Coiner Calls It Quits As A Champ
With the puck having already been dropped on another hockey season in Europe and about to drop for another one in North America, the 2018-2019 season will mark the first one is nearly 20 years that Keith Aucoin is not on a professional opening night roster.
Aucoin, 39, who always battled the “too small” label and had more of a reputation as a table setter due to his amazing pinpoint precision passing abilities to setup his linemates, proved the label makers wrong. The numbers show he was very much a finisher, as well, throughout his spectacular 17-year career, which he finished in fine fashion last season in Germany, going out a champion.
"My body feels good now, but it wouldn’t feel too good after a day or two of training camp,” said Aucoin via phone on the day NHL training camps opened. "I’ve been keeping pretty busy though. I took a new coaching job with my son’s hockey team, so I really haven’t had too much time to think about it, but I’m sure after the games kick in I’ll miss it a bunch, that’s for sure."
Peering deeply into the North American portion of Aucoin's career, beginning with his college days at Norwich University, some things are as crystal clear, such as his penchant for putting up a plethora of points as he did in both college and the minors. He proved himself when given true opportunities and abundant ice time, and the numbers added up to tell a story of an amazing talent and champion. Unfortunately, there are other numbers that simply do not add up to tell the true story of Aucoin.
At Norwich, he was a dominant player who led the Maroon & Gold to their first ever national title in his junior season in 2000, all the while accumulating exactly one goal per game, 116 tallies in 116 encounters. In addition, he added a helping hand in 124 tallies of his teammates.
Yet the number that the scouts focused on, Aucoin's small-by-hockey-standards 5’8” frame, led to him being overlooked and undrafted. However, throughout his career, he used being passed by to his utmost advantage by showing that heart and determination-qualities that cannot be measured but were abundantly ingrained in his hockey DNA- forced those who once overlooked him to take notice.
After bouncing around the minors in his first four campaigns as a pro, playing in four different leagues including the American Hockey League where he skated with the Lowell Lock Monsters, the Providence Bruins, and the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, the first NHL call of Aucoin's career came from Carolina Hurricanes during the 2005-2006 season. By joining the NHL ranks, Aucoin became one of the less than twenty Division III players to ever reach "the show", and joined, among others, his fellow Norwich and Hershey Bears alum, Frank Simonetti. He appeared in seven regular season outings with Canes and registered an assist in his first game against the Montreal Canadiens. Carolina captured the Stanley Cup that season with Aucoin along for the playoff ride, and although he did not appear in any playoff games or have his name inscribed on the hardware, he was presented a Stanley Cup ring.
Right around that time, with the word growing around hockey circles of Aucoin's exploits, something else started to grow and grow and grow, and it wasn't his collection of championship rings which would also continue to grow a few years later. It was his hockey stick, which by the latter stages of his career was a sight that could elicit a chuckle when viewed in proportion to his frame.
"When I became full-time in the AHL, I was having a tough time getting around defensemen, so I figured I’d try the longer stick. It helped me with my reach, and when I went wide on the defenseman, it would help me get around their long reach. So I started extending my stick in the summertime and it slowly kind of got longer and longer, and it got to the point where it couldn’t get any longer, or shorter, because if it got shorter, I wouldn’t be able to play (effectively). It worked out for me, as it made me like 6’2” instead of 5’8”. The only drawback that I really had playing with the long stick was that I didn’t have a very good one-timer, because by the stick being so long I didn’t have any torque.” Aucoin, who netted in excess of twenty goals six times in his career, chuckled and then continued, "But I was ok with that, because I didn’t shoot much, as you know.”
The Washington Capitals came calling for Aucoin's services in the summer of 2008, and after failing to make the Caps opening night roster and being assigned to Hershey, he made an immediate impact on their fortunes by netting the club’s first goal of the season less than two minutes into his debut and bookended the Bears’ capturing of the Calder Cup by sealing the championship with an empty net goal in their Cup clinching game.
Aucoin spent four years in the Capitals' organization and appeared in their colors in at least one contest in each campaign, including the 2011-2012. He actually made the club out of training camp, but was soon sent back to Hershey. However, his fine work in Hershey, 70 points in only 43 games, was too much for the Caps to ignore, and they eventually recalled him. He suited up for the Caps beginning with their first game in February, and never returned to Hershey because the Caps thought he was valuable enough to them to keep him on their roster the rest of the season. The brass in Washington wanted to avoid the risk of losing him to another club via waivers, which was a distinct possibility if they would have tried to send him down after he spent ten games on their roster.
All totaled, the craft centerman appeared in 27 games for the Caps after the recall, his longest tenure up top during his four years in the organization, and also appeared in all 14 of their post-season battles. He accomplished that despite the obvious, though happy and exciting ,distraction of his wife Maureen being in latter stages of her pregnancy, and eventually saw his son Brayden come into the world as a leap year baby on February 29, 2012.
And although he was not physically in Hershey and had a lot on his mind, not only adjusting to the NHL grind on a nightly basis as well as the obvious adjustment to Brayden, Aucoin's true character still shone through just a few days after Brayden’s birth. The boys down on the farm were about to head to Newfoundland on a road trip, one that is notoriously noted for being quite an ordeal, involving various forms of transportation and long hours of travel. However, the Bears, sans Aucoin, departed on their journey with full stomachs, because Aucoin had a catered lunch sent to his Hershey teammates in Central Pennsylvania before the club departed.
One name that became synonymous with Aucoin's during their two seasons with the Bears was Alexandre Giroux, his linemate. The dynamic duo terrorized the AHL with their scoring exploits, and while their physical makeup couldn't be more different, with the 6’3” 200-pound Giroux, that’s seven inches taller and 30 pounds heavier than Aucoin, their numbers together in their two seasons together in Chocolatetown couldn't be much closer.
