RED DEER, AB – Regardless of whether the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League win the 2016 MasterCard Memorial Cup this weekend, Sault Ste. Marie’s Jason Fortier will have left his mark on the tournament, and the city of Red Deer.
In one of the lighter moments of a busy week, the 41-year-old, who serves as the Huskies assistant coach, managed to put a hole in the boards with a shot at the secondary rink in Red Deer during a Rouyn-Noranda practice earlier in the event.
“He has a big shot,” Huskies General Manager/Coach Gilles Bouchard said. “I haven’t seen that before.”
Fortier joined the Huskies staff last summer after two seasons with the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Toronto Patriots.
“Coming in I didn’t know what to expect,” Fortier said. “I knew the talent would be high-end. It’s been an absolute pleasure to be associated with the Huskies franchise. The way the ownership treats our staff and the players is second to none. It’s first class.”
“Having success in my first year there is incredible,” Fortier also said. “The relationships that we’re building, the type of team we have, I’m really proud to have come into their lives for this season.”
Bouchard praised Fortier’s ability to keep things loose with the Huskies players.
“He brings a lot (to the team),” Bouchard said of the Sault product. “He’s unbelievable with the kid. He’s a funny guy. It’s joke-after-joke with the players. He relaxes the guys as a group. He’s very good to have with us.”
Fortier is the lone assistant coach working the Huskies bench with Bouchard and he credited the ability of the two to be in sync when it comes to running the bench. He also spoke of the need to change his approach slightly after spending time as a head coach.
“It’s one of those things where I’m coming in as a coach to a team where it’s only me and the head coach on the bench. It’s a big plus especially after being a head coach for a lot of years,” Fortier said. “I had to change the way I do things and adopt a different feeling in more of a support role. You still have to be your own man but you’ve also got to be the company guy at times. Nobody wants to be questioned. I’m sure at the start I had a few hiccups but as we got to the middle part of the season and the end, we were in tune.”
Fortier spoke of the influences former Greyhounds coaches like Ted Nolan, Danny Flynn and Terry Crisp had on him.
“If you grew up in the Sault and you were my age, Terry Crisp was a bit of a god with the hockey team they had,” Fortier said.
Fortier also noted the influence of former Soo Elks AAA Midget Coach John Fuselli.
“As a head coach he was a very tough guy,” Fortier said. “He was hard on you and challenged you. But he was also a fun guy and he really wanted to make you laugh and really find the love in the game. As a head coach, that’s kind of my mentality. I learned a lot from John that way.”
“As an assistant you’ve really got to make a conscious effort sometimes,” Fortier continued. “As a head coach you’ve got to keep your distance a bit (from the players) but as an assistant you’ve got to be the big brother and be that shoulder sometimes and pick your battles. You’re not going to want to battle a kid on everything. He needs to know that you’re there with him. He’s going to make mistakes and you’ve got to be that shoulder to lean on and be there to give some mentorship.”
Fortier called the opportunity to be an assistant coach a great learning opportunity.
“It’s an excellent learning tool for a head coach to go back and be an assistant and try to keep mastering the craft,” Fortier said.
The city of Rouyn-Noranda, a mining town of roughly 40,000 people in southwestern Quebec, has supported the Huskies and Fortier called it a “hockey-crazy town.”
“(The fans) keep the rink energized,” Fortier said. “That’s something I’ve never witnessed in my life.”
“If you score a goal and you’re trying to make a comeback, don’t bother calling a timeout,” Fortier joked. “You’re not going to be able to say anything to your players anyway that they’re going to hear. It’s that loud.”
His playing career took him through a season in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League with the Espanola Eagles and time with the Newmarket 87’s of the Central Ontario Junior Hockey League and the Newmarket Hurricanes (OJHL).
The former winger also played 27 games with the erstwhile Newmarket Royals of the OHL.
He also played a season overseas before returning to North American and eventually getting into coaching.
Prior to joining the Patriots, Fortier spent three seasons as the head coach of the OJHL’s Vaughan Vipers and also served as the head coach of the Toronto Titans AAA Midget team in the Greater Toronto Hockey League.