(Kloten, Switzerland) He’s 6’5″, he made his first NHL fight against Rob Ray, and the penalty minutes column in his record still requires three digits.
Let’s not lie to ourselves: we arrived at EHC Kloten training with certain preconceived ideas about Gerry Fleming, the Quebecer who holds the position of head coach.
But now, Fleming whistles, the players gather at the board, and he addresses them with the tone of a receptionist at the neighborhood massage therapy clinic. Rebelote 20 minutes later when he called his troops back for further explanations.
Behind his tough exterior, Fleming nevertheless coaches with a certain amount of baggage. Never drafted, he played and studied at the University of Prince Edward Island. “In psychology,” he says. And it’s this baggage that comes out when you sit in his office after training and you comment to him about his calm tone.
“Sometimes you have to raise your voice. But the important thing with the guys today is not so much the message. It’s how you deliver it, how they receive it, he unpacks. For many players, when you try to correct their game, it’s noise in their head. They don’t hear constructive criticism, they hear noise. So your remarks must be to the point. »
No doubt: we can imagine him capable of raising his voice if necessary, as evidenced by the few words that begin with “f” sprinkled throughout his explanations. But there are nevertheless hints of the former psychology student in his remarks, which is something that is pointed out to him.
He starts laughing.
“It’s mostly experience! When I started coaching, you could come…” He claps his hands, as if imitating a military-style coach. Then he tenses up and grinds his teeth, now embodying the ulcerated player of the time. “I’ll show him, that bastard. »
“It doesn’t work anymore today. The first thing players do when leaving training or a match is pick up their phone. Right away. And there, they talk to their parents, their agent, their friends. What are they being told? “You are great, you played a whole match, you did this, that. Why didn’t you play this game?”
“I see them again the next morning, I show them videos. And they’re like, “What are you talking about? Everyone told me how good I was yesterday.” So you have to understand what message they received, how they are on a pedestal. This is the biggest challenge of a coach, in my eyes. »
It’s a rather interesting path that led Fleming behind the benches.
Hockey has always played a central role in his life. His father worked “for the City of Montreal during the day and in the evening he was a security guard at the Forum.” So the father allowed him to sneak into the Forum “in the middle of first period.”
“And my mother worked at the snack bar across from the Forum on the corner of De Maisonneuve and Lambert-Closse, The Corner Snack Bar, from 10 a.m. to 6 a.m.,” he continues.
Fleming was also doing well at hockey. Strong man of the Verdun junior Canadian, he notably defended the promising Jimmy Carson.
After his university break, he found himself in the Canadian’s school club and was even entitled to a few call-ups, the time to play 11 matches with the Habs. But he mainly played for the Fredericton farm club, which Michel Therrien managed in 1997-1998, when knee problems increasingly overtook him. Therrien therefore offered his protégé to convert to coaching.
What he learned from Therrien? “Managing the bench, seeing things and making adjustments. He saw the game well and made adjustments like that,” he says, snapping his fingers.
The attentive reader will have noted that Fleming mainly named strategic elements, but nothing on interpersonal relationships. And we also remember that Therrien was not exactly known for having the joviality of Gino Chouinard who receives a guest at Salut bonjour.
Fleming smiled. “Mike is good, but he has his ways,” he agrees. I know he’s tough, but he barks more than he bites. He cares about the success of his guys. I learned a lot from Mike. »
Fleming then worked his way through the ECHL and the American League (AHL), finding unusual stability in these circuits. He led the Florida Everblades (ECHL) for seven seasons, before working nine years in a row, as an assistant and as head coach, for the Edmonton Oilers farm club in the AHL.
Our man, however, has been married for a year to Mari, originally from Estonia, so mandates in Europe become much more convenient.
Its ties with Montreal remain strong. He has retained his French – he actually switched from one language to another during the interview – and knows quite a few people in the Canadiens organization, from Jean-François Houle to Rob Ramage, including Stéphane Robidas and Francis Bouillon, whom he directed in his early years.
The presence of David Reinbacher in his squad this season will only strengthen these links.