One of the big tasks on the shoulders of both management and PWHL Seattle head coach, Steve O’Rourke this offseason is filling out the staff. O’Rourke said the search has been “really good” in finding that assistant coach that will complement his own coaching style.
“I've had a certain type of coach I've been looking for and we're very close,” O’Rourke said
He went on to describe the process and what he was really looking for in his staff.
O'Rourke Focusing On Finding Women To Fill Out Staff
“I hope I went about it in a different way than some people did, but I really concentrated on female coaches, first and foremost, and ones that have been on the female and male side to understand where I'm coming from," he said. "I think that's important, and I think for them to have a female experience to balance off, ‘here's the experience; here's kind of some expectations; I understand your expectations where you're coming from. Let's make sure that they meet or where we can take advantage of some of those opportunities.’ That’s what I was looking for first and foremost.”
Something O'Rourke spoke about extensively is the fact that women’s hockey in Seattle and in the state of Washington is going to see massive growth now that the professional league is here.
“I know on the girls side I've been around this out here and through BC hockey. Lots of things that I've had involvement with here, and I've seen the female side grow. Probably in the last about eight to ten years you're starting to see the female side grow, and now we're going to see exponential jumps. That's the difference is when they can see it in their backyard. That's when it jumps,” O’Rourke said.
“When that comes, and you see something to attain, whether you ever get there or not, that’s what pushes you, right? It’s like ‘I could do that. I could be playing in Climate Pledge Arena in five years, ten years, fifteen years.’ That’s what grows everything is the professional opportunity.”
When O’Rourke was announced as head coach, the switch from men’s hockey to women’s hockey became a topic a discussion. In hearing his path to get to this point, there’s little doubt in his belief in this league, all it is, and all it’s still growing to be.
“I’m always going to be thankful to Gina Kingsbury (current General Manager for the Toronto Sceptres),” O’Rouke said. “That’s kind of where this all came about was meeting her ten to twelve years ago and her bringing me inside of this. Even back then when she was part of Okanagan Hockey Academy recruiting that team, the people then like Emily Clark, Mika Hart. These were just unbelievable hockey players, but the people- [it] was unreal.”
“And then, Gina brought me into the women’s national team. It's just about three summers ago and the big reason I’ve come to this side is the purity of the game still,” O’Rourke continued. “They're playing because they want to play it. That's why now they have this other goal in the team, but their passion for the sport and playing for their national teams and just how important that is. It’s what drove me over to this side. It's just amazing. It's so hard to capsulate, but they play for the right reasons, you know?”
There’s something really special about the PWHL. The level of excitement in the stands and the level of compete on the ice never wanes. That was something that O’Rourke saw and was really drawn to, particularly on a personal level.
“On the men’s side, they're groomed at such a young age, and here they're gonna get to that, and they are getting to that now. They're becoming the product of what it is out there-of skills really early and stuff,” he said. “I went to the Toronto Sceptres game and just seeing the kids in the crowd, the people. One of the most moving parts was walking out of the building and just listening to people as they’re walking towards the train. There’s just a different atmosphere and a different feel to it. It's just something that aligns with me and my values.”
Recognizing The Differences In The Game
The PWHL hasn’t been shy about differentiating themselves from the NHL, especially with the rules of the game. It’s something that O’Rourke took notice of, and it fits so well into his coaching style.
He said, “There's something to be said about history, but there's also be something to be said of being stuck in history, right? That we won't change. We won't try something new, and that's what's great about this. Is that, how do we differentiate ourselves? How do we make ourselves exciting and, so far, it looks like they're not afraid to make some of these decisions where other [leagues] it’s, like, oh, we can't make that decision because we'll upset this fan base or that fan base, right?”
One of the unique aspects to a relatively new league is that it gets to set these different standards and expectations from the jump.
“It's amazing to see that they're, I would like to say, they’re thinking outside the box right from day one,” O’Rourke said. “Let’s hope that continues on; that we keep looking for different ways to improve, because that's really how we grow. How we grow as people, as we grow as organizations. How do we improve every day? We wake up to improve. If you're not waking up to improve, what are we doing, right?”
In a forward-thinking league O’Rourke is ready to keep the player-focused aspect at the forefront. That includes the best staff to make sure the players have everything they need.
“That’s a big draw to the league and something I was talking to Gina about. It’s about the player experience and I love the way it’s been shaped around the players,” he said. “That doesn’t mean you don’t hold them accountable, but, for me, I'm blown away. I get to come in here and have full-time assistant coaches, goalie coach, video coach, athletic therapist, equipment people that are top-notch,” O’Rourke said. “I love that this is about the players, because really, that experience, that’s how you win is getting the players the right experience, and, again, that that doesn't mean we coddle the players. This means we push them in the direction they need to be pushed in right and hold them accountable, but it's with a focus on that.”
