February 24, 2025 • 21 mins
On this episode of "The LANDscape," host Tony Brown is joined by Cleveland Monsters Head Coach Trent Vogelhuber. The two talk through Vogelhuber's career and his journey to being the Monsters head coach.
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Welcome everyone to the latest episode of the Landscape. It's
presented by Hospitality Staffing Solutions. I'm the voice of the
Cleveland Monsters, Tony Brown of the American Hockey League, and
we're happy to be joined today by the Monsters head
coach in his third season behind the bench for Cleveland.
It's Ohio's own Trent Vogel Hubert. Trent, thanks for taking
some time.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well appreciate it, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Well, let's start right there with the state of Ohio.
You know, it's rare for players in this industry to
play in one place for a good chunk of their career.
But you've gone beyond your playing career. You get to
now coach in your home state. And you were born
right here in the Cleveland area.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Right I was, Yeah, born here, lived in Hudson until
I was six, and then moved over to Columbus. But
crazy how it's worked out, just through youth hockey college,
you know, playing pro and then coaching, being in all
four corners of the state, and obviously families from here.
Wife's from here, so we love it. And it's you know,
(01:11):
a little bit of a coincidence how it's worked out
that way, but we couldn't be more thankful.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, it really is unique. I mean, let's go a
little deeper on that. You know, born Northeast Ohio, grew
up Central Ohio, but you were drafted by the Blue
Jackets in Columbus right when they were hosting the draft.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Must have been kind of a crazy moment.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, it was, oh seven, got a long time ago. Now,
Columbus hosted the draft, and you know, I was coming
off my third ACL surgery at that point, so battled
a lot of injuries early on in my career, and
I'd kind of gotten wiped off of the central scouting boards,
which is the kind of predictions for the draft picks,
just with the injury injury history there. So I was,
(01:52):
you know, I was a little pessimistic about my draft
chances and Columbus had the last pick in the draft
two hundred and eleven. Mister irrelevant. They do not give
you a car when you were drafted last in the
NHL draft, unfortunately, but they picked me up. And yeah,
first player from Central Ohio drafted in the National Hockey
(02:12):
League happened to be by the local team, the Blue Jackets.
While the draft was in Columbus, so a really special
moment there and just yeah, I was thankful to have
been picked by the team that I've been rooting for
there for the previous ten or so years.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, and you know, since then, Central Ohio has produced
a whole bunch of players that have gone on to
play in the National Hockey League, And you know, what
does it mean to you to be a part of
that group that really took hockey to a new level
in this state from where it was maybe when you
were growing up.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, it's a point of pride for me. I mean,
Cleveland's got a much richer hockey history, and I'm it's
where I learned to skate and play originally. And then
having grown up in Columbus were we were taking pretty
bad beatings there in youth hockey by the teams in
Cleveland and Pittsburgh in Detroit, and then I was on
the first Junior Blue Jackets Triple eighty team and we
(03:02):
were able to gain some pretty good ground there in
the couple of years I was there. And just to
see the quality of players and quantity that have gone
to d one college, gotten drafted and they were playing
in the National Hockey League from Columbus specifically has been
pretty special and it's a point of pride for me
to be, you know, the first one drafted from that group,
(03:23):
the first one to go to D one college, and
I still have a lot of close relationships with those
guys that are still playing today.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Well, let's go.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Back to your college years at University of Miami, Ohio there,
you know, still in the great buckety State.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
But what did that time mean to you?
Speaker 1 (03:37):
It obviously puts you on a path for your career here,
but what makes that program so special to you?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah? It was? It was.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
We had some real good years four years there, NCAA
tournament all four frozen four twice national championship, once lost
in overtime there so, and our teams were incredible. We
had a ton of guys go pro guys for my
team that are still playing in the National Hockey League
and just taught me how to be a winner and
(04:07):
how invested you have to be in your teammates to
have success. Some of those guys are still my best
friends in the world. And you know, four of the
best years of my life for sure at Miami down
there and ultimately helped me to get to where I
am today. Obviously the playing career, but the tools that
I still use today and as.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Far as coaching, and you're actually coaching today with the
guy that you played for back then at Miami.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, again goes back to relationships. He's the guy that
recruited me Chris Berger on and brought me into Miami.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
He was the main reason.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Why, and coached me for two years before he left
to take a head coaching job there at Bowling Green
and we've stayed in touch. Then It's just I think
that's an important lesson. He was a coach, you know,
probably around forty years old at the time, and I
was a nineteen year old kid, twenty year old kid
coming in and we you know, built a relation ship
(05:00):
that lasted the next fifteen years. And when he was
available this summer and we had a coaching position, it
was the first name that popped in my mind, just
because I know how good he is at building relationships
with players and how important that is for team success
but also for individual player success. And it helped me
a ton, and so I was happy to get him
(05:21):
on board. But pretty funny how it goes full circle.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Would we return on the landscape presented by hospitality staffing solutions.
