as to why he got picked over a lot of good American coaches. Peter is a very confident coach and person. He’s deserving of the job,” said Team USA General Manager Don Waddell, who was the general manager of teams Laviolette played for in Flint, Mich., and San Diego. “He’s always been a strong character guy. He was our captain, our leader on the ice. Every place he’s been as a player he was a leader.

“He could bring a group of guys together and get the most out of them. He’s very aggressive, in your face, no matter if you’re up or down by two goals. Players love that, especially in a short tournament.”

Laviolette, who turned 41 on Wednesday, is in his first full season with the Hurricanes. In leading the Islanders to the playoffs for two straight seasons after seven dark years, and in guiding the Hurricanes from 11th in the East in 2003-04 to the NHL’s elite this season, he has shown a knack for reviving moribund teams.

“It seems to happen that way,” said Laviolette, whose team beat the Kings, 3-2, on Thursday at Staples Center, “but ultimately it’s the players who turn things around by their play on the ice, and I think as a coach you’re just supposed to give it structure and accountability.”

His challenge in Turin will be as formidable as any he has handled. Other than a three-day orientation camp in September, the Olympic team won’t gather until its flight to Italy on Feb. 13. It will have one practice before its opener against Latvia on Feb. 15.

Every team faces that squeeze, because the tournament was jammed into a 15-day break in the NHL schedule. But no other coach follows in the footsteps of the charismatic Brooks, who died in a car accident a year after his silver-medal Olympic reprise at Salt Lake City and remains the last U.S. coach to win Olympic gold.

“Nobody’s going to coach like Herb Brooks,” Waddell said. “It’s not fair for Peter to be judged that way.”

Those who know Laviolette say he’s fair, direct and quick to get the feel of a game or a team’s mood. He once broke the tension of an Islander losing streak by taking players bowling, and King forward Dustin Brown recalled Laviolette telling players after practice at the world championships to “go have fun, be safe and stick together. He’s big on sticking together.”

King defenseman Aaron Miller, a Turin hopeful, said he developed a bond with Laviolette during the last two world championships. He described Laviolette as “great at the Xs and O’s” and able to communicate on a personal level.

“He’s one of those people that, once you get to know him, he loosens up a bit,” Miller said. “Like, there are no stories I can remember about him, he’s that kind of guy. But he’s a great person to be around.”

Said Carolina forward Erik Cole, another aspiring Olympian: “Peter always says go out and work hard, and if you do the job he asks of you, you’re not going to have any problems. If you need a kick in the pants or whatever it is, he’s there to do that too.

“You always know where you stand with him. It’s good in that sense.”

Laviolette said he frequently discusses Olympic candidates with Waddell, assistant general manager Paul Holmgren and Jim Johannson, Team USA’s director of hockey operations. The roster of 20 skaters and three goalies will be announced Dec. 19.

“We’ll probably take the players who’ve had the best years,” Laviolette said.

And so will continue the education of a coach who never figured he’d be one.

“I love the game. And most people, when they get to a certain age, are out of the game. I’m fortunate to have had an opportunity to get into coaching and still involved in a team atmosphere,” he said. “You still get to be a part of the winning and the losing. Not a lot of people get to do that, so again, I’m pretty fortunate.”

*

Times staff writer Chris Foster contributed to this report.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Laviolette file

Highlights in the hockey career of Peter Laviolette:

* Carolina, with Laviolette as the coach, leads the Southeast Division after the Hurricanes finished 11th in the East in 2003-04.

* Named coach of the 2006 U.S. Olympic team on Aug. 16, 2005.

* Coached the New York Islanders to a 77-62-19-6 regular-season record during the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons.

* Coached the Providence Bruins, Boston’s American Hockey League affiliate, in 1998-99 and 1999-2000. Providence won the Calder Cup as the AHL’s top team in 1998-99 and Laviolette was named coach of the year.

* Laviolette, a former defenseman, played most of his 11-year professional career in the AHL and IHL, but he did play 12 games for the New York Rangers in the 1988-89 season.

* Represented the U.S. in the 1988 and 1994 Olympics, serving as captain of the 1994 squad.

*

NHL.com and Los Angeles Times