The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - February 10, 1992 - Page 3 Jones The ex-Michigan hockey player talks about his life in the NHL Jeff Sheran Carr content with M' assistant post Brad Jones has seen it all in his relatively short hockey career. He was a member of the 1984 U. S. Junior National team. He played on the Bronze Medal winning squads in the 1985 and '86 National Sports Festivals. He played for two coaches at the University of Mich- igan from 1983 to 1987, where he was a CCHA First-Team (1987) and Second-Team All-Star (1986). He spent part of the 1987-88 sea- son with the U.S. National team. From 1988 through 1990 he had stints with Moncton and New Haven of the American Hockey League. He has played for three dif- ferent National Hockey League or- ganizations: Winnipeg, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Brad is currently out of the Flyers lineup with an an- kle injury. Recently, Daily Sports Writer Brett Forrest spoke with Jones about his experiences in hockey. Daily: What was it like playing with Wayne Gretzky in Los Angeles? Jones: It was a great experience, not only through being a part of a team such as LA, but just being a part of one of the greatest players of all time, being associated with him, seeing him practice. A few times I got to play a couple games with him (on the same line), so it was a pretty good experience. D: Have you ever played with anyone even close to him? J: No. Never. D: In your opinion, would you say that he is the greatest player to ever strap on a pair of skates? J: It is tough to compare eras. D: Would you say that he is the greatest player of this era? Many people say it would be Mario Lemieux. You have played with Gretzky and played against Lemieux - what do you say? J: They are two players who are relatively the same (in terms of ability), but I think they are quite different in how they go about the game. But I think, from what I saw, Gretzky is better. D: What was it like living in Los Angeles? J: It was a little different lifestyle. It was tough getting used to it at first because of the weather situation and everything I had heard about LA before going out there - it was not a hockey town, it was tough to play there. It was a little bit of an adjustment at first, but I found out it was a real strong hockey town. The fans really treat you well. They get to know you. A lot of the fans really go out of their way to make you feel welcome. It was a real positive experience the whole year. D: In 1988.you played for the United States National team. You were a member of the team for the entire 50-game Olympic warm-up, yet you did not play in the * Olympics. How did that come to pass? J: The training camps started the previous summer, in July. I was with the team from that point until the day before they left for Calgary when I told I was cut. A lot of poli- tics were involved there. D: Coach Dave Peterson ('88 and '92 Olympic head coach) just re- cently made the final cut for the '92 squad. He told Dan Keczmer that he was booked on the next flight to the States instead of with the team to Europe. It was very poorly handled on Peterson's part and Keczmer har- bors much bitterness towards him. J: It does not surprise me. I do not have any respect for him what- soever, just how he has handled a few things, not only my situation, but especially how he handled this past situation. There were too many tion. D: How would you compare the talent pools of the CCHA and the American Hockey League? J: The AHL is supposedly a notch below the NHL in terms of talent. I found out that in the mi- nors, the game is a lot more scramb- ley, not as disciplined, not as con- trolled. It is much rougher. The guys basically are not as disciplined as far as their position goes. From the AHL to the NHL is a big differ- ence, and I find from college to the AHL, if you had to make a compari- son, would be kind of the same thing. The game is a lot more wide open in college compared to the mi- jured your knee and were not able to compete in the tournament. Now, this season, you have an ankle injury which will keep you out of action for at least a month. What is it like when you are trying to get back into action from an injury? J: This is the first time since I have been a pro that I have really been injured where I have been out for more than a week or two. It is tough because you more or less get separated from the team because you have to do your thing and the team carries on and you have to keep your- self in shape, work yourself back into the lineup. Basically being part of the team, pursay, is being on the ice, being around the guys all the time, and travelling. It is a little tougher in that aspect. But it is part of the job. It is part of the situation. You just have to work yourself around it. D: Summarize a typical game day in the life of an NHL player. J: I would leave the house at 8:30 a.m. to go over to th'e Spectrum for a 10:30 practice. We would have a stretch at 9:45, be on the ice for a half hour. We would have a team meeting at 11:30. I would then go home where my wife would start cooking my pre-game meal of spaghetti and a baked potato, that kind of stuff. I would sleep from 1 to 4, get up, take a shower, and head on over to the rink by 5. Then after the game, I would try and get some- thing to eat and maybe go out. D: What are some quick thoughts you have on Berenson? J: I was happy with the three years that I was with him. He helped me out a great deal individu- ally, especially my junior and senior years. He kind of prepared me and gave me some insight as to what it was like to play in the NHL, the day in and day out rigors and what was expected. I learned a great deal from him and I respect him a lot, espe- cially that first year coming in, I think everybody did. I think he helped out all the guys a great deal. D: In the early '80s, when you were to make a decision as to where to play your college hockey, Mich- igan State was a definite pow- erhouse, while Michigan was rather mediocre. What made you choose Ann Arbor over East Lansing? J: I was recruited by State but I never took a visit there. I just did not care for Michigan State at all. I respected the program, but, well I do not want to name names, but I just did not feel I would be as happy there as maybe other places. I kind of looked at Michigan, went in for a visit. I liked everything about it. I felt that coming in as a freshman, I would have an opportunity to step right in and help out. I loved the campus and everything that it had to offer. D: What are your fondest memo- ries of your