We talked to Trent about that magical twenty sixteen Calder
Cup championship.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Run and what it meant to him.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
You know, you talked about learning how to be a
winner in those college years. Well, you were here for
the winning a season the Husters have ever had twenty
fifteen sixteen. Before we get into the Calder Cup run, though,
I'm wondering what it was like to be playing in
the Blue Jackets organization, you know, before the affiliation change
there you were in Springfield and then you get word
that you guys are coming to Cleveland for the twenty
fifteen sixteen year. What was that transition like and how
(05:59):
excited were you to know you're coming back home?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
It was incredible. I remember our coach at the time,
Jared Bednar. It was our last weekend of the year
there in Springfield and I'd been there for a couple
of years already, and he announced to the team before
our final two regular season games at the next year
we were moving to Cleveland, and the reaction was like,
all twenty three of us got called up just because,
(06:24):
you know, no disrespect to Springfield, but Cleveland's a major
League city, and it's a different animal. And the lifestyle
that we were able to live, you know, compared to
what we were doing in a small town like that,
just seemed like we'd all gotten called up.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
We're living in a.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Downtown city and the fan base is exponentially bigger. And
obviously the building we get to play in his night
and day compared to what we were playing in and
out there, and the cities he traveled to, even our
Major League cities a lot in this division and conference,
So that was incredible, and I think that's a huge
part of what gave us success the next year. We
were all so excited to be here in Cleveland. And
(07:02):
you know, a lot of times at the end of
the year in the American League, players are excited to
go home. You want to win, but players are excited
to go home. It's long, and but you know, here
we didn't want to leave because we were having so
much fun in Cleveland. And obviously our team was good
and we loved each other, but we we wanted to
stay in Cleveland because we had such a good time
(07:22):
here and our situation was so good and the fans
are so great. So I think that was a contributing
factor to us having the success we did in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Let's talk about sort of that season and the run
up to the championship, because you know, as I think
back to that year, you guys were not dominating the
division throughout the regular season. This sort of picked up
towards the end of the regular season and you just
built momentum. But what are your memories of the way
that you know you slowly built your way all the
way to a championship contending team.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yeah, a lot of my memories are from the final
two or three months. But when you do think back
and kind of dive a little deeper, there was a
lot of growth and a lot lot of hardships that
you go through, and we weren't we weren't. I think
we finished third in the division that year, And I
think it just goes to show you the most important
(08:10):
thing that you now as a coach, that I keep
my focus on is the big picture and growing throughout
the year. And yes, you want to win every night,
and you know you have some tough stretches that can
be frustrating, but the ultimate goal is getting these guys
as individuals to play their best hockey. At the most
important time of the year and continuing to teach and
(08:32):
harp on the details that will give you success in April,
May and June. And I think that's what we did
that year. The final month of the regular season and
then the two months of the playoffs, we were close
to unbeatable, like and we just got got in our
groove and built. But the previous five or six months
got us there, and it wasn't always pretty. But it's
(08:54):
something now that i'm coaching that I think about a lot,
and when you go through tough stretches is just continue
you into bill to try to get our team to
feel the best about themselves, playing the best and ingrain
those habits so that they're there when it really matters,
and that's in the spring and summer.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Now, I want to ask you about two individuals from
that team. Specifically, you were a member of the leadership group.
They're wearing an A, But the guy who wore the
C for you is now a head coach in the
American League two, and that's Ryan Craig. He was a
guy that had a huge influence on everybody. What was
his influence on you playing with him in Springfield? First,
and then here in Cleveland on the way to it title.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I was massive and I talk about learning how to
win in college, and I think there was a different
level of that by being around Craigor, who'd been a
pro for a long time when I got to play
with him in my four years with him, including Springfield
and Cleveland, taught me so much. He just the ultimate
lead by example and bringing people together, and he was
(09:52):
a bridge to the coaching staff. He really was. He
was kind of a fourth member of their staff. Also,
he wore so many hats for trus and made sure
everybody was you know, all the players were on board,
and so good at having those individual conversations and recognizing
when somebody maybe was down and bringing them back in.
(10:13):
And when you have a leader like that, no disrespect
to the coaches we had, which are outstanding, but it
makes their jobs so so much easier. He was the
ultimate captain that as far as people that I've been around,
taught me how to be a leader. And still a
close friend of mine today and it's no surprise that
(10:34):
he's had the success he has. He won a Stanley
Cup already as an assistant coach and now a head coach,
in the American League as well.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, that character certainly, you know, left a huge stamp
on everybody around him. And then you mentioned him earlier,
but let's talk about Jared Bednar, a guy who also
has gone on to great things in the NHL as
a head coach with Colorado, including lifting a Stanley Cup there.
