Shaun Van Allen puts some Ravens through their paces at a recent practice.
After a National Hockey League career that spanned 11 seasons for five different teams, Shaun Van Allen is heading back to school, but not as a student. This time, he’s back as a teacher.
The former Ottawa Senators centre was hired as an assistant coach for the Carleton Ravens men’s hockey team this season. So far, he’s helped the team to a respectable 9-3-2 record, good for second place in the league’s east division nearly two months into the season.
Unlike the players he now coaches, though, Van Allen never went to university. He was instead off to play junior hockey and eventually start a playing career that would see him amass 269 points in the NHL.
However, his success as a hockey player isn’t stopping him from making his players see the value in their education.
“If it hadn’t have worked out . . . I don’t know if I would have had a back-up plan,” says Van Allen, 43. “I was truly blessed that I got to play as long as I did but that’s what you kind of want to get across is that it’s always nice to have a back-up plan.”
Playing hockey meant he didn’t have enough time to finish his high school degree when he was growing up in Saskatchewan. He would later complete it by correspondence.
Van Allen took over as the assistant coach of the team this fall after the previous head coach, Fred Parker, was unable to agree to a new contract with the university administration. The new head coach, Marty Johnston, asked him to help out this past summer after playing with him at a few charity hockey tournaments.
Johnston says having a former NHL player on the coaching staff helps with all aspects of the game. In particular, it’s benefited player recruitment and making in-game adjustments when the other team forces them to do so.
“He obviously can bring a lot of insight into the game having played at such a high level for such a long period of time,” he says. “So it was an easy choice.”
Coaching has been a goal for Van Allen ever since he was a professional player. When he was out on the penalty kill, he says he would analyze what the other team was doing and try to counter it.
Bringing a defensive forward’s professional experience to the university team has been a major part of the Ravens success this season, says team captain Brad Good. He says having a former NHL player help with the more detail-oriented aspects of the game, such as the penalty kill, can sometimes mean the difference between winning and losing.
While the players are learning from the past experiences of their assistant coach, the university students are also helping the retired NHLer feel young again. After practice two weeks ago, he emerged from the team’s dressing room to blaring rock music, wearing an Under Armour t-shirt and sports shorts with no socks.
“You feel young being around those guys because they’ve got a lot of enthusiasm and they have different problems than a married guy with three kids.”