“I coached midget hockey for 12 years, and in those years my team only had one fight. In my first exhibition game in Kamloops, 10 minutes into the first period, there was only one player left, the reserve goalie and me, on the bench. It was an incredible revelation. I thought, “What have I gotten myself into here?”
“All we did in Kamloops was win, for six years (291 wins, 125 losses and 15 ties). We had a great general manager in Bob Brown and an incredible group of scouts. I always felt that in junior we were a cut above everyone else.
Hitchcock led the Blazers to four consecutive division titles, league championships in 1985-86 and 1989-90 and twice appeared in the Memorial Cup tournament. He was named WHL Coach of the Year in 1987 and 1990, and was also selected as the top coach in Canadian major junior hockey that second year.
Inevitably, the NHL came calling, with the Philadelphia Flyers hiring him in 1990 as an assistant coach. After three seasons there, Hitchcock accepted his first professional head coaching position, hired by Minnesota North Stars general manager Bob Gainey to lead the Stars’ International League affiliate in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Thirty-nine games into the 1995-96 season, Gainey brought it south to coach the Dallas Stars.
It was Gainey, Hitchcock said, who forever changed his coaching mentality as he prepared for his first full season behind the Stars bench. Gainey, he said, was the most influential figure in his coaching career.
“Bob’s greatest strength was that he could see the big picture,” he said. “He gave me a long-term perspective and that really helped me as a coach.”
