When Adam Foote took the reins behind the Kelowna Rockets bench last October, it’s safe to say the team was in some disarray. Indeed, at 4-10, the perennially successful organization appeared adrift in uncharted waters.
The situation on the ice gradually improved, but the early season swoon proved too much to overcome and the team was unable to qualify for the playoffs. It resulted in an abrupt end to rather an odd regular season by Kelowna Rockets standards.
“Well, we went back to Denver,” Foote said, when asked by DUBNetwork how he kind of disengaged briefly after last season. “And, you know, Cal (Foote) in Syracuse lost in the playoffs, so we were able to spend some quality time, the four of us.”
With sons Nolan and Cal at home, along with their mother, Jennifer, there was some time to relax and according to Adam, they played “a lot of golf”.
However, it was a short break, with Nolan preparing for the National Hockey League combine.
“It reminded me it was two years ago with Cal,” Foote said. “It was going to get busy with the combine and the draft.
“We had our family up here in Kelowna. I wouldn’t call it a reunion, but there was 30 of us here for the draft and we were able to go down and enjoy a few days together in Vancouver, so it was a nice weekend.”
While the highlight for the Foote family came in the first round, when the Tampa Bay Lightning selected Nolan with the 27th pick, there had also been some preliminary discussions about a key addition to the Rockets coaching staff.
“Before the draft, I was able to do what was really important to me,” Adam said. “That was to find another coach. I know Bruce (Hamilton) was on board with that.”
On July 3, the organization announced the hiring of Vern Fiddler as an assistant coach. A Rockets alumni, he played 218 games with Kelowna over four seasons between 1997 and 2001. Undrafted after his Western Hockey League career concluded, Fiddler went on to find a way to carve out a 900-game NHL career. He retired after the 2016-17 season.
“Vern was at a crossroad where he had a good thing going on with the Dallas Stars,” Foote said. “He had played here, and he’s got family here.
“I think it was a good time for him with a 12-year-old boy and his young daughter. With the youth hockey here in Kelowna and the opportunity, the Memorial Cup here – I know he wants to coach.”
Foote expanded on the interactions with Fiddler that led to the hiring.
“I met him in the summer, and we spent a couple days together,” Foote said. “I knew him as a player and respected him. I loved how he figured out how to survive, to make it in every level. He’s a great story. He wasn’t drafted and he got up there and he figured it out. I always thought he was at a very high hockey IQ.”
Those “smarts”, as Foote mentioned have been confirmed by at least one Hockey Hall of Fame member.
“What’s so funny about this is after Bruce hired him, like a month later, I was in Denver,” Foote said. “(Peter) Forsberg came into town and we met for dinner – we hook up when he comes to town. We’re sitting there and were talking about the junior team and I said we hired Vern Fiddler.
“So, Forsberg says, oh my god, I love Fidds. I would tell the coach that I want to play with him because he was so smart.”
Forsberg, who was enshrined in 2014, and Fiddler were teammates with the Nashville Predators for a short time during the 2006-07 season.
According to Foote, Fiddler will work with the Rockets forwards.
Veteran assistant coach Kris Mallette is back with the Rockets and works primarily with the defenceman and penalty kill.
In recent years, the Rockets coaching staff has consisted of defenceman, those who played the game at a high-level with an emphasis on defensive zone coverages.
Dan Lambert, a defenceman during his playing days, took the Rockets to the 2015 Memorial Cup.
Jason Smith, a tough, gritty rearguard who played over 1,000 NHL games coached the Rockets for 2 1/2 seasons.
Foote, a Stanley Cup-winning defenceman who is now at the helm, felt it was time to have someone on board to bring some offensive zone expertise to the mix.
“They’ve had great coaches here,” he said. “You know, Smitty with his wisdom and experience, and Lambert played at a high level. They were both phenomenal defenceman.
“We all know what beat us (last season). We all know what we didn’t want to see as a defencemen.
“I feel like I studied the offensive side of it, but the little nuances of the game, off the rush.
“I know offensive zone structures pretty good, I’ve done a lot of a lot of work with some NHL teams just to see where we’re at.
“But little nuances Fidds brought to our team with practice, the speed and helping forwards get off the walls, face-off things – he’s added so much already.
“So, I think it’s really going to help the development of the forward group, not just them but our power play and our whole group entirely.”
Former Rockets goaltender Adam Brown is also back, working with the netminders.
Rockets Fuel…LW Dillon Hamaliuk, acquired from the Seattle Thunderbirds in May, introduced himself to fans in Kelowna with a four-point effort on Saturday (2G, 2A) including the game-winner at the buzzer in OT to give the Rockets a 4-3 win over the visiting Spokane Chiefs…C Kyle Topping, 20, who scored the Rockets first goal of the season, now has 195 WHL regular season games under his belt. Topping was the Rockets 11th round pick, 220th overall, at the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft…When the Rockets ice its full roster this weekend, it will include three NHL drafted skaters; LW Nolan Foote (TB), D Kaedan Korczak (VGK) and Hamaliuk (SJ)…The overage group includes Topping, RW Leif Mattson and D Carson Sass…RW Jake Poole, from McAuley, Manitoba, is the only rookie forward currently on the roster. Now 17, he was the Rockets sixth round pick at the 2017 WHL Bantam Draft…On the back end, rookie D Elias Carmichael, 16, Kelowna’s second round pick in 2018 remains with the team…Kelowna is currently carrying only one import, RW Pavel Novak, 17, from the Czech Republic…Kelowna still has three goalies on the roster; Roman Basran, 18, James Porter, 19, and Cole Schwebius, 18…It would appear the Rockets will be able to ice its full lineup moving forward as Nolan Foote has been returned to Kelowna by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Foote, who is entering his fourth WHL season, has signed an ELC with the Bolts. He is the last of seven Rockets players to return after attending various NHL training camps over the past few weeks…Kelowna plays three games in three nights this weekend – Friday at Kamloops, home to Everett on Saturday, then Sunday in Langley against the Vancouver Giants…Last season, the Rocket were 4-4-1-1 against the Blazers, 1-3 against the Silvertips and 2-7 against the Giants…The Rockets drew 164,396 fans to Prospera Place last season, an average of 4,835 per game. On opening night against Spokane, attendance was 5,302.
(DUBNetwork thanks award-winning photographer Marissa Baecker, Shoot the Breeze, Kelowna, BC)
