Yarmouth, Nova Scotia is a long way from Saskatchewan, but that's where Humboldt Broncos head coach Dean Brockman was hanging his hat from November 5-11.
Brockman was acting as head coach for Team Canada West in the World Junior A Challenge (WJAC), taking place in Yarmouth.
Canada West came up against teams from Russia, the Czech Republic and Switzerland, as well as Canada East before falling to the team from the U.S. 6-3 in the final.
Now back in his own office in the basement of the Elgar Petersen Arena, Brockman was satisfied with the experience of the tournament, if not with the final result.
Nova Scotia, he said, was "very good.... It was a different part of the country I've never seen before."
While things are booming here in Saskatchewan, things there aren't so good he noted, and that made him realize how fortunate we are out west.
"It was a wake-up call for me," he said, "and it was good for our team to see that. Their eyes were wide open."
Brockman called his job as head coach of the team "extreme coaching."
He had an idea of what it would be like going in, having acted as assistant coach for Team Canada West at last year's tournament. But being the boss was definitely different.
"It was hard, I have to say," he said.
All the hard, final calls were up to him, including cutting the team down from 25 to the final 22.
"All the final decisions were mine," he said, admitting the entire experience was intense.
"You have to quickly find out what their character is, if you can," he said of the players on his team. "The main part right off the bat was to get to know them, to find out what's going to make them tick."
As a team, they did a lot of icebreakers, he said, so they could figure out where they were at and what they wanted to be.
Luckily, there were five players on this year's team who were also on the 2011 squad. They already knew Brockman and helped him break the ice with the new guys.
Though the team played well in the tournament, Brockman's competitive personality isn't allowing him to be happy with losing that gold medal game.
"I'm still disappointed about not winning at the end," he said. "When you think about the work we put in.... it's obviously not what I wanted. "
He hates to lose, he admitted, especially to the U.S.
The team had their ups and downs during the week-long tournament, Brockman said.
Looking back, you always feel you could have done more, he explained.
"But at the end of the day, it's like having a full season in two weeks. You try to teach them as much as they can grab and go from there."
Though the end result was not ideal, "we were pretty successful," he finally admitted.
What he learned from his experience in Nova Scotia he definitely brought home to Humboldt.
"Anytime you improve yourself as a coach, you take it with you," he said. "Watching other countries play... gives you ideas if it's something you can do."
What Brockman found when he came home had him smiling, though.
While he was gone for two weeks, first finding his team Canada West, then having them play in the tournament, the Broncos lost a handful of games, ending a win-streak. However, the players, sick of losing, hopped up and started winning again.
As of last week, they had won their last five games.
What happened at home while he was gone, Brockman called "very impressive."
"Obviously, we've had our share of trials and tribulations with injuries, but we've rebounded from that. Some guys have really elevated their game to another level," he stated, adding that he has definitely noticed an improvement in his team's play after being gone just two weeks.
The guys who are scoring are getting some accolades, he said, but there are also some young guys "who are taking the next step to being good junior hockey players."
They've taken the opportunity offered by having so many of the older guys out injured, and look stronger as a result, he said.
Some lines, like that of Neil Landry, Cody Pongracz and Joey Davies, can't seem to avoid scoring.
"They definitely have chemistry going," Brockman said of that line.
"They're anticipating very well. I had fun watching the game the other night. They literally have a chance to score every time they are out there," he said.
The vets definitely stepped up and carried the load to get the team off the mini-skid they were on, noted Luke Strueby, Broncos assistant coach, who carried the bulk of the coaching duties for the team while Brockman was away.
With more play time, he added, the younger players gained both confidence and experience, which has gone a long way towards their development, he added.
The plague of injuries for the Broncos seems to be ending. They still have three guys out for likely the long term, but that's it. The list of injured is definitely shorter now than it was a few weeks ago.
"That's encouraging for sure," Brockman noted.
Things are still shifting when it comes to the roster.
After losing goaltender Luke Lee Knight to Tri-City last week, Brockman brought Michael Gudmundson of Edmonton on board. He played a few games for NAIT this year, he said.
But other transactions may be done as well.
"We have certain areas we want to improve," he said.
The team has been teeter-tottering, he said, and has actually exceeded where he thought they were going to be at this point.
"I think we can improve personnel and definitely improve in our play," he said.
Brockman is also hoping for some improvements in the crowds at the Broncos' home games.
"I want to thank the fans who have been attending our games. I hope we get a whole bunch more," he noted.
