Vol 3_No 1 Guts.indd - Rubber Magazine

Photo / Phoenix RoadRunners
Phoenix RoadRunners
Church eager to mold a contender
By Paolo Cruz
A year
ago at
this time, Brad
Church was preparing
himself for the start
of just another hockey season.
Only this time he would be wearing
a coat and tie rather than a
sweater and a helmet, and he would
be holding a clipboard instead of a
stick.
Brad Church
was going into
coaching, and,
with the No. 2
job with Roadrunners
open,
he jumped at
the opportunity
to come
to Phoenix to
launch his career
behind the
bench.
“I want to
learn and develop
as much
as I can. I want
to be looked
upon as a quality coach with a good
future,” Church told Arizona Rubber
last year. “I want to coach at
the highest level.”
Little did Church know that an
opportunity for advancement would
come just six months into the 2006-
07 season.
With just eight games left in the
regular season and the Roadrunners’
playoff hopes on life support,
head coach Ron Filion resigned.
In response, the Roadrunners
organization turned to Church - just
30 years old, but a 10-year veteran
of professional hockey - to right the
ship and make the playoffs.
“I never thought I would get an
opportunity so quickly,” he said. “I
fi gured I would be an assistant for a
few years, but I’m very grateful that
this opportunity came up.”
Two crucial wins, including a 4-2
road win over Fresno, were enough
to get Phoenix into the playoffs,
where they were eventually swept
by No.1 seed Las Vegas.
In May, the Roadrunners offi -
cially named Church as their head
coach and director of hockey operations
for the 2007-08 season.
Church will be assisted by
Brian O’Leary, who was named
The RoadRunners are hoping for more reasons to celebrate with Brad Church in charge.
the team’s new assistant coach last
month.
O’Leary brings to Phoenix 17
years of coaching experience in Canadian
junior hockey as both an assistant
and a head coach. The Owen
Sound, Ontario, native recently
spent the past four seasons as an
assistant with the Owen Sound Attack
of the Ontario Hockey League.
“Brian brings a wealth of experience
to our staff and I’m very excited
to work with him,” said Church.
“He has built great relationships
with his players and his colleagues
over his long coaching career.”
“I’m thrilled for the opportunity
to coach in the ECHL and extremely
happy about working with Brad as
a member of the RoadRunners family,”
said O’Leary.
Church, the youngest coach in
the league - he turns 31 in November
- brings a youthful exuberance
to the job and has leaned on the
numerous connections he has made
during his career in hockey to help
build the Roadrunners into a
contender.
Because all ECHL contracts last
for only one year, the recruitment of
players is a key factor in separating
the contenders and the pretenders.
Already,
the Roadrunners
have
benefi ted
from Church’s
contacts. This
summer they
announced
the signing of
ECHL veteran
Reagan
Rome, who
is slated to
be the team’s
No. 1 defenseman.
Rome
played with
Church for the
ECHL’s Read-
ing Royals.
“I’ve crossed paths with a lot of
people in this game and it has come
in handy as far as recruiting goes,”
Church said. “As widespread as
[hockey] seems, it’s a small world at
the end of the day.”
In the case of Jeff Kyrzakos
and Cody Rudkowsky, Church’s
reputation as a coach and leader
has even attracted former players
back to the Roadrunners.
“When Church took over, you
knew he was that kind of guy
that would be able to relate to the
players and get us to play hard,”
Kyrzakos said. “One of the main
reasons I came back was because I
knew what Churchy was all about
and he’s played at the next level so I
know he knows how to get there.” ❂
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