Wednesday, October 08, 2003

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

The most difficult task for any minor-league coach is to motivate a player fresh off being demoted.

Which could mean that Michel Therrien's toughest week in his new post with the Penguins' AHL team in Wilkes-Barre has passed.

"I just had nine players come. Nobody was happy," Therrien said yesterday by phone from his Wachovia Arena office. "That's how it is when you get sent down."

Therrien was coach of the Montreal Canadiens the past three years, so he is familiar with the process from both ends. As a result, he had a plan to deal with the most significant round of cuts in training camp, the one last week in which forwards Kris Beech, Eric Meloche, Tom Kostopoulos and Colby Armstrong, defensemen Ross Lupaschuk, David Koci, Rob Scuderi and Patrick Boileau and goaltender Andy Chiodo were sent across Interstate 80.

First, he called Penguins coach Eddie Olczyk to get a gauge on why those players failed to stick.

"You want to make sure we're all on the same page," Therrien said, "so they're not getting one message from Edzo's staff and another here."

Next, he met with each player.

"I wanted to make sure I had a long talk with every single guy. They have to know that we haven't given up on them, that our goal is to get them back to Pittsburgh."

Therrien expressed satisfaction with the immediate result, and the evidence on the ice supported him. The Baby Penguins lost their first preseason game, just before that big wave of cuts, but went 3-0 after that to build momentum heading into their fifth season opener tonight at home against Norfolk.

Chief among those who stood out was center Cam Paddock, who led the team in scoring with four goals and an assist in three games. He impressed management enough that he was signed to his first professional contract.

But Therrien also singled out right winger Colby Armstrong, the No. 1 star in a 4-2 victory at Syracuse with a goal and assist; left wingers Guillaume Lefebvre and Michal Sivek, both described by Therrien as "playing great and skating hard;" and goaltender Andy Chiodo, who stopped 26 of 27 shots in a 3-1 victory at Hershey.

Therrien declined to speculate where his team might rank within the AHL, citing his three years out of the league. But he made clear that he feels the talent pool in the organization remains deep enough that expectations should be high.

Most of the same players went an ordinary 36-32-7-5 last season and lost in the first round of Calder Cup playoffs. The coach then was Glenn Patrick.

"I know there are a lot of good young players here, and I know we have to believe we will do well," he said. "My job is to set goals high, and I don't see why we shouldn't. You know, we are going to do a lot of teaching and developing here, but we're not going to forget about the winning. We want to win."

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