But the way that he sort of got that group
locked in and the way that you said he took
a team that scuffled at times in the regulars season
and help them build their way to a championship. From
(11:02):
a coaching perspective, what did you take from working with
Jared Bedner?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah, kind of what I mentioned already. Just continuous teaching,
the continuous teaching throughout the year, never getting too high
too low as far as where your team's at, and
we just got better and better. And you know, I
think it was He's He's obviously a smart hockey man
as far as ex As and O's go. But I
loved What I loved about Betsy is that, you know,
(11:28):
the relationship he had with you, as when he was
coaching you had zero impact on what he felt about
you as a person. And I think that's important and
something I've carried with me is it's never personal, and
we can coach can be hard on a player and
have those honest conversations, but it doesn't mean he doesn't
like you.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
He doesn't.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
He's not going to look down on the floor when
you cross each other in the hallway because he's you know,
you didn't play, or you didn't play as much that game,
or you've had a hard conversation. It's all part of it,
and it has zero impact on how he feels about
you as a person. Still cares about you as a
person first, and I think that goes such a long
way with players when they know that you do care
about them and you have their best interests at heart,
(12:11):
and ultimately, I think that makes them more receptive when
you do have those hard conversations as a coach. And
that was something, you know, one of the main things
I took from him, and again no secret to as
to why he's having the success that he is.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Coming up, we talked to Trent about the transition from
playing to coaching and leading a young team to success,
this and more when the landscape presented by Hospitality Staffing
Solutions returns Now, let's talk about you transitioning from your
player career to your coaching career, and it kind of
(12:44):
happened pretty quickly, right. Take us back to twenty eighteen nineteen.
You had been gone from the organization for a bit,
you came back, you were in training camp, and then
what happened.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah, in training camp and at that point coming off
my fourth ACL surgery, so was trying to to get
back up to speed and you know, fight for a
roster spot here towards the end of my career as
a thirty year old, which you know is difficult to do.
And you know, we had a big group of veterans
(13:13):
I think eight and in this league you can only
dress five, so they were you know, early in the season,
myself as well as some others were sitting out and
we were kind of rotating through the lineup. And our
general manager at the time, Bill's Youedo, along with Chris Clark,
who's now our general manager but was in our development
staff at the time, came to me and said, look,
(13:35):
you can stay here as a player. We want to
have you in our group, but playing time might be
hard to come by just with you know, managing the
veteran group we had as well as a lot of
the young prospects that are there, which I understood, but
he did say that they were the shortest staff member
and he thought I'd be a great coach, and asked
was gauging my interest, And my first reaction was, hell, no,
(13:57):
I wanted nothing to do with coaching. I never thought
about it before. You know, it's it's a hard thing
to think about the next chapter when you're so focused
on the day to day and trying to be better
and and for me coming back from that injury, that
was my one hundred percent of my focus. But I
took a couple of weeks and I just got married
and had a you know, a month month old child,
(14:18):
little boy at the time, so started thinking about, you know,
the future at that point, and and it's it's a
very difficult thing to get back into hockey or to
get back into sports when you leave. So I thought,
after talking about it with my wife, that it was
a good opportunity to just try it, try it for
a couple of years. We're in Cleveland again, a city
(14:39):
that we love and as close to all our family
in Columbus, so it wasn't like we had to move
across the country. Got to stay close to home and
became an assistant coach. I was in an equipment in
practice one day and in a tracksuit the next, right
around Halloween. So kind of funny how that worked out.
And but I'm again, I'm so grateful that I did,
and that Bill Zido saw something me that maybe I
(15:00):
didn't see in myself, and I fell in love with
it pretty quickly after that.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
It's amazing how many different types of stories there are
of guys that get into coaching at the end of
their playing career. Happens a lot of different ways, and
that certainly is a unique way to become a coach. Now,
let's talk about your little taste of being a head
coach a little earlier than maybe you anticipated, because of course,
during the COVID season and then Mike Eves, the current
head coach of the Monsters at the time, had some
(15:26):
health issues, and all of a sudden, you were not
just on the staff but the interim head coach of
this team at the time. What did you think about
that opportunity And now looking back, how much did that
help you hit the ground running once you really got
the title.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, it was a whirlwind. I think some healthings popped
up with him just two days before we went to
our prospects tournament in Traverse City, and so all of
a sudden, I got the call from Rick Nash that
I was going to be running that team. And so
you don't have time to really prepare or think about it.
