Two Expressions Told It All, One Is Lasting

Doug Ross has built a legacy worth imitating

March 12, 2007

By Dave Starman

CSTV

	DAVE STARMAN Dave is a CSTV game and studio analyst, and contributes regular insight to CSTV.com. E-mail here!

        ---   Column Archive   --- STAR TREATMENT 1/18: Irish Not Just About Football 1/11: Been There, But Not Done Yet 12/30: Tech Is Back 12/30: Michigan Is A Team Again 12/29: History Made, Revisited At Great Lakes Invitational 12/29: From Stripes To Suits 12/27: Go West Young Men 12/21: More Questions Than Answers 12/21: Forechecking Makes Things Happen 12/19: Not All Holiday Surprises Are Happy Ones 12/7: Feeling The Love 11/30: How About Next Time? 10/19: Home Sweet Home 10/10: What's The Worst That Can Happen? 9/27: A Shot In The Heart 9/25: CCHA Media Day Notebook 9/25: DelCastillo's Balancing Act 6/20: College Well Represented at NHL Draft 5/16: Morris Back in the Saddle 4/6: Numbers Game At Frozen Four 4/6: Notes On The Frozen Four 4/6: At Maine, There Is No Off-season 4/6: Behind The Scenes 4/5: Heart On Your Sleeve 4/5: Nothing New For Cavanaugh 4/5: Frozen Four Storylines 4/4: Even Keeled Whitehead Suits Maine Just Fine 4/3: Comley Calm Behind Spartans' Bench 3/24: The X-Factors: Saturday Edition 3/23: The X Factors: Friday's Semifinals 3/23: Sitting On The Panel 3/12: Two Expressions Told It All, One Is Lasting 3/7: Officiating, Conference Alignment and More 3/1: In A Fantasy World, Five Trades In College Hockey 2/7: Here They Come Again 1/31: Revamp The NCAA Tournament 1/26: No-goal Controversy Needs Another Look 12/29: Team USA Has Talent To Be Much Better 12/14: Composite or Wood? 12/6: Making Sense of the Senseless 11/24: Hensick Working On His Two-Way Play 11/7: Wisconsin is Fully Equipped 11/3: Pooley Receives Ultimate Honor 11/2: Off Wisconsin 10/6: NCAA Rules Committee Lays Down Law 6/27: NHL Entry Draft Thoughts 6/16: Collegiate Stars Making Mark In Finals 4/7: Damon and Moore: Maine Men 3/25: Women’s Frozen Four Notebook 3/23: At The Frozen Four With SLU 3/23: UW's Slusar Wins Off The Ice 3/7: Questions Asked And Answered 2/16: Pioneering Spirit 2/15: Playing Five Questions 12/20: Christmas Edition

Outside the Robert Morris locker room was Derek Schooley.  Young and enthusiastic, Schooley was fighting a losing battle to hold back tears.  He looks younger than some of his players, and if his face told it all, he took this loss as hard if not harder than they did.

Doug Ross was 100 feet the other way, around the corner in the bowels of the 95WKGGO Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.  The Michigan native who has spent more of his hockey career in Huntsville, Alabama than anywhere else had a bit of a smile.  The veteran had been in OT of CHA championship games before and lost.  The what if's were over.

Ross, who showed up in Huntsville to start up a Division III hockey program 25 years ago, had just coached his last CHA game.  He'll get two weeks to coach what presumably will be his last as his gutsy Chargers will face a national powerhouse in the opening game of the NCAA tournament.  However, no matter what happens on his last day as an NCAA Head Coach, Doug Ross will be America's coach.

Ross, who grew up playing junior hockey with Mark and Marty Howe in suburban Detroit, has been the only coach the Chargers have ever known.  He won titles at the D2 and D3 level with Huntsville, but never made it out of the CHA with an automatic bid to the elite field of 16.  The Holy Cross miracle of last spring notwithstanding, the Atlantic Hockey Conference and College Hockey America have not fared well in the tourney.  Two years ago a game Bemidji State team took the defending national champs from Denver to OT, rallying late to tie the game.  They lost but came as close as any team not from the big four to seeing a regional final.