Aucoin's point totals in those seasons totaled 202 compared to Giroux's 200, Aucoin appeared in 138 outings with Bears compared to Giroux's 142, and they both saw twenty-one games of action with the Capitals. They also each took turns in leading the loop in scoring and winning the league MVP, in addition to appearing in both all-star games. So with that amount of success attained, it would safe to surmise that these two scoring machines had a history of playing together before meeting in Hershey.
"Going into my first season playing with Alex, we had never really played against each other and didn’t know each other, but I knew what type of player he was, and I thought we’d have good chemistry. I knew he could score from any part of the ice, and he was probably the best player I ever played with as far as knowing how to get open,” said Aucoin. "Every shot he took seemed like it went in. Alex didn’t have the hardest shot, but he always had an accurate shot, and he always got it off even in tight areas. That type of chemistry you don’t always find with linemates, and we were lucky enough to play together for two years, and we actually played another year together in Europe, are we’re still good friends and talk all of the time."
Giroux, when questioned in 2011 about the duos amazing run in Hershey, paused for a while and then finally found the words to explain the formula for their amazing chemistry.
"I don't really know, but it all started from that first game together. We just gelled from the start,” said Giroux, who along with Aucoin and their other linemate, Graham Mink, combined for 13 points in that game. "Keith's a very smart player and he finds guys when they get open, and that made it easy for me because all I had to do was find that open spot, and he would surely get the puck to me. It seemed every game we played together, he'd put the puck on my stick for at least a shot or two when I had a pretty easy shot to score. So, I could have a bad night and still have a goal at the end of the game."
Also, you can't forget Graham Mink and Andrew Gordon's part in our success. “They are both hard working guys who could get the puck to Keith and he would get it me and I was the finisher. It turned out to be a good system. Keith and I knew what to do, and the coaches (Bob Woods and Mark French), knew what to expect from us."
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| Potting a playoff goal against the baby Pens. Photo by JustSports Photography |
As "good" as Aucoin was in putting up stellar offensive numbers in his professional career, 1,160 points in exactly 1,160 games, it kind of boggles the mind to think of how many more points would have been added to his offensive numbers if he hadn't been "bad" enough to serve 871 minutes in the "sin bin" during his career.
"I was unable to get to Division One coming out of high school; I kind of developed a chip on my shoulder and decided to prove people wrong. So, I always played with an edge. Then when I got to the minors in my first couple of years, I wanted to make a name for myself. I wanted to somehow stick out and for people to know that I could not only score, but play on the edge. Though I never really bothered with it too much, the physical side of hockey was never something I shied away from. I was undrafted, and I wanted to prove wrong the scouts and coaches who never gave me a chance growing up, that’s what it all stemmed from,” Aucoin said, before sheepishly adding, “I’m sure there’s a lot of 10’s (misconducts) in there from yelling at the referees; I had a few too many of them."
The Toronto Maple Leafs were the next team to ink Aucoin after the Caps passed on him, but his time in T.O. was spent entirely with their AHL affiliate, the Marlies, where he posted better than a point per game numbers (10g, 27a, in 34 games), before being claimed on waivers by the New York Islanders in mid-season. Aucoin spent the rest of the season with the Islanders, and potted six goals, including his first at the Leafs' expense. He also appeared in all six of their post-season showdowns, but once again history repeated itself, and the Isles opted not to re-sign him, despite their showing enough confidence in him to have him in their lineup on a regular basis.
"I thought that was probably going to be the year (that proved he could be an NHL regular)," said Aucoin. "Going into that free agency period, I thought I was going to sign with a team, and I’d be up there for a (whole) season, as I thought I proved that. I played mostly on the third line with the Islanders that year, and I was good at my job, doing what we were supposed to do as a line. I figured that type of role was a spot that I could fill and going into that summer, I thought I could sign in the NHL that next year and for the next couple of years, that’s what I was hoping for. It was very disappointing, as that was the year that I was looking forward to the most just being up there (for a whole season), battling for a spot. It was frustrating, and that’s why after the following year, (and only the two meaningless regular season final games with the St. Louis Blues) I went to Europe. I was done with all the crap."
Taking the trip across the pond meant obviously meant a drastic change of scenery and culture. In addition to those changes, he was entrusted to still be the catalyst for his club’s offense and also had the added responsibility of being the team captain of his Munich, Germany club in his last two seasons in the DEL. He shouldered the added load and responded to the challenge like the true champ he proved to be throughout his career, and led his club to the league title both seasons.
Being a five-time champion, answering the question of which one was the most special would seem to be a tough one, and it was for Aucoin when asked, but he eventually divulged it was the first one, the one that essentially said "stick it" to all his critics.
"It’s hard to pick out one, but the first Calder Cup was pretty big for me. I had been in the AHL for so long, and that was the trophy that I wanted. That team we had that year, we were such a close bunch. It was just a group of guys who to this day are still close. You talk to anybody on that team and they’ll say that. That’s the one that really stands out for me because of the closeness of that team. You could tell by the way we played that year, how much fun we had as a team. To get that off my shoulders was huge, but to win back-to-back was pretty sweet, as well."
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| Another foe conquered. Photo by JustSportsPhotography |
With the last chapter having been written in his brilliant career, the final reviews are in. The Keith Aucoin story: He was short in stature and long on talent, spoke softly with a distinctive New England accent, played with a big stick and succeeded at every level, and is a true success story, no matter how you size it up.