Everyone wants to win, but it’s easy for the player experience to become lost in the drive to win. The PWHL has proven there’s so much more to sports and to this league than just winning.
“That was another big reason of coming over here,” O’Rourke said. “We all coach to win. We all play to win, but that's not the end number one goal, right? At the end of the day, we all want to win a Walter Cup- everyone who steps on the ice on the ice, everywhere you go. There will be eight teams that want to win the Walter cup, but how do we get there, and the experiences we have to get there. That's what this is rooted in, and that's important to me.”
O'Rourke's Coaching Style Comes To Light
What can fans, and the players, expect from O’Rourke in terms of his coaching style?
“I'm a big believer in different thinking. If you have too much of the same, how are we going to think differently? We're all from the same background. Where are we going to find that advantage?” he said.
“I joke with people that ask, ‘So what do you do?’ Well, I coach. ‘Well, what's coaching?’ Well, I do the same as everyone else. I just try to do it better than the person beside me,” he continued. “We're all doing the same thing, right? But how do we do it better? And I think the one area that I focus on in the last number of years is just trying to get better at the human side, I think that's the advantage.”
Seeing players as so much more than just dots on the ice is important to the head coach.
“It's not x’s and o’s, it's the human side of it,” he said. “How do I connect with that player?” O’Rourke said. “And again, this is what I just keep getting trying to get better at. I know who I am. I know my personality might not match with that person, but how do I connect with them still? How do I get the most out of them just because they like x and I like y. They both get us to the same point.”
He's also not afraid to ask the tough questions, and, in turn, he wants those around him who aren’t afraid to ask those of him. “For me, it’s having people around me that can think differently, and, I know, as an associate coach/assistant coach over my years, I've always had this mentality of kind of being a head coach and challenging our head coach,” O’Rourke said. “I'm not going to sit status quo if I see something. That's what I want to surround myself with is people that will challenge me to think differently and not get stuck in a rut, and I think like the people that we're going to have around is going to do that.
Aside from his own coaching staff, O’Rourke has many examples in the organization to help him continue to challenge thinking.
“From Meg (Turner, PWHL Seattle General Manger), who I think is just exceptional that helps me think differently, [to] Hannah (Armstrong) in hockey Ops, her experiences, and then our staff and how we're going to build that staff,” he said. “I would have just say, ‘Okay, let's keep looking for different ways to be better today.’ Jessica Campbell getting that opportunity and people looking up. I think that's amazing being that in those rooms and have just a different thought process to it.”
Seattle's Roster Has An Abundance Of Talent
O’Rourke has a lot of extremely talented players on the PWHL Seattle team. Bringing talent like that together and building a cohesive team on the ice has to be a main driver going into this upcoming season.
“That’s really what I’m going to be focused on the most is how we bring this together,” he said. “But the nice thing is I've gone to pretty much all the players. Between the draft and us hiring, and just some other commitments that I've had, it's been a little slower than I've wanted it to be, but what I've been telling everyone is it's a great opportunity to be with someone who's never been in your game, and there's a clean slate. What I love is that you have to put yourself out there. You have to prove yourself to me and what the best part is, though, is I have to prove myself to them, right? It's a two-lane street, I think.”
As O’Rourke mentioned, he has a unique perspective in that he hasn’t been studying these players from the very first time they stepped onto an ice rink. “
So far, everyone I've talked to, they're excited to have someone that hasn't watched them for four years in college or try to recruit them and have an opinion. I don’t have an opinion right now and I will, but right now, we're working out the all the staffing stuff, and we want this done by the end of July, so then I can turn to August and start watching video on the league and the players and stuff,” he said.
There’s a clean slate in the PWHL Seattle which allows for a fresh start for players and coaches alike, and O'Rourke is taking a similar mindset.
“Not limiting,” he said. “I really believe in trying not to limit people. They'll limit themselves with the way they think or ability. There's already limitations and trying not to let them think that way and not limit them. I think it helps coming in that everyone has an opportunity to prove themselves.”
It all comes down to communication and that skill is one O’Rourke is focused on in hiring the rest of the coaching staff. “Having that mentality is, I think, what we're going to have to work through still in year three is having the players understand that those roles are really important, and how I bring my best to those roles,” he said. “Just building the team is going to be a lot of communication is the biggest part, and I know staff is a big part of that, and I've narrowed in on two that are just exceptional communicators. And that excites me is just having that ability that they can sit down with anyone and communicate with them.”
Fans will continue to watch to see who rounds out Seattle's coaching staff. It’s clear that Steven O’Rourke is focused on putting the players first on such a human level that fans can be sure the rest of the staff will have that same outlook.
