OK, I'm excited to hear that Mike Gillis is the new GM for the Vancouver Canucks. Mike was my hockey coach for one season at Queen's University. Mike actually helped me love the game again.

The quality of coaching was horrible for the majority of my hockey career. At the top level in minor hockey, coaches are just as keen or more so to climb the hockey ladder as the players. Unfortunately, in my experience that lead to damaging manipulation and mind games by wanna be coaches on wanna be teenagers. After years of bullshit, I was burned out from minor hockey when I got to Queen's. I had I sat out Junior and hadn't played in 18 months and was certain I would never play again. However, a dorm mate who knew I played AAA encouraged me to try out, I thought it might be a way to make some friends. Plus my father knew how badly my last year of hockey went and really wanted me to play again.

When I showed up at Queen's training camp, I was horribly out of shape, and was certain to be cut. Every day passed with me close to puking my guts, but my name was never called. On the last day of tryouts, Mike skated beside me, and asked me my story. That was weird, he just wanted to know who I was and about my playing career in minor hockey. I told him the truth as I saw it. It probably sounded a bit bitter. I was bitter. I half expected him to cut me right then and there. He just smiled and said, "Grats, we'll have some beers, and I will tell you some stories." Then he said, "you're out of shape. You need to build your strength. You're on the team but you are in the press box." Meaning, I went to every practice, but I was not likely to dress for many games.

We Queen's Golden Gaels were not a great team that year. We had some decent players and we were competitive, but we struggled. I played a few games here or there and saw limited ice time. Then we had a home and home series against Laurentian. In Game 1, I was watching the game from the stands. It turned into a brawl. There were suspensions. Short of players, I was going to dress for the next game.

After word got out across campus about the previous week's brawl, we actually had fans in the stand for Game number 2. Fortunately or unfortunately - whatever your point of view, the game did not have any major brawls. But I got into a fight with their biggest guy.

I lost.

Badly.

Mike said I played a gutsy game. I knew I did, and I appreciated him saying so. My previous hockey life would have resulted in me getting benched for the beating I received on the ice. Mike recognized my efforts for the entirety of the game, and ignored the "fight" (though there were a few playful jabs and lots of laughs in the dressing room). The next practice, Mike grabbed me as I was skating off and proceeded to "demonstrate" on how a hockey fight should be waged so that I don't get the crap beaten out of me in the future. Mike would do that type of thing. He'd get dirty with the players. He would help guys work on their shot, help them with a check, how to win a face off or tie up an opponent.

Mike knew when to be chummy with the players and he knew when to kick our asses, but most of all he was straight-up-no-nonsense honest. If you played well he said so. If you played poorly he said so. If you made a mistake, he would simply point it out. He wouldn't berate you (Don't do it twice though). At the end of the season we failed to make the playoffs by a game or two. As we were packing up after our last game, Mike paid me the highest compliment I had ever received from a hockey coach. It was a simple compliment about heart and the desire to compete. It is a comment that I appreciate to this day.

The next season, I stayed in shape over the summer, but Mike got accepted to the full time law program at Queen's and we had a new coach. The new coach seemed cool enough, but I loved hockey again and didn't want to risk that feeling on a new coach, plus University hockey is difficult to balance with school as it runs over two semesters. So, I chose not to play competitively again. (I play duffers and pick-up) My father understood, and wished he could have met Mike.

Now... as for Mike's 'stories', we did get drunk at his birthday. I will not go into details, but his wife threw a party, and she presented him with a dart gun and a life size cardboard picture of a former coach and present HNIC commentator with his dog promoting Canadian Tire. There was a target on the guy's head. Mike was all too happy to unload multiple times on that cut-out.

Mike understands players, and he knows what makes a good coach. Plus as THE player agent, he knows who's who. That sounds like good GM material to me.