Passion To Lead

April 18, 2010

By Chuck Gormley, Courier-Post Staff

As an economics professor at Westfield State College, Gerry Healy is an educator, not a storyteller.

But ask him about the path Peter Laviolette took to the NHL, and he weaves a tale that includes a baby-sitting job, a bar fight and a dog named Collin.

Twenty-seven years ago, Healy was perfectly happy teaching business economics at Westfield when Laviolette, a sophomore defenseman at the time, walked into his office and asked if he'd take over the school's hockey team after its head coach quit in midseason.

"I couldn't skate all that well, and I didn't know too much about hockey, but Peter convinced me to take the job to save the team," Healy said Friday from his home near the Massachusetts college.

Before long, Healy's family had grown from a wife and two teenage children to one where hockey  players shared meals and frequently slept on living-room floor. In fact, he trusted Laviolette to watch his two children when he and his wife traveled to Florida for a conference.

"He stayed with my kids and he did very well getting them off to school," Healy recalled. "He was truly an exceptional young man with a very good family."

On the ice and off, Healy and his players learned quickly the depth of Laviolette's passion for the game and willingness to protect his teammates at all costs.

Longtime friend Jay Taranto, 46, said he first noticed Laviolette's leadership qualities when the two met as freshmen in 1982.

"Even though he was young, he was a hard worker, and we all respected that about him," Taranto said from his home in Chelmsford, Mass. "He had that charisma about him."

To the surprise of no one in the Flyers' locker room, Laviolette's temper as a young man was just as legendary. Healy recalled the time a teammate returned to the Westfield campus with a bloody nose suffered in a fight at Collins Tavern, an Irish bar in nearby working-class West Springfield.

According to Healy, Laviolette and a few teammates returned to the tavern and got into an altercation that resulted in a pool stick being cracked over Laviolette.

"I got a phone call that night, and I told Peter, "I'll get you out of trouble, but you're going to have to tell your folks,' " Healy said.

"I think he was more angry that he had to pay for the pool cue."

A few weeks later, Cleary said Laviolette showed a more sensitive side that spoke volumes about his character. One night, after hearing the Clearys' dog, an English springer, had been struck and killed by a car outside their home, Laviolette showed up at their doorstep at 10 p.m.

"I open the door, and Lavvy is standing there holding the mangiest, dirtiest English springer puppy," Cleary said. "Someone he knew raised them and told him they were going to shoot it because it couldn't hunt."

Cleary's daughter quickly fell in love with the puppy and insisted on naming it "Collin" in honor of Laviolette's favorite watering hole.

"He knew my kids were hurting," Cleary said, "and he went out of his way to make them feel better. We kept that dog 12 years before it died."

Laviolette graduated from Westfield in 1986 and for a time considered opening up his own restaurant.

"A soup and salad place in his hometown of Franklin," Taranto recalled.

But when NHL scouts took an interest in him, Laviolette took his childhood dream as far as he could, playing in two Olympics and 11 seasons of pro hockey, including a 12-game stint with the New York Rangers in 1988-89.

Laviolette's coaching career began in 1997 with the  Wheeling Nailers of the East Coast Hockey League and, after two years behind the bench of the American Hockey League's Providence Bruins, he earned his first head-coaching job in the NHL with the New York Islanders.

Today, Laviolette ranks second among American-born coaches with 272 NHL wins, and he is only the third American-born coach to win a Stanley Cup, joining Bob Johnson and John Tortorella.

When he arrived in Philadelphia as John Stevens' replacement on Dec. 4, Laviolette's To-Do List included improving the team's conditioning;
installing an aggressive, two-man forecheck; and limiting penalties.

At first, the Flyers seemed either incapable or unwilling to buy into Laviolette's system, going 2-7-1 in his first 10 games. Flyers captain Mike
Richards, a strong supporter of Stevens, said the players had trouble adjusting to their new coach's intense and sometimes abrasive approach.

"Johnny was quiet, and he'd make his point on the side and not show much emotion on the bench," Richards said. "Lavvy is the exact opposite. need that change to get through to people. I think we have a quieter team, where maybe that intensity is needed."

The Flyers played well enough in January and February to take hold of a playoff spot, but they needed to win three of their final four games to hold off a late charge by the Rangers.

For Laviolette, this is his first foray into the playoffs since taking the Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup in 2006.

"What I enjoy most is the ride," he said, "watching a group of guys try to find success when the pressure is ramped up. At the end, watching those players enjoy success -- that to me is exciting."

"He's really, really intense," Flyers right wing Dan Carcillo said.

"You don't have to wonder if he's going to be ready.  "He's very emotional, very intense."