Pearson reaches milestone behind the bench

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This article was published 17/02/2022 (1416 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last Saturday’s Manitoba Junior Hockey League game at the Yellowhead Centre was a tough one for the Neepawa Titans.

With just five seconds left in overtime, Tyler Thoendel found the back of the net to give the Virden Oil Capitals a 5-4 road victory.

However, the evening turned out to be a big one for Titans head coach and general manager Ken Pearson.

While he didn’t know it at the time, Saturday’s game marked the 1,000th time that the 48-year-old has served as the bench boss for an MJHL team.

“It was something that I knew was coming up but I wasn’t exactly sure when it was going to be,” Pearson said. “I didn’t know it was the 1000th game until Sunday morning, which was when the league contacted me and sent their congratulations.

“It’s been a pretty exciting last few days. I’ve had so many former players get in touch with me this week, going all the way back to my first year of coaching to the guys that moved on from last year’s team.”

In addition to his time in the MJHL — which has seen him serve as the head coach and general manager for Winkler Flyers, Winnipeg Blues and his hometown Titans — Pearson has spent another 280 games as the bench boss for the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Brooks Bandits and the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Battlefords North Stars.

“I’m just happy to have been able to coach this long,” Pearson said. “I’m hoping to continue on for a few more years yet.”

Pearson’s journey behind the bench started in January 1994, when his 20-year-old campaign with Neepawa was derailed due to an injury.

Current Brandon Wheat Kings head coach Don MacGillivray was in charge of the MJHL club at that point and brought Pearson into the fold when his job duties called.

“At that time, Don was also working for Nestle Chocolates and he had to be away for a meeting in Calgary for two games,” Pearson said.

“When he was away, he had me stand on the bench with our assistant Jim Cockburn and it was something I really enjoyed. Coaching was something I wanted to get involved with when I was down and it was that summer when Don asked if I was interested in joining the team as an assistant. It all kind of took off from there.”

Pearson spent two years in Neepawa and another season with MacGillivray as an assistant for the Western Hockey League’s Prince Albert Raiders before joining the coaching staff of the Winkler Flyers in 1997-98, when they won their third league title.

“It was a little different for me at first to be a coach when the guys that I had played with were all still on the team,” Pearson said. “A lot of that first season was spent trying to find that line of still being friends with those guys, in addition to being their coach.

“As an assistant, you also learn a lot more about what goes on behind the scenes. The preparation that goes on off the ice is pretty demanding and that might have been the biggest thing that I learned right away.”

Pearson got his shot as a head coach and general manager in January 1999 with the Flyers, when he took over the role on an interim basis after the team parted ways with Jeff Wiest.

A few weeks later, he was given a three-year contract to take over the role on a full-time basis.

“I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from my time working with Don and Jeff, who were both real mentors for me,” Pearson said.

“The biggest challenge was just time management. You have to get stuff done with the players that you have there at the time to get them prepared for games, but you are also doing a lot of the recruiting for the future yourself, as we didn’t really have a head scout at that point. It was super important to find a balance between those two roles.”

His biggest moment behind the bench came in 2006 when he and the Blues hoisted the Turnbull Cup.

“I think the closeness those guys had is what stands out the most from that run,” Pearson said. “Out of the 23 guys we had on that roster, 20 of them were from Winnipeg and they all grew up together. It was a really special team and everyone is still in contact with each other to this day.”

While the mentality and will to win is still the same for players as it was when he began his coaching career, Pearson says there have been a few changes during his time behind the bench.

“I think the biggest thing that’s different now is the players themselves want access to information right away,” he explained. “When I first started, we were still working with VCR’s and trying to get tapes to match up. Now that information is readily available on the bench and the guys want to know once the game ends about how that play happened, why it happened and what they could have done differently.

“The level of skill and how well-conditioned the players are now is also different from when I started. There’s some amazing stuff that these guys can do.”

Although his main focus at the moment is to get the Titans back to the playoffs for the first time since 2017, Pearson has also allowed himself to reflect on a lifetime in hockey.

“I think the biggest advice I would give my younger self is to just enjoy it,” Pearson said. “It’s all gone by really fast.

“I’d also tell myself to make sure to remember the important things, like your family, and to find that balance.”

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