ST. JOHN’S — Randy Pearcey won two Herders in three years while coaching senior hockey in the west and he took his team to the final in the east last year.
However, the colourful coach from St. John’s won’t be behind the bench for any team in the new Newfoundland Senior Hockey League.
“I had four years of coaching in the senior league, and I’ve just lost my zest for wanting to coach, it’s as simple as that,” Pearcey said earlier this week from St. John’s.
“I want to do a few things for me, which I haven’t been able to do.”
The decision to call it quits at the senior level wasn’t an easy call for the 59-year-old who runs the Extreme Hockey Program with former pro Andrew McKim. Pearcey and McKim handled the coaching duties for the Mount Pearl Blades of the Avalon East Senior Hockey League last year.
The Blades lost to the Conception Bay North CeeBee Stars in six games in last year’s final.
Pearcey took over the Blades after coaching the Clarenville Caribous to two Herder titles in just three years behind the bench.
Pearcey was committed to taking the team to the next level this winter, but he decided to step down after a lengthy discussion with McKim. Pearcey didn’t want to be on the road all winter coaching because it meant his partner would have to carry the load when it comes to his programs for minor hockey players, which has as many as 20 hours of ice-time on the weekends alone.
“You got to have a life besides hockey, which in the past four years I haven’t had,” he said.
“I’m going to find it a little bit peculiar now and a little bit odd going to watch the Corner Brook Royals play without having to worry about having to look at them and see what kind of talent that they have so I can coach against it. I can go and enjoy myself now, and watch my own son (Andrew Pearcey) playing without having a hidden agenda.”
While he won’t be coaching this winter, Pearcey believes the five-team provincial league will provide fans with some quality hockey.
Judging by the players already signed by some of the teams on the east coast and the countless rumours circulating about possible additions for this season, Pearcey expects the CeeBee Stars, Caribous and Blades to boast some star-studded lineups.
He believes the skillset of the players is impressive, but he cautions that teams must be fiscally responsible if they want the league to survive. Since his days in Clarenville, Pearcey has made it known that he thinks it’s crazy for teams to be paying players upwards of $1,000 per game to play senior hockey in Newfoundland and Labrador. He even talked about the need for a salary cap to be introduced when he was talking to Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts coach Brian Casey in the off-season.
“I’ve always said that if you’ve got to play senior hockey in Newfoundland to make a living then you’re missing the boat and shouldn’t be doing it,” he said.
For senior hockey to prosper in the province, Pearcey insists spending has to be curbed but, more importantly, he feels management has to start finding a balance between veteran players who have been around the block and fresh faces with a lot of skill, speed and finesse.
By no means being critical, he believes the Deer Lake Red Wings may have had a different fate if they had brought in some young players to blend in with the character veteran guys like Darren Langdon, Mark Robinson and Chris Peach, to name a few.
He believes the Red Wings probably could have won a Herder in the last couple of years if they had been able to inject some talented youngsters into the line up.
“I don’t know how they survived the last couple of years,” he said.
“If you don’t continue to bring a mix of younger kids in with the experience of the older guys like Darren Langdon and these guys, then it will bite you in the ass and I think it has,” he said.
Pearcey will focus his energy on coaching kids for now.
“I get my kicks from hockey from the kids now. I’m not saying I’ll never go back to coach (senior) again because next year I might want to go back again. If I do then I will go back.”
He is hoping to have a more relaxed winter now that he has removed the pressure of trying to guide the Blades to a Herder title. He gets so caught up in the excitement of the game when he’s coaching that he doesn’t want it all to come to an end with the old ticker giving out during a game.
“With hockey I get so wrapped up in the games that you put so much pressure on yourself and you don’t know what you’re doing with your body,” he said. “It’s unnecessary stress, they say, so I really don’t need that.”