career at Michigan? J: Probably, the ones I can think of are just the overall experience I had there with hockey and school, and meeting my wife there in my sophomore year. Michigan defensive coordinator Lloyd Carr loves his job. As he says, he has the finest assistant coaching job in America. But that's like saying you drive the fastest Pinto in America. It's inherently second-best. Which is why this Carr is ready to change into the faster lane; he wants a head coaching job. These jobs are hard to come by, though. Even with the addition of Penn State to the Big Ten, there are only 11 such positions in the conference. However, six schools - Purdue, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan - have made coaching changes in the last three years. So maybe Carr's goal isn't so unrealistic. But when you're the top assistant at the school which has won the last four Big Ten Championships, not too many jobs at other schools seem appealing. "Because of the success here, there are a lot of situations out there that really don't interest me," Carr says. "I guess I'm in a position where the number of jobs I'm interested in are limited, and they're jobs a lot of other people are interested in." One such head coaching position opened up at Wisconsin in 1989. The Badgers hired a new athletic director who, in turn, was entrusted with hiring a new football coach. Carr was a strong applicant - not only was Michigan the defending Rose Bowl Champion at the time, but Carr specialized in recruiting players from the Wisconsin area. The list of candidates was trimmed to two: Notre Dame defensive coordinator Barry Alvarez and Carr. Alvarez got the job. "That was a disappointment," Carr recalls. "Anytime you put your name up there and don't get it, it's disappointing. And I felt like Wisconsin had a chance; they'd hired a new athletic director, and they have a fine university academically." Wisconsin's prospect for success made the job attractive, but few opprtunities have arisen since. "The important thing is to try to get a coaching job 4Fwhere there's a legitimate chance," Carr says. "If you have a program where there's support administra- arrtively and financially, then you're going to walk in, C iand four years later you're going to walk out." Soon after Alvarez' hiring, Gary Moeller took over for the retiring Bo Schembechler and named Carr his top assistant. The two had worked together since 1978, when Moeller hired Carr as a defensive coach. The following year, Moeller and his staff left Illinois amid contro- versy. The incident resurfaced last November, when Moeller returned to Champaign for the first time at the Michigan helm. It wasn't a big deal when Moeller was an assistant. Only when he was the head coach did everyone want to resurrect the heated 1979 departure. By this logic, it followed that Carr, still an assistant, didn't have to answer questions about his own feelings toward Illinois. Good thing. "I have and and probably always will have a deep bitterness for Illinois," Carr says, declining to specify the way the university treated the coaches. But throughout November, Moeller denied harboring any resentment toward Illinois. "He's a better man than I am," Carr concedes. So being an assistant has its advantages after all? "Well, you always have to be careful what you say, but..." Carr breaks out into a wide smile. After clinching the Big Ten Championship with a 20-0 shutout of the Illini, Moeller again reserved taking a stab at Illinois. And again, no one asked Carr what he thought. "To clinch a Big Ten Championship in Champaign and to play so well defensively was something," Carr says between more of his ear-to-ear smiles. "I can't tell you the elation." But then there was the time Michigan lost to Michigan State in 1990. People remember Desmond Howard bobbling the two-point conversion pass after being tripped. Yet it was the defense, letting the Spartans drive at will in the second half, that lost the game and the No. 1 ranking. Once again, Moeller had to answer the questions. And Carr had to watch his friend and boss face the media. "It's such a terrible feeling," Carr remembers. "There aren't many things in life that can make you feel worse, outside of something wih your family or friends. It was absolutely sickening. I never, ever want to feel like that again. "Particularly because it was the defense that cost us the game. You take losing hard even if you play well on your side of the ball. But if you lose because your side cost the team the game, there's no worse feeling." Not even being passed up for a head coaching job, Carr maintains. "If it so happens in my career that I never be a head coach, it would not be the worst thing in the world," he says. "I hope that isn't the case, but I love coaching here. We have a great university and a great football tradition, and as a result of those things, we win. And it's exhilarating." other factors, politically, that he used to base his judgement on. D: That must have been a huge disappointment for you. J: When you get to that level you would think some of that stuff would be put to the wayside, but it just intensifies. I really questioned his judgement. D: Was it a huge jump for you, coming out of Michigan and the CCHA, to try and make it with Winnipeg in the NHL? J: Yes, it was a big step from college to the pros. But playing for the National team, I got a lot of training and learned a lot from the assistant coaches. It is different from league to league, but from col- lege to the pros was a big jump. I learned a lot from (coach) Red (Berenson) in my time at Michigan that helped me through the transi- nors. D: The players in the AHL are trying to make a splash, make a name for themselves, so to make it to the NHL. Do they sacrifice the team as- pect of the game in order to do this? J: Maybe at times, but you will find in the minors, the teams are a lot closer because of all the time they spend together on the road travelling. You will find that the guys are much closer because of that situation. The pressure, as far as working together as a team, is not as severe compared to the NHL. I think it is more individual pressure of you playing well and doing the things the organization wants you to do and trying to get to the NHL. D: In 1984, when you were 19, you played for the U.S. Junior National team that was to play in the World Junior Championships. Before you got to the WJC, you in- Help Shape Your Student Centers! Michigan Union Board of Representatives is looking for students to sit on its Advisory Board. 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