Name: Tom Babcock
Team: Lambton Jr Sting 2005 Minor Bantam AAA
What made you want to be a Hockey coach?
Really is a long story but lets say, I Love the
sport, When I was younger and playing the sport I had some great Coach’s and
teachers that made an impact in my life so much that I always wanted to be a
teacher and that never happened but My Dad was asked to Coach a AA Juvenile
team in Sarnia Township that didn’t have a coach and was possibly going to have
to fold and he asked me to Coach with him, after my first year I was hooked on being able
to teach my favorite sport, That first year I was only two years older than my
players!!
After taking the last two years away from Coaching to watch my son Kaden play his major Bantam and minor Midget years with Lambton AAA the desire to get back on the ice and on the bench was stronger than ever, This is my 25th season of coaching and the passion continues to grow!!!
What is your pregame ritual?
LOL We will start from when I arrive at the rink which is an hour and half prior to game time, I like to have a lot of interaction with the players when they get to the rink, about an hour prior to game I will give them 3 key game points of focus and send them with our Athletic Coordinator for their warm up and that’s my time to meet with staff and go over last minute game thoughts and make out lineup bench card!! I like to take a good amount of time by myself prior to game start and I’m in the room for pregame with the players about 10 minutes before game!! Lots of Water and Gum!!!
What is your greatest coaching memory?
In 2014 I was Coaching the Major Peewee AA 2002 age group and I took them to a tournament in Lake Placid it was exactly 20 years prior that I had another team there and lost the final in triple OT!! The 2002 group also made it to the finals and after the first period we were down 3-0 and it took a lot to calm my team down we ended up coming back and winning the game 6-3 to be tournament Champs!! It was such an emotional roller coaster throughout that game, That’s a pretty great memory!!