And it was Ross' veteran laden team brought one color to Des Moines, and that was their road blue.  As the No. 5 seed out of five teams, they were not given much of a chance.  Down 3-0 to Wayne State in a play-in game, they rallied to win in OT with four unanswered goals.  Down 3-1 to offensive juggernaut Niagara, the top seed, they rallied with four goals and held on for a wild 7-5 win.  In the title game, they saw their senior goalie knocked out after four first period goals allowed, and inserted a freshman with very little experience.

That same freshman was the one who had given up three to Wayne State before being pulled.  Doing an impression of Ken Dryden, Blake MacNicol, the former Bay State Breaker, made save after save for the remainder of period one, and periods two, three, and OT.  His shutout performance, coupled with the third straight game in which Huntsville scored four consecutive goals, gave Ross perhaps his most memorable win.

"I think these kids like me, and I think they like playing for me," said Ross, who sounded somewhere between humble and truthful after Huntsville's upset of Niagara.  "They told me that they want to send me out with a CHA title, and that they want to win for me.  That's nice.  At the same time this is a resilient bunch with a lot of seniors and I'd rather win out to send them out a winner."

If most other coaches played that piece of humble jive, I'd compliment them on their team-first attitude but might not completely believe it.  Coaches have egos, but the great ones check it at the door so that their kids shine in the spotlight.  Young coaches have chips on their shoulders and something to prove.  It's only natural.  Ross has neither youth, anything to prove, or an ego.

What he has is unique.  He'll be between periods at a CHA Championship tourney and be up chatting with the pep band.  He'll be in OT against Bemidji State, like he was last season at the CHA Championship tourney in Detroit, and he'll be out near the concession stand chatting with fans. 

He trusts his assistants, especially the guy who should be the next coach there in Lance West.  Doug maps out things, Lance gets it done.  That's confidence in self, knowing that you can delegate, stand somewhat in the background and watch the team be successful.

I first met Doug in 1996.  I was coaching in the Central Hockey League, and Huntsville had a team in our league.  UAH was coming off a D-II national title, and the pro Channel Cats were defending Southern Hockey League Champs and had just moved up to the CHL.  Hunstville nicknamed itself the "Hockey Capital of the South."

Doug was running the Chargers though practice before we were scheduled to skate.  One of his best players was a really small kid who looked 13 years old.  After practice I introduced myself and asked Coach Ross who the young stud was.  He told me it was his son Jared, who could be a pretty decent player one day.

Jared went on to dominate the CHA for four years and is now in the American Hockey League.  Doug mentored him into a promising pro career.  He has done the same for countless other players in careers on and off the ice.  My first win as a full time head coach came when I was with the Memphis RiverKings in the CHL.  We beat my old team, Macon, with a rookie goalie fresh out of UAH named Steve Briere.  Two seasons before that, another former UAH goalie, Derek Puppa (you may remember his Vezina Trophy winning brother Darren from the Buffalo Sabres), put together a season for the Huntsville Channel Cats that ranks among the best in minor professional hockey history and was capped off with a league title and an MVP award.

In this game there was no underdog, only two winners.  Robert Morris and their young and talented bench boss will play again next season and learn from what had to be the most stinging defeat in their three year hockey history.  Schooley is an up and comer and he'll get past this eventually, and improve on what has been getting better every year.

Coach Ross has won his last big game at UAH.  No matter what the final score is in the regional semi-final they play in, Ross has won this season.  He took a last place team to the big dance in his swan song season for the first time.  He did it by overcoming two, three, and four goal deficits.

Root for the Chargers from Sweet Home Alabama.  In his silver season, Ross has won gold.