By: Dan Shulman<\/p>\n
As the United States World Junior Team took the ice for practice, much of the attention was focused on the talented stars donning the red, white and blue. Players like Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, and Sonny Milano all participated for the Stars & Stripes.<\/p>\n
However, more attention should be paid to the man standing behind the bench; Rhode Island native Ron Wilson. With the team practicing in Boston, just an hour north of where Wilson resides, the return to New England has been enjoyable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great being back locally,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cAll my relatives and my brothers still live here.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the practices being held this week at Agganis Arena, the whole experience is even more special for Wilson.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is kind of new. I\u2019ve been to BU\u2019s rink before but I never skated here,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cI played at Walter Brown. BU always has a special place in my heart, I can say that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson is coaching the junior team for the first time, but at the limber age of 60, there aren\u2019t many more firsts for a coach of his caliber.<\/p>\n
Ron Wilson played his college hockey at Providence College, and as a defenseman, amassed an NCAA record of 250 points, a record that still stands almost 40 years later.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m holding onto it,\u201d said Wilson with a laugh. \u201cThe way [Jake Walman] in Providence is playing, I was getting a little nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following a successful NHL career, Wilson turned to coaching. In over 1400 NHL games, Wilson collected 648 wins, putting him eighth all-time among NHL coaches. With his years of NHL experience, Wilson is a valuable asset for the U.S. World Junior Team.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an NHL coach, you can\u2019t be stuck in concrete when you come and coach [juniors],\u201d said Wilson. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be flexible and that\u2019s what I plan on being.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to talk to our team about being a puck possession team, and I\u2019ll just go from there. I\u2019ve got to see what the other teams are playing like and then I\u2019ll be flexible. That\u2019s really what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite making his junior hockey coaching debut, Ron Wilson has coached for USA Hockey before. In 2010, he led the United States to a silver medal in the Vancouver Olympics.<\/p>\n
Regardless of whether Wilson is at the helm of an NHL team, or Team USA, the coach approaches every situation exactly the same way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any difference [in the international game],\u201d said Wilson. \u201cI\u2019m preparing for this team and these games like I normally would. That\u2019s what my preparation is all about; to prepare the team to win. We\u2019ve got to play a high speed game.\u201d<\/p>\n
With all these hefty accomplishments, Wilson decided to coach at the junior level for an\u00a0entirely different purpose than to display his versatility.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to give something back,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cI asked Jimmy Johansson if I could be given that opportunity and he said yes. So I\u2019m just trying to repay USA Hockey with the best effort I can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By: Dan Shulman As the United States World Junior Team took the ice for practice, much of the attention was focused on the talented stars donning the red, white and blue. Players like Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, and Sonny Milano all participated for the Stars & Stripes. However, more attention should be paid to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17194,"featured_media":2185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1026,1028],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}