You just dive in, and I think it's trial by fire,
(16:00):
and in some ways that's good. You may never feel
that you're ready and you just go and I think
a learning year for sure, really difficult to managing. I
think personalities and relationships. As an assistant coach, you're a
little bit of a bridge between the players and the
head coach as well. You can get a little bit
(16:22):
I don't want to say closer, but the way that
the discussions you have and the way that you talk
to players can be a little bit different. You can
be a little bit of the good cops. So that
year was really difficult kind of managing and finding my
groove as far as that goes. There were players on
the team that I'm sitting out that I was close
with and played with, and that was I lost a
(16:44):
lot of sleep that year just thinking about the difficult
conversations that I was going to have to have because
I hadn't had many of that nature to that point yet.
And so it again difficult, but so much learning. And
I'm really great full for the way that that ended
up working out and the lessons that I've learned that
(17:05):
made me, you know, made me better the next three years.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Yeah, I'm sure it was super formative.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
That you're just figuring it out on the fly and
then you apply all those lessons the next season. Let's
talk about coaching in the American Hockey League though, because
it is highly unique, isn't it. You still have the
same pressures of winning that you do at higher levels
or at different levels, even down in college. But you're
developing guys and that's got to be a prime focus
of what you do every day. So dealing with individuals,
(17:30):
managing a team, there's a lot of plates to keep spending.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Well big time, and it's I think that's the most
difficult thing is that nobody, nobody grows up dreaming of
playing in the American Hockey League. All our players, including myself,
grow up wanting to be in the National Hockey League,
and and so you're you're balancing that personal goals ultimately
(17:54):
with what what gets the majority of our players to
that level and develops them the most is being part
of a winning environment and winning games and winning trophies.
And so we're trying to help them to understand that
they're not getting paid just for points and they're not
getting paid just for offense. What NHL teams are paying
(18:18):
players for is to help them win ultimately, end of
story period. And whether you're a goal scorer or a
penalty killer, or a shot blocker, or you're providing energy,
they're all of equal value. But players coming in don't
see it that way. They see points and they want
to be a NHL point guy and an All Star.
And the amount of players from the American Hockey League
(18:39):
that end up being filling those roles is a small number. Now,
there's a huge number of players that go from the
American Hockey League to the NHL, but the amount that
fill that role is very small. So you have to
get players to buy into their role, which is always
different than the role that they played coming in everybody
was the best player. And getting them to understand really
(19:00):
invest in each other in team success when their number
one goal is getting you know, moving on individually extremely difficult.
A lot of balls in the air constantly, roster is
always fluid, lineup's always changing, so you've got to stay
on your toes. But it's a great challenge and again
I've learned a ton from it.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
When we come back, we talked to Trent about the
most important part of his journey through hockey and his life.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Its family.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
The landscape Prisentic by Hospitality Staffing Solutions returns right after this.
All right, Trent, last one, Let's bring it back to
the most important thing for anybody in this business, anybody
in sports, and that's the support of your family from
when you were a kid growing up trying to make
it in this business to your wife and kids today
(19:48):
and the sacrifices they go through throughout a very busy season.
What is your family meant to your success personally?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, no, everything my parents have, you know, growing up
for hockey's not a cheap sport and you're not just
playing for your local high school. You're playing for a
travel team and you're going all over the country. And uh,
the sacrifices that they made with my sisters as well,
just following me around so I could get to where
I wanted to go. You're you're you're not here without them, right,
(20:16):
And so that was the first part, and then now
raising my own family, it's kind of more the same.
It's a unique job and a lot of hours during
the season, and my wife's a single mom for for
the majority of the season with two little boys at home,
and she does it all by herself. I'm home from
dinner time until bedtime on some nights, and and a
lot of times were gone, whether that's home games or
(20:38):
or travel. So to get her on board, and and
she's one hundred percent supportive. You can't coach, uh, you
can't coach without you know, having your spouse on board
like that, and so so thankful to her, uh to
to take everything on so I can do what I
love to do, uh and support our family. And and
(21:00):
you know, I'm not around during the winter months as
much as I'd like, but they all understand what I'm
doing and they're happy for me, and they're all on board,
which just makes it so much easier and and they're
a part of it as well. So it's been it's
been a great you know, my oldest son is six now.
It's been a great six years. And we got a
younger one who's two, So it's just the beginning as
far as that goes, I hope. But again, without them,
(21:24):
you know, I'm not here.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Trent.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Thank you so much, great conversation and that'll do it
for our chat today.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Thank you, oh, thank you so much for having me
go Monsters.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
That'll do it for this episode of the Landscape. Make
sure to tune back into future episodes as we bring
you guests from across the land. You can find us
on Rock Entertainment, Sports Network, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Until next time, I'm the voice of the Monsters, Tony Brown.
