Hitchcock wants to teach, not scream

Ken Hitchcock had planned to be in his office by 9 a.m. Wednesday, some 12 hours after the Blues' 3-2 loss to Detroit, but he didn't arrive until 10.

Hitchcock pulled into the club's practice facility in Hazelwood at 10, but he didn't enter the building for a few more minutes.

"When I'm angry, I'll sit at home," Hitchcock said. "I'll sit at Starbucks. I'll read a newspaper. But I ain't coming in until I'm in a 'hopeful' position because anger gets you nowhere.

"I'm sure I ticked off every driver on the highway. I was in the parking lot for five to 10 minutes, but I wasn't coming in until the coffee was over. Don't come in angry."

There were days in Hitchcock's coaching career when he may have overreacted to a loss like Tuesday's disappointment in Detroit, when the Blues coughed up a 2-0 lead and had only three shots on goal in the third period. But not any longer.

"The players used to laugh (in Dallas)," Hitchcock said. "In game 70, we'd lose our 11th game and they're saying 'Hitch' is having a conniption. You just change. You just learn.

"Am I ratcheting up the temperature here? No. I was brought in here to teach people what it takes to win. That's my job. It's not about yelling and screaming, 'You didn't do this, you didn't do that.' It's more matter of fact, 'Here's what it takes to get to the next level.' To me, it's all about the next day. The next day is the 'Learning Channel.'"

On Wednesday, after Hitchcock had finally strolled into his office, he held a team meeting. At least one player admitted not knowing what was coming.

"Really you don't know what to expect after a loss like that," Blues forward David Perron said. "But we just sat down and talked about the game. He's the one doing most of the talking, but it's open for everyone, if you have an opinion, to say it. But he's the one in the room telling us the right things. He's not yelling. He's just teaching us and working it through as a group."

As it turns out, Hitchcock didn't have to do much teaching. In the age of computers and iPads, many players had already watched their individual shifts from Tuesday's game.

Scott Masters, the Blues' video coach for the past six seasons, imports the footage into the players' iPads before the wheels of the team's plane lift off after a road game.

"The players have basically whatever they want when they want it," Masters said. "Some guys watch every night, some guys watch it every other day. Players can keep good games on their iPad, so if they get in a bad rut, they can refer to those games and say, 'What did I do here?' The technology that we have in our hands and what we can research is beyond what you would ever need."

Hitchcock had a meeting with a player Wednesday to discuss his shifts "and he had already watched everything. I said to the player, 'In these situations ...' and he said, 'Yeah I know, I saw that. I should have done this.' That's pretty impressive. You can't deal with 'the next day' like you used to."

That's not to say Hitchcock doesn't boil over at times.

"I get upset about two things," he said. "No. 1, when the game is on the line, I don't like it when we take poor penalties. And I don't like it when we slump our shoulders. I don't like the defeatist body language. If you're on the other bench, you know you've got 'em.

"So sure, during the game, the heat of the moment, you might say something. But man, if you just stay on it, it loses its message. I think I'm a little smarter than that."

The Blues appreciate Hitchcock's approach, especially considering that it goes against his reputation.

"You hear rumors throughout the league, but you can't make a judgment until you're actually coached by him," Blues forward Chris Porter said. "He's got a pretty calm demeanor around us and I think that's resonated through the team. There's not much of a panic in our team. Even after (Tuesday) night, we came in, we talked about it and hopefully we'll learn from it."

Hitchcock, who recently turned 60, concluded: "Perception is reality and the perception of what I am as a coach is not really the reality. If they're expecting me to go postal, forget it. Too old for that."