Keefe's Captivating Climb Continues

By: John Sparenberg
jsheynow@gmail.com

In a sense, the Toronto Marlies' recent overtime win over the Hershey Bears in Chocolatetown was a perfect summation of their head coach Sheldon Keefe's career in hockey.

The game started out with Keefe's club dominating the game and taking the lead, much like he did in the early stages of his playing career in junior hockey, beginning with the Toronto St. Michael's Majors in the OHL.

Then, midway through the game, relying on pure talent and determination, much like Keefe did through the rest of his junior career after he departed from Toronto, the Marlies took a commanding lead and success seemed assured as they settled in and seemingly turned on the cruise control.

But later, turbulence struck out nowhere, and before Keefe and company knew what had happened, the Marlies found them back on the tarmac having relinquished their once comfortable cushion, only to get their feet back under them after pausing to regroup, and then outworking the Bears and soaring to an eventual victory.

Coming back to Hershey as the opposition, something he has done five times as a head coach with the Marlies, stirs up some bitter sweet memories for Keefe of his days in the colors of the Chocolate and White.

"Not making the playoffs made it a tough season in that sense, in a place like Hershey and it’s storied history of success, it stung. I remember the Philadelphia Phantoms being a thorn in our side, even up until the last game of the season (which ended with the Bears, needing a victory to gain a playoff berth, put the puck into their own empty net with an errant pass on an overtime power play opportunity). That was a tough way to end it, but I have nothing but positive and great memories of my time here. I was treated very well by Doug Yingst and the whole Hershey Bears’ organization. My time here with the fans and playing in this building was exceptional,” said Keefe, who etched his place in Giant Center history by being the first Bear to tally a hat trick at the venue. "I only got to spend that one season here unfortunately, but that’s all I needed to be able to know that this is a gem of a league and it was a privilege to play here. I was fortunate to play here and have those memories."

Despite tying his professional career high by lighting the lamp sixteen times with the Bears, Keefe's Tampa Lightning tenure, which started with him being selected as their 1st pick and the 47th overall pick in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft and consisted of 125 Tampa tilts and 129 games with their various minor league affiliates including Hershey, came to end following his only season in Hershey.

"After I left Hershey, the next year was the lockout year, and that off-season, I signed with the Phoenix Coyotes. During that lockout I tore up my knee- I blew out my ACL. So I missed virtually that entire season (he played only four games for the Coyotes' AHL affiliate), and then rehabbed through that and came back the next year in the Coyotes’ training camp. The knee didn’t quite feel the way that I hoped that it would, and it didn’t respond the way that I expected it to. It didn’t feel great throughout that camp."

Keefe continued, "I then took some time to reflect and figure out what I wanted to do next and let my knee settle in. Over that time, I began coaching and helping out a junior “A” team that I owned in Pembroke, Ontario. I got a little bit of an itch to coach there and did that for the remainder of that season. I continued to let my knee settle down and continued to work at it, but over that time, I just decided that I was really enjoying the coaching thing and decided to jump full-on into that."

Keefe's coaching career which has included multiple league championships with Pembroke, three post-season appearances in his two-plus seasons guiding the OHL's Saulte Ste. Marie Greyhounds, and three post-season berths leading the Leafs' top prospects in T.O., including the capturing of the Calder Cup last spring, can aptly be described in one word: success. As Todd Crocker, the voice of the Marlies and someone who has seen virtually every game that Keefe has coached and probably knows him better than anyone in the organization, with the exception of the Leafs' top brass, sums up what is the trademark of a Keefe coached team, also in one word.

"Prepared. That's what I've noticed more than anything else from his time here, from that first season when he had a tremendous hockey club,” said Crocker of the 2015-16 team that led the AHL with 54 wins but was beaten by the Bears in the post-season.

"I think a lot of people, when they see a talented hockey club, say that anybody could coach that team, but I think those types of teams are harder to coach. I think it’s been proven time and again that when you have good talented players, it can be a challenge making sure that they do all the things that make them turn out to be superstars. The William Nylanders the Kasperi Kapenens guys like that that went up. Zach Hyman, Connor Brown, they all went up to the Leafs, that’s when you prove yourself as a coach. Even with the record he had coming out of junior- it’s amazing."

Crocker, who earlier the season also "went up", calling his first NHL games for the Leafs, before eventually returning to the Marlies continued, "When he sat down and prepared his teams for those first games, I don’t think they had seen anything like it. It’s the level of attention to detail that he has and the commitment to the system that is employed throughout the Maple Leafs organization. I think that continues to be everything about the success that he has. Even when the lineup is then or maybe not as talented as it had been in the past, he still finds a way, and the reason he does is because he can take a team that is not the most highly talented team, and with good preparedness, they end up winning hockey games."

In the hockey mad town of Toronto where the players are under constant, intense scrutiny from a very knowledgeable fan base, various media members, in addition to social media, does Keefe, entrusted to tend the farm and nurture the Leafs' top prospects feel he is under the same blaring spotlight?

"Certainly not,” he chuckled. “We’re very fortunate to be in a world class city like Toronto, an NHL city and such a hockey hotbed, and to have all the resources of the Maple Leafs at our disposal. But we get to do our own thing and be under the radar a little bit and work with the players and develop the next wave of Maple Leafs. In terms of the pressure, we don’t actually don’t feel any of that. It’s a pleasure to coach this team and be a part of this organization. And to do it in the same city is extra special."

But enough about Keefe and his accomplishments. I wanted to get a deeper view of what he is like removed from the arena lights from someone other than himself, and fortunately, Crocker, with his unique vantage point, does exactly what he so artfully does game in and game out with his broadcasting- painting a picture that brings everything into perfect focus.

"First of all, he’s a lot of hockey, and I think you pretty much say that about most coaches. But he is really focused and dialed in and always thinking about his hockey team. When he gets away from that and is just the guy that he is, he is one of those who I would say is ‘undercover in the room.’ He likes a good joke and he likes kidding around with people."

Crocker continued his insight, "He’s also got an inquisitive nature about him. He’s always interested in things that are going on outside of hockey, because he doesn’t often get to spend time thinking about things outside of the game. He's generally curious and an investigative guy, so if he hears an idea, he’s thinking to himself, how does that make you better, what can you do to be better? I think in the beginning, he is a tough guy to get to know, but once you know him and enter into a circle with him where you are all working in the same direction, he’s the type of guy that there is no chance he abandons you."

For the present, Keefe is still property of the parent Toronto Maple Leafs and he and his mighty band of Marlies are about to defend their crown as the Calder Cup Playoffs get underway shortly. As for the future, unfortunately for Marlies fans, it's a certainty his time in the AHL is quickly coming to a close as he is front and center on the radar of future NHL coaches. When that day comes and he "abandons" the AHL for his first shot on top as a bench boss, his hockey career will have come full circle. From the Bolts, to the Bears, to the Big Show!