Benoit Groulx guided by passion, parents from Gatineau to world juniors

Benoit Groulx’s head coaching journey began at a Tim Hortons in his hometown of Gatineau, Que. It was there that he met with Charlie Henry, the then-owner and general manager of the Olympiques.

After an 11-year pro hockey playing career in Europe, Groulx had returned home to become an assistant coach with the Quebec Major Junior League’s Shawinigan Cataractes. He was in his second season as an assistant when Henry came calling in 2000-2001.

“Are you ready to coach?” asked Henry.

There was slight apprehension. Groulx wasn’t sure.

His response was, “I guess so. Yes.”

“If you’re half as tough as your dad was, we’ll be fine with you in Gatineau,” said Henry.

That conversation was 14 years and three QMJHL championships ago.

Henry was very familiar with his new coach, having been a close friend of Groulx’s father, the late Gilles Groulx. A larger-than-life character with a strong personality and a penchant for the game, Gilles was a fixture in the local QMJHL scene.

The elder Groulx coached minor hockey for a stint alongside Pat Burns and included on his roster at one time or another were the likes of New York Rangers GM Alain Vigneault and Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien.

Hockey was an integral part of life in the Groulx household. In his minor hockey days, it was his mother, Marie, who would make sure he made it to practice on time with all his equipment.

“My mom was driving me everywhere,” said Groulx. “She had to get up every weekend at six in the morning to drive me to the rink.”

Gilles Groulx also served as a scout in the Quebec league where he worked for Chicoutimi and the now-defunct Granby Bisons, where he also served as assistant GM. That meant young Benoit would get to sit in the stands with his dad learning about the game. Afterwards, he’d get a good look of the behind-the-scenes workings.

“He would introduce me to the coaches and all the GMs,” said Groulx. “So I got into that world at an early age. The coaches back then in the Q were the big stars in our league.”

Hobnobbing with Quebec league royalty like Michel Bergeron, Orval Tessier and Ron Racette left a lasting impression on the awestruck kid.

“Back then that influenced me a lot,” said Groulx. “When I was watching those guys I knew I wanted to be a coach one day and here I am.”

Here is behind the bench as head coach of Canada’s world junior team. Canada has failed to earn a medal at the last two tournaments on the big ice in Malmo, Sweden and in Ufa, Russia. The last time Canada won gold was in 2009 just across the river from Gatineau in Ottawa. And Groulx was supposed to be there.

He was the original choice as the coach of the team, but left the program and the Olympiques to take a job with the AHL’s Rochester Americans. Pat Quinn ended up taking that golden opportunity. Groulx was in Rochester for two seasons before deciding to return to Gatineau for the 2010-11 season.

Having already been given one opportunity to coach the national team, Groulx said he wasn’t sure Hockey Canada would give him another shot. However when Brent Sutter became head coach of the 2014 squad in Malmo, the 48-year-old was brought on as an assistant, which opened the door again.

“When I came back from Rochester that was in the back of my (mind) that maybe I would like to go back with this team,” said Groulx. “Then I talked to people and I had the chance last year when Brent asked me to be his assistant. I thought that was a great opportunity for me.

“I’m very privileged to be here because I know how many good coaches we have in our country.”

So what can you expect from a Groulx-coached team? Talking to some his QMJHL counterparts, you can expect a well -structured, skilled team that places equal focus on playing offensively and defensively.

At the Canadian team’s training camp he had all the players – many of whom are stars on their junior clubs – blocking shots in practice.

“I’m not surprised by that,” said Dominique Ducharme, head coach of the Halifax Mooseheads. “I’ve seen him work on that with his team (in Gatineau), so I know exactly what he was doing. He’s got his way of doing things and I think you need to stay yourself and that’s what he’s doing.

“I know Ben’s going to do a good job.”

When Alexandre Rouleau became general manager of the Val-d’Or Foreurs at the age of 28, he said there were many in the league that tried to take advantage of his youth. Groulx, despite being a competitor, was one of the people who would help Rouleau navigate the league and occasionally offer him advice. Last year when Rouleau was wavering on whether to trade away his stars to rebuild for the future, it was Groulx who told him to go all in.

“The one thing he told me was, ‘If you have a shot to go for it, take it’,” said Rouleau. “Never think too far ahead in this world, that’s the kind of message he gave me. These are long seasons when you have young players with you and if you don’t have a competitive team he said it’s tough for your coaching staff, your fans and ownership. He told me that can leave serious scars.”

Rouleau kept his team together and the Foreurs ended up winning the QMJHL championship and landing a berth in the Memorial Cup. Groulx believes that while you can be competitors on the ice and shrewd trading partners off it, there’s also room to help foster good relationships.

“I realized that coaches and GMs, we’re all going through the same things,” said Groulx. “The only difference is our players wear a different colour of jersey. What’s better than a coach or a GM to understand what another coach or GM is going through? That support from a coach or a GM in our league is huge because you feel that someone understands you.”

As a former player, there’s an additional understanding towards the teenagers in his care. His playing career briefly crossed with Ducharme’s in France when the latter’s playing career was starting and Groulx’s was ending.

“(Groulx) had good skills and good vision on the ice,” said Ducharme. “He was a very intelligent player. He’s always been a student of the game and interested in how it’s played and he likes to talk about it.”

And those discussions aren’t reserved solely for other coaches. In the summer, just prior to the Ottawa Senators development camp, he asked to have lunch with forward Curtis Lazar who had been a key part of Canada’s fourth-place team last year. Unlike his first head coaching conversation at that Tim Hortons in Gatineau, the setting was a little nicer.

The two met in Lazar’s hotel restaurant so the coach could pick the 19-year-old’s brain about what could have been better with Team Canada. It wasn’t so much about dissecting errors as it was getting on the same page for the 2015 tournament which begins on Boxing Day.

“It was awesome,” said Lazar of his summer sitdown. “It should be a two-way street and I’m a firm believer in that. At the end of the day, we’re the ones playing. He has a great mind for the game and I really enjoyed sitting down with him. I mean, we could have talked for hours.”

It’s that kind of discussion, learning the intricacies of how players feel and think, that is the biggest thing Groulx has learned over the course of his lengthy career in hockey.

“You have to be able to relate to your players and get your point across,” said Groulx. “Every player is different, so it’s about knowing them and knowing what button to push at the right time.”

It’s also about knowing the game. As a player, a coach and a general manager, it’s the culmination of experiences that started early, sitting in the stands with his dad learning about the game.

Sunaya Sapurji is the Junior Hockey Editor at Yahoo! Sports.
Email: sunaya@yahoo-inc.com | Twitter @Sunayas