Welcome everyone to the latest episode of the Landscape. It's
presented by Hospitality Staffing Solutions. I'm the voice of the
Cleveland Monsters, Tony Brown of the American Hockey League, and
we're happy to be joined today by the Monsters head
coach in his third season behind the bench for Cleveland.
It's Ohio's own Trent Vogel Hubert. Trent, thanks for taking
some time.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Well appreciate it, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Well, let's start right there with the state of Ohio.
You know, it's rare for players in this industry to
play in one place for a good chunk of their career.
But you've gone beyond your playing career. You get to
now coach in your home state. And you were born
right here in the Cleveland area.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Right I was, Yeah, born here, lived in Hudson until
I was six, and then moved over to Columbus. But
crazy how it's worked out, just through youth hockey college,
you know, playing pro and then coaching, being in all
four corners of the state, and obviously families from here.
Wife's from here, so we love it. And it's you know,
(01:11):
a little bit of a coincidence how it's worked out
that way, but we couldn't be more thankful.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, it really is unique. I mean, let's go a
little deeper on that. You know, born Northeast Ohio, grew
up Central Ohio, but you were drafted by the Blue
Jackets in Columbus right when they were hosting the draft.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Must have been kind of a crazy moment.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, it was, oh seven, got a long time ago. Now,
Columbus hosted the draft, and you know, I was coming
off my third ACL surgery at that point, so battled
a lot of injuries early on in my career, and
I'd kind of gotten wiped off of the central scouting boards,
which is the kind of predictions for the draft picks,
just with the injury injury history there. So I was,
(01:52):
you know, I was a little pessimistic about my draft
chances and Columbus had the last pick in the draft
two hundred and eleven. Mister irrelevant. They do not give
you a car when you were drafted last in the
NHL draft, unfortunately, but they picked me up. And yeah,
first player from Central Ohio drafted in the National Hockey
(02:12):
League happened to be by the local team, the Blue Jackets.
While the draft was in Columbus, so a really special
moment there and just yeah, I was thankful to have
been picked by the team that I've been rooting for
there for the previous ten or so years.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, and you know, since then, Central Ohio has produced
a whole bunch of players that have gone on to
play in the National Hockey League, And you know, what
does it mean to you to be a part of
that group that really took hockey to a new level
in this state from where it was maybe when you
were growing up.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, it's a point of pride for me. I mean,
Cleveland's got a much richer hockey history, and I'm it's
where I learned to skate and play originally. And then
having grown up in Columbus were we were taking pretty
bad beatings there in youth hockey by the teams in
Cleveland and Pittsburgh in Detroit, and then I was on
the first Junior Blue Jackets Triple eighty team and we
(03:02):
were able to gain some pretty good ground there in
the couple of years I was there. And just to
see the quality of players and quantity that have gone
to d one college, gotten drafted and they were playing
in the National Hockey League from Columbus specifically has been
pretty special and it's a point of pride for me
to be, you know, the first one drafted from that group,
(03:23):
the first one to go to D one college, and
I still have a lot of close relationships with those
guys that are still playing today.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Well, let's go.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Back to your college years at University of Miami, Ohio there,
you know, still in the great buckety State.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
But what did that time mean to you?
Speaker 1 (03:37):
It obviously puts you on a path for your career here,
but what makes that program so special to you?
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Yeah? It was? It was.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
We had some real good years four years there, NCAA
tournament all four frozen four twice national championship, once lost
in overtime there so, and our teams were incredible. We
had a ton of guys go pro guys for my
team that are still playing in the National Hockey League
and just taught me how to be a winner and
(04:07):
how invested you have to be in your teammates to
have success. Some of those guys are still my best
friends in the world. And you know, four of the
best years of my life for sure at Miami down
there and ultimately helped me to get to where I
am today. Obviously the playing career, but the tools that
I still use today and as.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Far as coaching, and you're actually coaching today with the
guy that you played for back then at Miami.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, again goes back to relationships. He's the guy that
recruited me Chris Berger on and brought me into Miami.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
He was the main reason.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Why, and coached me for two years before he left
to take a head coaching job there at Bowling Green
and we've stayed in touch. Then It's just I think
that's an important lesson. He was a coach, you know,
probably around forty years old at the time, and I
was a nineteen year old kid, twenty year old kid
coming in and we you know, built a relation ship
(05:00):
that lasted the next fifteen years. And when he was
available this summer and we had a coaching position, it
was the first name that popped in my mind, just
because I know how good he is at building relationships
with players and how important that is for team success
but also for individual player success. And it helped me
a ton, and so I was happy to get him
(05:21):
on board. But pretty funny how it goes full circle.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Would we return on the landscape presented by hospitality staffing solutions.
