Bell back in the Colts saddle
Sports
Posted By GENE PEREIRA, SPECIAL TO THE EXAMINER
Posted 1 month ago
Dave Bell cuts to the chase.
Dalton Prout loves that straight forward honesty and that's why the veteran defence-man believes the Barrie Colts assistant coach will one day not only be a head coach in the Ontario Hockey League, but a very good one.
"No doubt, without a question," the Colts overager said. "With all the work he put in last year -- he ran our penalty kill -- he was a big part of why we were so successful."
For now, Prout and his teammates are just happy that Bell is back in the fold after agreeing to a new, undisclosed, deal with the Colts. For his part, Bell is excited to be back with the club and part of new Colts bench boss Dale Hawerchuk's coaching staff.
"I would," Bell said without hesitation, when asked if he would like to some day be the one calling the shots behind the bench. "It's all in good time and I think working with Dale is just another opportunity for me to learn from somebody else, to pick another guy's brain that has a great hockey background.
"It's definitely not a negative, not a step backwards for me. It's an opportunity for me to come back and learn more."
Bell tells it like it is to his players. Not necessarily in a bring down the hammer way, but his message on the bench is straight to the point and clear.
Under Bell's tutelage, the Colts defence clearly benefited.
Veteran Matt Stanisz enjoyed his best season and was among the league leaders in plus/minus, while Stephen Gaskin developed into a dependable blue liner in pressure situations in his first full season.
But none benefited more from Bell's wisdom than Prout. He blossomed into one of OHL's top shutdown blue liners during last season's run to the OHL finals.
This June, he was rewarded when the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets made him their sixth-round pick.
"Coming from the pro level adds that extra experience," Prout said of Bell, who spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the American Hockey League's Springfield Falcons.
He joined the Colts last season.
"He's as knowledgeable as any coach out there. He works hard at it, too," Prout said. "He does a lot of video time and puts in the extra hours.
"He's got that right balance. It's not unreasonable of what he expects of you and, at the same time, if you give him what he asks he doesn't give you a hard time.
"It's tough for a coach to have that balance, but he has that and you really appreciate it as a player."
A modest Bell will tell you it's Prout that deserves all the credit.
"Seeing where Dalton went from the start of the year, I don't think I can take any credit for that," Bell said.
"I didn't play a shift. I didn't spend a minute in the weight room. It was all him knocking on the door, asking for extra help, extra video, extra stuff after practice.
"I was so happy to see a guy like that drafted."
Bell admits he can be a little blunt with the players, but he says the guys recognize that he's just being honest and not in a vicious or malicious way. He'll pat them on the back when they make a good play, but he also won't let them make excuses when they don't.
Bell didn't like getting yelled at on the bench as a junior player in Ottawa and in his pro hockey days, so he's well aware that's not the proper way to get the message across.
"They (players) like the honesty, where I don't think players today get it that much," the 33- year-old native of Wiarton said.
"They get a lot of pampering and sugar coating and boosting of their tires. I'm not saying I go in there and knock them down, but I'm just honest with them and try to teach them to self evaluate themselves," Bell said.
"Once a player can evaluate himself and his game shift by shift, they quickly become a better player. That's just my philosophy, to be honest with them."
Bell hasn't sat down with Hawerchuk to discuss his specific duties, but he expects them to be along the same lines as last season when he ran the defence, while former head coach Marty Williamson ran the offence.
Bell had other coaching opportunities, including following Williamson to Niagara, where the former Colts bench boss signed a five-year deal to be the general manager and head coach of the IceDogs.
"My wife and I absolutely fell in love with (Barrie)," said Bell, who was also an assistant coach with the Owen Sound Attack for three seasons from 2004 to 2007.
"We're down at the waterfront every day in the summer, every weekend. We just love how lively and active and how clean the city is," he said.
"We never returned back to Owen Sound for the summer because we've enjoyed it here so much. That was a big, big factor in returning, too."
Bell is hoping to develop the same relationship with Hawerchuk that he had with Williamson.
"Marty gave me a great opportunity here," Bell said.
"We had a great run (and) developed a great relationship. I'm looking forward to (having) the same personal relationship with Dale and also a coaching relationship with him," he said.
"Both relationships are important for a staff to be successful. You've got to be friends and you've got to have each other's back on and off the ice and I think that's what makes a successful coaching team."
With many of the veterans gone from last season, Bell knows this year's younger squad will present a different challenge, but it's one he's looking forward to.
If Prout makes the jump to the pro ranks, only Gaskin and Mitch Bennett, who played sparingly in his rookie season, will return on the blue line.
"It actually be a more rewarding season for me personally to see guys grow more than say last year when the guys did most of their growing in previous years and were kind of at the pinnacle in their OHL careers," Bell said.
