Confirmed with Link: Leafs Hire Steve Briere as Goaltending Coach; Ari Vuori Dir. European Scouting

[Rants Mulliniks]

Director of European Scouting. Interesting. Wonder if Bergman feels slighted.

I'll never understand why we don't give this man more picks. He has quite a track record, especially considering how late most of his picks are.

 

[Pholus]

A Finnish scout? Maybe now the Leafs will finally start drafting out of Finland!

 

[cupcrazyman]

He came into the LA Organization AFTER Aki Berg was drafted 3rd overall by the Kings.... let's just clarify that now

thanks i needed a laugh.

 

[tokyoite]

Hope Bernier teaches Reimer how to catch, how to focus, how to control rebounds, etc.....

 

[Al14]

Hope Bernier teaches Reimer how to catch, how to focus, how to control rebounds, etc.....

I seem to remember at least 2 goals allowed by Bernier that demonstrated a lack of focus.

 

[CanadasTeam]

Even moreso since Vuori now has the same title that Thommie Bergman had.

You know it's great hiring when Mirtle has no negative comment..

 

[PJJ]

A Finnish scout? Maybe now the Leafs will finally start drafting out of Finland!

Puljujarvi

 

[Mike Jones]

He was the goalie coach of the Fargo Force so why not call him Yoda?

 

[hockeywiz542]

vancouver -- steve briere knew when he was named the toronto maple leafs new goaltending coach monday that a lot of people would wonder who he was, and why incoming coach mike babcock thought he was ready to make the jump from tier-2 junior to the nhl.

The answers can't be found by looking up briere's career and noting where or how well he played during eight professional seasons as a goalie. Nor can it be found by scanning the teams briere has worked for since trading his goalie pads for a coach's whistle.

To better gauge briere's work the past eight years, you need to scan his rosters in the ncaa, united states hockey league and north american hockey league and a list of pupils that includes new edmonton oilers no. 1 cam talbot and nhl prospects like zane macintyre (boston bruins), rasmus tirronen (carolina hurricanes) and matej tomek (philadelphia flyers).

but to fully understand why briere, 38, is ready for the nhl, you need to understand his relationship with mentor and goaltending guru mitch korn.

Briere played under korn's watch while with the cincinnati cyclones, who were an echl affiliate of the nashville predators in 2001-02. He's worked closely with korn, now employed by the washington capitals, since starting his own coaching career in 2007.

"i have my level 5 certification in coaching and my master's degree in school, and spending all these years with mitch is like getting a doctorate degree in goalie coaching," briere told nhl.com. "i was coaching division i college hockey and spending days in nashville learning from mitch. So it wasn't like i just popped into the nhl the next day. He is by far the number one reason all of this has come about."

briere, who also spent time as a prospects video coordinator for the san jose sharks, used to make the 100-mile drive from huntsville to nashville to spend days shadowing korn with the predators.

"we'd spend the day," korn said over the phone from his goalie camp in cincinnati. "we taught him how we pre-scout, how we prepare for games, how we post-game, all of that."

today, korn said two weeks don't go by without talking to briere.

like korn, briere has an mba degree and has put it to work as a coach. He owns canadian professional goaltending schools, which has grown to 30 locations in north america with separate goalie and shooter schools at each one, and uses the same principles to build goalies that he did to build his business. That includes creating personality profiles for each goaltender, which he then cross-references with his own as well as the profiles of other coaches in the organization.

"part of business is hiring people and when hiring people you need to know personality to know how they fit in the organization," said briere, pointing to examples of successful roster choices based on matching the profiles of a goalie and coach. "i know the strengths and weaknesses of each goalie's personality before we start and how they will fit with my own strengths and weaknesses, and how to tailor my approach. I know what is important to each guy."

briere has already started implementing that plan with maple leafs goaltenders jonathan bernier and james reimer, aided by the fact he was born in quebec and can speak french easily with bernier, while also growing up in manitoba, just as reimer did.

"we seemed to really connect," bernier said. "steve seems to be a hard-working guy and he seems to understand my game and what i need to get better to get to the next level."

that process, like everything briere does, will be well planned.

"my plan, the same plan i give my goalies, is the same i do for my own life," briere said. "you can't teach people things that you don't have a conviction for. My dream from day one was to be an nhl goalie coach. Everything i have done was on the path to get here."

now that he's in the nhl, briere knows there will be more questions about the jump he's about to make from the ushl and nahl, but there are already lots of good answers along the path he took to get to the maple leafs, and the people he worked with along the way.

 

[Eb]

I can see him having fun with Reimer.

"Fix your glove hand, you must. Better positioning, you need. Stop flopping around like a fish, you have to. Your game, a lot of it sucks. Stop letting in beachballs because you are too psyched out after letting in a softie, you gotta. Grow a pair, admit to your mistakes, and stop ****ing getting mentally shattered because you can't handle criticism, you must".

Great! You wrote that by yourself? Now do one for Bernier!