We talked to Trent about that magical twenty sixteen Calder
Cup championship.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Run and what it meant to him.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
You know, you talked about learning how to be a
winner in those college years. Well, you were here for
the winning a season the Husters have ever had twenty
fifteen sixteen. Before we get into the Calder Cup run, though,
I'm wondering what it was like to be playing in
the Blue Jackets organization, you know, before the affiliation change
there you were in Springfield and then you get word
that you guys are coming to Cleveland for the twenty
fifteen sixteen year. What was that transition like and how
(05:59):
excited were you to know you're coming back home?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
It was incredible. I remember our coach at the time,
Jared Bednar. It was our last weekend of the year
there in Springfield and I'd been there for a couple
of years already, and he announced to the team before
our final two regular season games at the next year
we were moving to Cleveland, and the reaction was like,
all twenty three of us got called up just because,
(06:24):
you know, no disrespect to Springfield, but Cleveland's a major
League city, and it's a different animal. And the lifestyle
that we were able to live, you know, compared to
what we were doing in a small town like that,
just seemed like we'd all gotten called up.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
We're living in a.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Downtown city and the fan base is exponentially bigger. And
obviously the building we get to play in his night
and day compared to what we were playing in and
out there, and the cities he traveled to, even our
Major League cities a lot in this division and conference,
So that was incredible, and I think that's a huge
part of what gave us success the next year. We
were all so excited to be here in Cleveland. And
(07:02):
you know, a lot of times at the end of
the year in the American League, players are excited to
go home. You want to win, but players are excited
to go home. It's long, and but you know, here
we didn't want to leave because we were having so
much fun in Cleveland. And obviously our team was good
and we loved each other, but we we wanted to
stay in Cleveland because we had such a good time
(07:22):
here and our situation was so good and the fans
are so great. So I think that was a contributing
factor to us having the success we did in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Let's talk about sort of that season and the run
up to the championship, because you know, as I think
back to that year, you guys were not dominating the
division throughout the regular season. This sort of picked up
towards the end of the regular season and you just
built momentum. But what are your memories of the way
that you know you slowly built your way all the
way to a championship contending team.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Yeah, a lot of my memories are from the final
two or three months. But when you do think back
and kind of dive a little deeper, there was a
lot of growth and a lot lot of hardships that
you go through, and we weren't we weren't. I think
we finished third in the division that year, And I
think it just goes to show you the most important
(08:10):
thing that you now as a coach, that I keep
my focus on is the big picture and growing throughout
the year. And yes, you want to win every night,
and you know you have some tough stretches that can
be frustrating, but the ultimate goal is getting these guys
as individuals to play their best hockey. At the most
important time of the year and continuing to teach and
(08:32):
harp on the details that will give you success in April,
May and June. And I think that's what we did
that year. The final month of the regular season and
then the two months of the playoffs, we were close
to unbeatable, like and we just got got in our
groove and built. But the previous five or six months
got us there, and it wasn't always pretty. But it's
(08:54):
something now that i'm coaching that I think about a lot,
and when you go through tough stretches is just continue
you into bill to try to get our team to
feel the best about themselves, playing the best and ingrain
those habits so that they're there when it really matters,
and that's in the spring and summer.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Now, I want to ask you about two individuals from
that team. Specifically, you were a member of the leadership group.
They're wearing an A, But the guy who wore the
C for you is now a head coach in the
American League two, and that's Ryan Craig. He was a
guy that had a huge influence on everybody. What was
his influence on you playing with him in Springfield? First,
and then here in Cleveland on the way to it title.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I was massive and I talk about learning how to
win in college, and I think there was a different
level of that by being around Craigor, who'd been a
pro for a long time when I got to play
with him in my four years with him, including Springfield
and Cleveland, taught me so much. He just the ultimate
lead by example and bringing people together, and he was
(09:52):
a bridge to the coaching staff. He really was. He
was kind of a fourth member of their staff. Also,
he wore so many hats for trus and made sure
everybody was you know, all the players were on board,
and so good at having those individual conversations and recognizing
when somebody maybe was down and bringing them back in.
(10:13):
And when you have a leader like that, no disrespect
to the coaches we had, which are outstanding, but it
makes their jobs so so much easier. He was the
ultimate captain that as far as people that I've been around,
taught me how to be a leader. And still a
close friend of mine today and it's no surprise that
(10:34):
he's had the success he has. He won a Stanley
Cup already as an assistant coach and now a head coach,
in the American League as well.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, that character certainly, you know, left a huge stamp
on everybody around him. And then you mentioned him earlier,
but let's talk about Jared Bednar, a guy who also
has gone on to great things in the NHL as
a head coach with Colorado, including lifting a Stanley Cup there.
