Former NHLer Norton now behind bench with Jr. Sun Devils
All it took was a chance conversation with a connection from the hockey world to get Brad Norton coaching with the DYHA Jr. Sun Devils.
A former NHL defenseman from the Boston area, Norton is the head coach of the DYHA 16U team this season – and loving every minute of it.
“I moved here like five years ago; my wife’s family is from Glendale,” explained Norton. “We were living in Los Angeles and wanted to get out of LA. My wife (Tiffany) was doing radio and wanted a break from radio. We wanted to be closer to one side of the family, so we moved here. As far as coaching, I was doing some Little Howlers with the NHL Alumni and ran into (DYHA hockey director) Brad McCaughey, who played at Michigan with my brother Jeff. We got to talking and he asked if I was looking to get into coaching and I was, so it went from there.
“I fell in love with it. I love coaching kids. I knew I’d get back into it at some point, but I never thought it would be at the youth level. I really enjoy it, though.”
Norton was McCaughey’s assistant coach on two DYHA teams in 2018-19 and this year, McCaughey is Norton’s assistant with the 16U team.
He added that coaching kids is a thrill and an amazing experience.
“Coaching kids is different than in the pros and even in college,” said Norton. “With coaching kids, they’re playing because they love the game, and that’s what I like. I think you can get to them and have a bigger impact on them at that level. I come from a family of hockey players (another brother, John, played at the University of Maine) and my brother Mike seemed to always have a terrible coach and it just made him hate the game. I always said to myself that if I ever got into coaching that I wanted to make sure I wasn’t someone’s last coach.
“I was a maniac when I was little, and I think some coaches are too hard on kids. You just have to treat every kid differently, find a way to get to them, and have a positive impact on them, make them enjoy the game. I think I can relate to some of the kids that might have temper problems. I like that. I’d like to think I can get to them, get in their brains, get the best out of them.”
One interesting note about the DYHA 16U team is none of the players have the last name “Norton.” Brad and Tiffany have a 10-year-old son Cash, but he doesn’t play hockey.
A veteran of 124 NHL games with Florida, Los Angeles, Washington, Ottawa and Detroit, Norton was originally drafted by Edmonton in 1993 before playing four years of NCAA Division I hockey at the University of Massachusetts.
It was growing up and playing at the highest level that Norton learned how he wanted to coach.
“Defense first, of course,” said Norton. “Brad McCaughey always says that you can’t lose if you don’t get scored on. I’ll find what our players strengths and weaknesses are and work from there. I played for too many coaches that wanted to change how a player plays. I want to use players in situations where they can succeed.”
So what does the future hold for Norton? Sticking around for the long haul?
“I’m year to year and each year, I’ll sit down with the family and talk about what I want to do,” Norton said. “I can say that if I do stay and coach in Arizona, it’ll be with these guys, for sure. Everything here is done right, very professional.”
— Matt Mackinder
(Jan. 28, 2020)
