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Julien’s Aides

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By Matt Kalman
Aug 01 2007 6:40 PM


As the new head coach of the Boston Bruins, Claude Julien is trying to return some luster to a franchise that’s seen its lights dim ever since the end of the 2004-05 lockout.

So when it came time to pick his left- and right-hand men for this task, he wanted people with experience who he could be comfortable with.

That’s why Tuesday he tabbed NHL veteran Craig Ramsay, a man with more than 30 years in the NHL – as a player and coach. And it’s also why Julien decided to reunite with his former aide from Hamilton of the AHL, Geoff Ward.

The two new coaches join a staff that includes holdovers from the Dave Lewis regime, Doug Houda and goaltending coach Bob Essensa. (For more on Doug Houda, check out the Inside the Den Blog).

“It was important for me to get a guy who has experience in the league, and that was Craig Ramsay, who’s been around. I thought that was very important,” said Julien during a conference call. “And Geoff Ward was in a situation where I had worked with him. And I think it’s important, especially this year, that that transition is made quickly in order for us to turn things around. And I wanted to make sure that I was comfortable with that.”

While each man’s specific roles will be expanded upon as the season gets closer, Julien said he’s assigned Ramsay the task of working with the defensemen. Ward will also be behind the bench during games and Houda will be the “eye in the sky.”

Julien’s never worked with Ramsay, but he’d met him numerous times over the years. When Julien was coaching at Hull in the QMJHL, he would hear Ramsay, an Ottawa assistant at the time, on the radio – and Julien liked what he heard.

Ramsay, 55 and a survivor or prostate cancer (he says his weight’s up, he feels great and he’s been walking, biking and even kayaking this summer), got an up-close look at what the Bruins potentially could be during the four games Boston swept from the Lightning during last year’s regular season. Ramsay cut ties with Tampa Bay at the conclusion of the 2006-07 season, his seventh behind the bench there.

“I liked what I saw from their team offensively, and I think that we can bring maybe a little tighter defensive concept to the team,” said Ramsay, when contacted on his cell phone just before he teed off with his brother-in-law, former Bruins center Doug Gibson.

“But it takes a whole package of things to make it work. You can’t just focus on one of them. I don’t want to be a defensive, trap team, and that’s what I really enjoyed when I talked to Claude. He wants to do some chasing. He wants to attack when we can. You can’t do it all the time because teams are pretty good, and the way they trap if you get caught chasing all the time than you can get in trouble. But I think we’re going to try to take advantage of some of the speed that we have, some of the talent that we have and try to keep an offensive mindset while we try to tighten it up defensively.”

The Bruins blueliners can look forward to Ramsay, a one-time winner of the Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward, schooling them on playing both ends of the rink.

“For me, I think it’s all about having good sticks, about being free and being ready to pick off passes and get up ice and join the rush offensively,” said Ramsay about tutoring defensemen. “And I think everyone has to be involved in creating offense for your team. I was very lucky to have guys like Dan Boyle and (Filip) Kuba last year, who scored 35 goals between them. So we want to make sure these players understand what’s going on in their own zone, but aren’t just trapped into just thinking that you’re going to be defensive. I want them to be able to play in both ends of the rink and understand the game.”

Unlike Ramsay, Ward didn’t play professional hockey. After playing university hockey in Canada, he became a high school physical education teacher for five years. From there, he got into coaching – working his way from Midget to university to major junior to minor pro to the NHL. He was the Edmonton Oilers’ development coach during their run to the 2005-06 Stanley Cup Finals (his role was similar to that of director of player development these days) and last year he coached in Germany.

Had he not taken the job with Julien, he was scheduled to become the head coach of the Springfield Falcons, the Oilers’ AHL affiliate.

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