But the way that he sort of got that group
locked in and the way that you said he took
a team that scuffled at times in the regulars season
and help them build their way to a championship. From
(11:02):
a coaching perspective, what did you take from working with
Jared Bedner?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah, kind of what I mentioned already. Just continuous teaching,
the continuous teaching throughout the year, never getting too high
too low as far as where your team's at, and
we just got better and better. And you know, I
think it was He's He's obviously a smart hockey man
as far as ex As and O's go. But I
loved What I loved about Betsy is that, you know,
(11:28):
the relationship he had with you, as when he was
coaching you had zero impact on what he felt about
you as a person. And I think that's important and
something I've carried with me is it's never personal, and
we can coach can be hard on a player and
have those honest conversations, but it doesn't mean he doesn't
like you.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
He doesn't.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
He's not going to look down on the floor when
you cross each other in the hallway because he's you know,
you didn't play, or you didn't play as much that game,
or you've had a hard conversation. It's all part of it,
and it has zero impact on how he feels about
you as a person. Still cares about you as a
person first, and I think that goes such a long
way with players when they know that you do care
about them and you have their best interests at heart,
(12:11):
and ultimately, I think that makes them more receptive when
you do have those hard conversations as a coach. And
that was something, you know, one of the main things
I took from him, and again no secret to as
to why he's having the success that he is.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Coming up, we talked to Trent about the transition from
playing to coaching and leading a young team to success,
this and more when the landscape presented by Hospitality Staffing
Solutions returns Now, let's talk about you transitioning from your
player career to your coaching career, and it kind of
(12:44):
happened pretty quickly, right. Take us back to twenty eighteen nineteen.
You had been gone from the organization for a bit,
you came back, you were in training camp, and then
what happened.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yeah, in training camp and at that point coming off
my fourth ACL surgery, so was trying to to get
back up to speed and you know, fight for a
roster spot here towards the end of my career as
a thirty year old, which you know is difficult to do.
And you know, we had a big group of veterans
(13:13):
I think eight and in this league you can only
dress five, so they were you know, early in the season,
myself as well as some others were sitting out and
we were kind of rotating through the lineup. And our
general manager at the time, Bill's Youedo, along with Chris Clark,
who's now our general manager but was in our development
staff at the time, came to me and said, look,
(13:35):
you can stay here as a player. We want to
have you in our group, but playing time might be
hard to come by just with you know, managing the
veteran group we had as well as a lot of
the young prospects that are there, which I understood, but
he did say that they were the shortest staff member
and he thought I'd be a great coach, and asked
was gauging my interest, And my first reaction was, hell, no,
(13:57):
I wanted nothing to do with coaching. I never thought
about it before. You know, it's it's a hard thing
to think about the next chapter when you're so focused
on the day to day and trying to be better
and and for me coming back from that injury, that
was my one hundred percent of my focus. But I
took a couple of weeks and I just got married
and had a you know, a month month old child,
(14:18):
little boy at the time, so started thinking about, you know,
the future at that point, and and it's it's a
very difficult thing to get back into hockey or to
get back into sports when you leave. So I thought,
after talking about it with my wife, that it was
a good opportunity to just try it, try it for
a couple of years. We're in Cleveland again, a city
(14:39):
that we love and as close to all our family
in Columbus, so it wasn't like we had to move
across the country. Got to stay close to home and
became an assistant coach. I was in an equipment in
practice one day and in a tracksuit the next, right
around Halloween. So kind of funny how that worked out.
And but I'm again, I'm so grateful that I did,
and that Bill Zido saw something me that maybe I
(15:00):
didn't see in myself, and I fell in love with
it pretty quickly after that.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
It's amazing how many different types of stories there are
of guys that get into coaching at the end of
their playing career. Happens a lot of different ways, and
that certainly is a unique way to become a coach. Now,
let's talk about your little taste of being a head
coach a little earlier than maybe you anticipated, because of course,
during the COVID season and then Mike Eves, the current
head coach of the Monsters at the time, had some
(15:26):
health issues, and all of a sudden, you were not
just on the staff but the interim head coach of
this team at the time. What did you think about
that opportunity And now looking back, how much did that
help you hit the ground running once you really got
the title.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, it was a whirlwind. I think some healthings popped
up with him just two days before we went to
our prospects tournament in Traverse City, and so all of
a sudden, I got the call from Rick Nash that
I was going to be running that team. And so
you don't have time to really prepare or think about it.
