November 21, 2017 at 1:00 p.m.
Gosselin feels at home as U.S. national sled hockey team coach
Gosselin feels at home as U.S. national sled hockey team coach
As a player - growing up in Rochester, Minn. - Gosselin played for the United States in three International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships and was also a defenseman in the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics, with a five-game stint in the NHL with the Winnipeg Jets after the 1988 Olympics.
He moved on to help found the Concordia (Wis.) men's and women's hockey programs, while serving as general manager of the Ozaukee Ice Center in Mequon. In 2009, he was hired by USA Hockey as the regional manager of the American Development Model, providing outlines for age-appropriate athlete development for the states of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
Leading into the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Gosselin received a unique offer. He was to become an assistant coach for the U.S. national sled hockey team.
He jumped at the opportunity and helped the United States become the first team to win two consecutive gold medals in Paralympic sled hockey.
When the team's head coach Jeff Sauer, who also guided the University of Wisconsin to three national titles, passed away last February, Gosselin was thrust into the role of head coach. Now he is preparing to lead the U.S. into the 2018 Paralympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea in March.
"I've known our general manager Dan Brennan for many, many years and we had always talked about it," said Gosselin, who was in Madison earlier this month for a four-day training camp with the team. "When they were looking for an assistant coach, they asked me kind of out of the blue. I thought it was great honor that they would ask me and I was very interested in getting involved."
Getting the job as the head coach of the U.S. national team was certainly a tremendous opportunity, but when it happens because of a tragedy, there is going to be a certain level of mixed feelings as he prepares to coach a team of 17 players from 10 different states.
"Jeff meant everything to this team," Gosselin said. "I've known Jeff since I was 17 years old, so it was hard to take. Yeah, I wish it would have been some other way. It's a sad deal and everybody's still recovering from it. He'll always be with us. He treated our players like they were his kids. For me personally, Jeff was just a great human and that's what it's all about. He spread the word of the game and being a good person ever since I knew him. He always had time for our players, he always had time for people on the street - just a great ambassador of the game."
Gosselin is a hockey lifer, particularly within USA Hockey, but sled hockey can be a bit of culture shock for some people.
Many people have misconceptions about disabled sports in general. Some don't expect it to be fast-paced and hard-hitting, but once someone watches a game for the first time, that notion is quickly goes by the boards.
The game is played on a sled, with two sticks with picks on the end to propel.
Aside from a few intricacies, such as the constant movement of the game in sled hockey compared to a stop-and-start game of "stand-up hockey," the game is the same, so Gosselin has not had to change his coaching style or his philosophy, nor his strategy.
"It's still hockey," Gosselin said. "The only thing that we kind of learn as this thing evolves is, we don't want these guys dead in the water out on the ice. We want them moving. In able-bodied hockey you might have a power play setup, we always want our guys moving, creating that 2-on-1 and outnumbering. We've got some fantastic athletes. Coaching is coaching. I think we're trying to create the best athletes, with high skill sets and high compete levels. Coach (Sauer) did an excellent job of creating the culture in our locker room and out on the ice, but other than that, it wasn't a huge difference. It didn't surprise me, either, after I saw these guys play."
One of the unique things about sled hockey is the constant competitive nature of the sport. Whether it's at the national level or the club level, it's hard to find a team that doesn't play 100 percent.
Yes, there are going to be practices or games where a team doesn't play well or make mistakes, but it won't be from a lack of physical effort.
Some of that comes from the constant attacking nature of the sport and some of it comes from the fact that many players on the team became disabled later in life, through an accident or military service. Others who have become disabled from birth or at a young age found the sport later, and they want to make up for time lost not being able to play sports with friends.
"They're ready to rock-and-roll, they're excited to get on the ice and that's a great thing about our team," Gosselin said. "When we get out there, they're ready to go ... It's always been kind of a good atmosphere. Of course we have bad practices once in a while, but we learn from our mistakes. That's what sports are all about. We talk about it and we're very open with each other, too."
While the Olympics will likely not feature NHL players for the first time since 1994, the best players in the world will be playing in the Paralympics.
In sled hockey, playing for the national team is the equivalent of being an NHL-level player.
Having played in the Olympics himself, Gosselin hasn't thought much about the fact that he's leading the charge for Team USA's third consecutive gold medal.
"We're so team-oriented," Gosselin said. "We do this as a group and I don't feel that pressure on me. Obviously we want to make Coach Sauer proud. We know we represent our country and we're going to give 110 percent, there's no doubt about that."
The U.S. national team is scheduled to compete in the World Sled Hockey Challenge in Canada, starting Dec. 1, while also traveling to Turin, Italy - the site of the 2006 Paralympics - for the Para Ice Hockey International Tournament, before a series against Canada in February before the Paralympics begin on March 8.
Nick Sabato may be reached at [email protected] or via Twitter @SabatoNick.
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