You just dive in, and I think it's trial by fire,
(16:00):
and in some ways that's good. You may never feel
that you're ready and you just go and I think
a learning year for sure, really difficult to managing. I
think personalities and relationships. As an assistant coach, you're a
little bit of a bridge between the players and the
head coach as well. You can get a little bit
(16:22):
I don't want to say closer, but the way that
the discussions you have and the way that you talk
to players can be a little bit different. You can
be a little bit of the good cops. So that
year was really difficult kind of managing and finding my
groove as far as that goes. There were players on
the team that I'm sitting out that I was close
with and played with, and that was I lost a
(16:44):
lot of sleep that year just thinking about the difficult
conversations that I was going to have to have because
I hadn't had many of that nature to that point yet.
And so it again difficult, but so much learning. And
I'm really great full for the way that that ended
up working out and the lessons that I've learned that
(17:05):
made me, you know, made me better the next three years.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Yeah, I'm sure it was super formative.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
That you're just figuring it out on the fly and
then you apply all those lessons the next season. Let's
talk about coaching in the American Hockey League though, because
it is highly unique, isn't it. You still have the
same pressures of winning that you do at higher levels
or at different levels, even down in college. But you're
developing guys and that's got to be a prime focus
of what you do every day. So dealing with individuals,
(17:30):
managing a team, there's a lot of plates to keep spending.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Well big time, and it's I think that's the most
difficult thing is that nobody, nobody grows up dreaming of
playing in the American Hockey League. All our players, including myself,
grow up wanting to be in the National Hockey League,
and and so you're you're balancing that personal goals ultimately
(17:54):
with what what gets the majority of our players to
that level and develops them the most is being part
of a winning environment and winning games and winning trophies.
And so we're trying to help them to understand that
they're not getting paid just for points and they're not
getting paid just for offense. What NHL teams are paying
(18:18):
players for is to help them win ultimately, end of
story period. And whether you're a goal scorer or a
penalty killer, or a shot blocker, or you're providing energy,
they're all of equal value. But players coming in don't
see it that way. They see points and they want
to be a NHL point guy and an All Star.
And the amount of players from the American Hockey League
(18:39):
that end up being filling those roles is a small number. Now,
there's a huge number of players that go from the
American Hockey League to the NHL, but the amount that
fill that role is very small. So you have to
get players to buy into their role, which is always
different than the role that they played coming in everybody
was the best player. And getting them to understand really
(19:00):
invest in each other in team success when their number
one goal is getting you know, moving on individually extremely difficult.
A lot of balls in the air constantly, roster is
always fluid, lineup's always changing, so you've got to stay
on your toes. But it's a great challenge and again
I've learned a ton from it.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
When we come back, we talked to Trent about the
most important part of his journey through hockey and his life.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Its family.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
The landscape Prisentic by Hospitality Staffing Solutions returns right after this.
All right, Trent, last one, Let's bring it back to
the most important thing for anybody in this business, anybody
in sports, and that's the support of your family from
when you were a kid growing up trying to make
it in this business to your wife and kids today
(19:48):
and the sacrifices they go through throughout a very busy season.
What is your family meant to your success personally?
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, no, everything my parents have, you know, growing up
for hockey's not a cheap sport and you're not just
playing for your local high school. You're playing for a
travel team and you're going all over the country. And uh,
the sacrifices that they made with my sisters as well,
just following me around so I could get to where
I wanted to go. You're you're you're not here without them, right,
(20:16):
And so that was the first part, and then now
raising my own family, it's kind of more the same.
It's a unique job and a lot of hours during
the season, and my wife's a single mom for for
the majority of the season with two little boys at home,
and she does it all by herself. I'm home from
dinner time until bedtime on some nights, and and a
lot of times were gone, whether that's home games or
(20:38):
or travel. So to get her on board, and and
she's one hundred percent supportive. You can't coach, uh, you
can't coach without you know, having your spouse on board
like that, and so so thankful to her, uh to
to take everything on so I can do what I
love to do, uh and support our family. And and
(21:00):
you know, I'm not around during the winter months as
much as I'd like, but they all understand what I'm
doing and they're happy for me, and they're all on board,
which just makes it so much easier and and they're
a part of it as well. So it's been it's
been a great you know, my oldest son is six now.
It's been a great six years. And we got a
younger one who's two, So it's just the beginning as
far as that goes, I hope. But again, without them,
(21:24):
you know, I'm not here.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Trent.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Thank you so much, great conversation and that'll do it
for our chat today.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Thank you, oh, thank you so much for having me
go Monsters.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
That'll do it for this episode of the Landscape. Make
sure to tune back into future episodes as we bring
you guests from across the land. You can find us
on Rock Entertainment, Sports Network, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Until next time, I'm the voice of the Monsters, Tony Brown.
Host
Serena Winters
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